ARTICLES ON WRITING
By Patricia Wellingham-Jones

Healing Writing
By Patricia Wellingham-Jones, PhD, RN

A certain magic fizzes the air when people write together, then read that work to the group. Minds seem to link, themes repeat within the circle, you can feel yourself open and expand. Words flow, memories from deep inside begin to surface. I’ve been feeling this for the past few Saturdays at a workshop at 1078 Gallery in Chico, California.

When you meet with intent, when the group has a focus, when you write honestly, for yourself, in a safe environment, healing can happen.

I helped establish, and co-lead, the Enloe Cancer Center writing workshop, ‘Telling Our Stories’, in Chico. Month after month, we write together then read our stories. We leave wanting more: more time, more meetings, more stories that find their way from mind to paper. I have watched people feel better throughout this process. I know from my own life, especially dealing with breast cancer then the caregiving and death of my husband, that writing has healed my wounded spirits.

James Pennebaker, PhD, has researched healing writing for over twenty years. He finds (along with others) that healing is often a by-product of any artistic self-expression. However, to be truly healing, he states it is necessary to translate experience into language. Further, turning that writing into a coherent story is essential, more important that journal ramblings (although journaling is certainly valuable, as many of us know). This coherent narrative, and the integration of thoughts and feelings which produces it, leads to reflection and increased insight, can change your view of the world.

Pennebaker’s findings include actual health gains from expressive writing: enhanced immune function, decreased heart rate, lower blood pressure, reduced symptoms in arthritis and asthma sufferers, lessened sleep disturbance with metastatic cancers. Long term, people generally report feeling happier and less negative after expressive writing.

Healing writing is not the same as writing/poetry therapy. Writing therapy uses the writing of others, as well as self, to illuminate, probe then deal with traumas. Healing writing is a writing group (although you can also write alone and receive similar good effects), people writing their deepest truths and fears, then reading the work, as literature not therapy, to the others in the group. Healing of the spirit (not curing of the body) often accompanies this process.

In the cancer center writing workshop, I use Pat Schneider’s principles. She is founder of Amherst Writing and Artists Workshops and has developed this approach over twenty-five years of leading workshops in a variety of settings. She has five basic affirmations: Everyone has a strong, unique voice; everyone is born with creative genius; writing as an art form belongs to all people, regardless of economic class or educational level; the teaching of craft can be done without damage to a writer’s original voice or artistic self-esteem; and a writer is someone who writes. In addition, and along with her methods, we treat all writing as fiction unless told otherwise. This elevates the writing to literature and creates safety for the writer, making her/him less vulnerable. The approach makes it possible to write honestly and creatively. Only positive response is allowed, no critique or suggestions for first-draft material. Our goal is to catch the stories of our lives, including the cancer journey and anything else the writer wishes to address.

At our last meeting, the prompt was ‘scar’—tell the scar’s own story. I was amazed at the material that came out at the workshop, but even more confounded when it just wouldn’t stop. I wrote a little tale there, then a few days later another scar wanted to be heard, then a week after that, one buried deep and ‘forgotten’ thrust up its head and insisted on telling its story. Others report the same ongoing effect of the writing happening in their lives.

No matter what the prompt or writing suggestion may be, the writing will take its own path and go where it will. Let it. Keep writing. See where you go. The healing happens. Healing is also learning.

Writing our stories gives us back our voices and control; it bears witness to our lives.

References:

Bray, Sharon. (2004). A Healing Journey: Writing together through breast cancer. Amherst, MA: Amherst Writers & Artists Press.

DeSalvo, Louise. (1999). Writing as a Way of Healing. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

Pennebaker, J.W. (May 1997). Writing about Emotional Experiences as a Therapeutic Process. Psychological Science, Vol. 8, No. 3, May.

Pennebaker, J.W. (2004). Writing to Heal: A Guided Journal for Recovering from Trauma and Emotional Upheaval. Oakland, CA. New Harbinger Press.

Samuels, Michael, MD & Mary Rockwood Lane, RN, MSN. (1998). Creative Healing: How You Can Use Art, Writing, Dance, and Music to Heal Yourself. NY: Harper Collins.

Schneider, Pat. (2003). Writing Alone and With Others. NY: Oxford University Press.

Published in Rattlesnake Review, 2007, and in Long Story Short, 2008.

Long Story Short, November 2004
Eleventh in a series on Getting Published by Patricia Wellingham-Jones.
Read all 26 articles in the series HERE.
(This is a slightly expanded version of the article first published in Rattlesnake Review, Fall 2004.)

Interview with Patricia Wellingham-Jones: Unexpected Venues
Interviewer: Margaret Ellis Hill

MEH: In addition to being published in many journals and chapbooks, your work can be found in some different places, ones where you wouldn't ordinarily find poetry, for example, in the travel section of the Sacramento Bee. What are some off-beat places that have accepted your work?

PWJ: You mention the Bee and that’s such a good example of the “strange places” where poems can sometimes be found. The editor was looking for letters of vacation memories. All I have is poems, so I sent her one with a photo, knowing the chances were slim. She said she laughed out loud - and accepted it.

We know about Richard Hansen at The Book Collector in Sacramento from an article in Rattlesnake Review #1. His press makes tiny matchbook-size poetry books and gives them out freely, all over town, through the country. Shoshauna Shy in Wisconsin has a program called Poetry Jumps Off the Shelf which laminates poems into bookmarks and attaches them by keychain to rented bicycle handles or in rental car agreements. It’s amazing to me how many places exist that sometimes use poetry.

Many small local newspapers will publish poems among their ads or articles. The University of Pennsylvania cancer site, has a periodic poetry column by survivors. Special interest websites and newsletters often use poems. Heavens, the magazine for senior services in Lincoln, Nebraska, called Life Lines, published one of my funny poems about aging - if such can be funny! The editor of Purse Stories asked for some poems about handbags. I’d never written any but got intrigued, wrote some for her, and wound up with 36 poems for my book, Bags.

Friends got together with a collection of props one Sunday afternoon and we had a photo shoot to illustrate these poems. Such a fun thing came of that simple request. I’ve had recipe poems published in regional cookbooks. Last winter I developed a chapbook, California: Mountain & Stream Suite, for Earl Huyck Gallery in Redding to go with an exhibit of the same name; now a gallery in Red Bluff sells them, too. You see poems on tee shirts, coffee mugs, in art galleries, on calendars, printed along the top borders inside buses. I’ve even read poetry to music in a “streaming” session that taped it in Redding and fed it live to Philadelphia, where a musician was accompanying us. That was fascinating! Remember too your local TV and radio shows which sometimes host poets.

MEH: Would you give us some ideas on how to find these places?

PWJ: Anyone can find these opportunities by keeping feelers out, being open to everything, noticing what comes your way. Keep your eyes and ears open, do readings and talks, be bold enough to suggest poetry to editors and gallery owners, scan the classified sections of writers magazines. A writers mailing list which has given me hundreds of leads, some to pretty strange places, is Yahoo Groups' "crwropps2" [Creative Writing Opportunities 2]. Word of mouth is perhaps the most powerful tool. Tell your writer friends of interesting places, they’ll tell you in return. This is for the adventurous and the curious. Take a flier!

MEH: Are there any listed in Poet's Market?

PWJ: I don’t think so. That book focuses on traditional print, and some electronic, venues and contests. These things tend to come appear in off-beat places.

MEH: What about contests?

PWJ: Many of these opportunities come via contests. I’m thinking particularly of the city of Seattle, where winning poems were published on the inside of city buses and public transit. Then there’s gumball.com, who packs winning poems inside gumballs that appear at random from machines. I don’t enter contests too often because I’d rather focus my energy on the writing and then getting work published. But I have entered - I have often lost, and I’ve occasionally won. When the win is something like the Reuben Rose International Poetry Prize with a significant cash award and the poem is read in Jerusalem, as well as being published in booklet and anthology, well, then, I rethink my position!

MEH: What are your thoughts about submitting to online journals?

PWJ: I enjoy the online journals (I also enjoy the print journals - publishing is publishing, in my view). The range of viewpoint and quality is as great online as in print but the spread worldwide is much greater. Just think how often you forward a joke to a friend, then multiply that by proud authors sending the journal website to everyone they know. The same considerations apply to submitting (you know, polite cover letter though brief, follow the guidelines if you want your work accepted, give the editor what she wants). A couple of things to be aware of though: anything that appears online is considered to have been published, no matter what kind of site it is. And “posting” is not the same as being published in a journal. Reputable online journals operate as their print cousins do with editorial review and selection; posting is the same as tacking a notice with no screening on a public bulletin board for all to see. And scams exist in both places.

MEH: Do you think giving out free work is helpful?

PWJ: Because I tend to give away information, yes, I like tossing poems out there willy nilly. I also very much like seeing them get out of classrooms and libraries and into the public eye.

MEH: Can you give us suggestions of what kind and where to give poetry away?

PWJ: I can’t give you anything specific because these things come and go swiftly and are often local. I must just repeat that poetry opportunities are everywhere - once you tune into the concept and open yourself to the fun and adventure of seeing your poems in strange places.

MEH: What suggestions or tips would you give a poet or writer?

PWJ: Read, read, read. Write, write, write. Keep that hand moving. Let the words pour out onto paper/screen and keep the editor away for that first draft. Let it gel for awhile, then get stern with yourself and cut out the excess, pad the skeletal. Critique groups are especially valuable in learning when things work right and when they don’t. This last [suggestion] may be trite, because we hear it at every workshop and class, but it’s absolutely true and the best advice I’ve gotten: show, don’t tell.

Long Story Short, November 2004
Twelfth in a series on Getting Published by Patricia Wellingham-Jones.
Read all 26 articles in the series HERE.

Enjoy Reading in Public
By Patricia Wellingham-Jones

You’ve been asked to read your work to a group of strangers for the very first time. Your knees knock, voice wobbles, hands shake so hard you can hardly hold paper - and this is while you’re on the phone just being invited! Here are some tips to make the reading successful and help you relax enough to have fun. (Well, maybe that’s too much to ask, but at least you can get through it without embarrassing yourself to pieces.)

Preliminary Tips:

*   Be prepared.
*   Provide your own book or manuscript.
*   Choose poems/segments in advance. Fit them to the occasion. If possible, be familiar with them.
*   I tend to flow from dark writings to light, to leaven the presentation, and [I give] the audience a breather where they can laugh or smile. However you can do it any way you wish. I also end with an amusing poem so they leave with a smile on their lips.
*   Mark the chosen poems with sticky notes so you won’t have to fumble through pages.
*   Bring copies of your books to sell (unless it is inappropriate or the bookstore already has them).
*   Bring flyers of your publications even if you can’t sell there.
*   Bring change.
*   Try to get someone else to handle sales and keep records for you so you’re free to mingle and answer questions.
*   Bring a pen for all those autograph requests.
*   Practice at home, then practice again - for inflection and timing, to know how long the reading takes. Approach the reading as a story telling; this lowers the tension and makes a more interesting reading.

Tips for the Actual Reading:

*   Take three deep breaths to calm yourself as you approach the podium.
*   Expect that you’ll enjoy yourself (then you will, and so will the audience).
*   Don’t worry about style. You’ve got one, it’s different from the others, and it’s just as good. Everybody does it differently; some sit, some stand, some pace around, some fling their arms about and some stand stock still before a podium.
*   Adapt your presentation style to the requirements of the event.
*   Be informal, enjoy the occasion (unless you’re reading for the President of the United States or some other formal situation where the awe-factor is just too much for the nerves).
*   It’s okay to tell the story of each poem if you are brief. People come to hear the poetry, not about the poetry.
*   Watch the dramatics; you can overpower your own poem with too much emoting.
*   It’s okay to tell why the poem was chosen, if brief. This often adds richness to the audience’s experience.
*   If you use anecdotes, keep them short and pertinent; the poem is the focus here. Get yourself out of the way so you can tell the story.
*   Speak loudly enough to be heard throughout the room or, if using a microphone, speak softly enough that the mike doesn’t squeal.
*   Speak a bit slower than usual. Enunciate clearly but speak naturally.
*   Keep your head up so you speak out, not down into your book (your voice is swallowed by your chest if you do).
*   Look at the audience. Scan the whole room or, if you’re really uncomfortable, find a friendly face and focus on it.
*   If you’re reading a series, pause between poems to let the audience catch up. At the end of a poem, close the book, turn the paper over, or do something that signals its finish.
*   At the end of the reading, smile graciously.
*   Be available and pleasant with those who want to talk to you afterwards; this is where book sales are often made.

Spring Hail *            

Out of the ice storm
a hummingbird plummets
Lights on my upraised finger
that pillar of heat
I feel the thump of its heart
My arm grows weary
under the fragile weight
of its wings

Susan and the Noun-Verb
for Susan Wooldridge 

Doggone it
You showed me
at this late date
in my life
that I’ve missed something
in my word-play
Now I’ll never be free
(as you aren’t free) of that
   obsessive
      compulsive
         fascinating
            collecting
of noun-verbs
Those lovely words
that show action 
and label that action
at the same time
As we head into eternity
we’ll both be singing our lists
of delicious 
words