A great session today with Peter, Helen and other members of the MAPP community. It was great to unpack some ideas around what writing is and how it feeds our society.
It was great to see how Peter structured the process of writing into the generating, organising and presenting segments. He suggested to us they we do not worry about the reader during the generating phase, and this seems key to me. He reminded us that the thread between these 3 stages is not linear and can be rather chaotic. This made me think of my tendency to over plan and how this sometimes kills the creativity of my mind. As Twyla Tharp says:
A plan is like the scaffolding around a building. When you're putting up the exterior shell, the scaffolding is vital. But once the shell is in place and you start work on the interior, the scaffolding disappears. That's how I think of planning. It has to be sufficiently thoughtful and solid to get the work up and standing straight, but it can take over as you toil away on the interior guts of a piece. Transforming your ideas rarely goes according to plan.
(Tharp, 2006, p.119)
The biggest takeaway from this session for me was during the freewriting process focusing on the question 'What is writing?' I was quite surprised by the responses which were coming on to my page. They made me realise just how important writing actually is for me. Not only being a way of communicating with others but also as a way of expanding oneself, one's knowledge and generally making sense of the world. In recent years I have understood that writing is special to me, but I did not fully appreciate the important part it plays in my life until now.
I was reminded after today's session that I was a child who could not read until the age of 7 and found spelling very challenging. Yet as I got older, I found a true love of writing especially interestingly enough when it is related to my work within the field of dance and based within reflective practice.
I feel that words are an important aspect of who I am, as both my parents are published authors, so we were brought up around many books!
But other members of the community highlighted the point that it is also a privileged form of communication, and this is such an important point. We rely on education to be able to write. It also had me thinking about people I know who find that they have no connection with the written word. It is not everyone's choice.
I have decided to share my freewriting here as it feels important to do so.
Thanks to Peter for such a great session today.
References
Tharp, T. (2006) The Creative Habit. Second edition. New York: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks.
I loved reading your posts Ann, I somehow felt the inner journey, the love for the practice and I feel a great sense of generosity... Incredible that you remembered after today's session that you read from the age of 7. A physical learner....! And when I read that you one of the things that gets you angry is "Dismissal of children’s needs and feelings." I could not help but imagine what it might have been like for you - but I might be wrong and linking things that shouldnt be!! Thanks a lot for sharing all this :)
ReplyDeleteHi Lea, thank you so much. Yes, I am very passionate about the need for children to be seen as human beings in their own right. I don't feel that I was ever deliberately dismissed as a child, but I think I did feel there was something wrong with me when I was not progressing in the same way my brother and sister had done with reading and writing. I was home educated which was wonderful but also meant that I needed greater levels of motivation. But I also think it is the way I have seen others be treated during my training that as has made me so passionate about this, and it is something I am not afraid to speak out about if I feel it is needed. Thanks for finding links I had not seen myself. x
DeleteThis resonates so much with me - my parents are both librarians and I'm also now reflecting on what that has shaped in my life! I love the scaffolding analogy it's such a nice image to hold on to while I'm trying to get all my thoughts together x
ReplyDeleteOh that's really interesting Matthew. I think sometimes when you are surrounded by something you sort of don't notice the prominence it has in your life! This is definitely the case for me and words, books and writing! Glad you also resonate with that quote. It spoke to me somehow. I really love Tharp's book actually. x
DeleteMy mom is also an author! Thank you for sharing this work. I found this reminder that the reader isn't the focus initially very helpful as I have been struggling to get started on my AOL essay due to the same block that keeps creeping in... what do they want to hear?
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