Writing group gets personal
Pembina Active Living program helps budding authors share their stories
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This article was published 13/06/2016 (3678 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A group of local writers have forever captured their most important memories in a book.
Participants in the Pembina Active Living (55+) Writing from Within course have published their first anthology of personal essays and stories titled Storytellers: Gathering as Writers of Life.
The 297-page paperback is the culmination of many hours of reflection, rewrites, and reminisces for the 10-person writers’ group that meets Grace Christian Church in Richmond West every Thursday.
While the goal of the class was to facilitate fun and creativity, as well as bring new writers through the process of self-publishing, the class has had a more profound effect on its participants, co-ordinator Elaine Hansen said.
“It’s looking at layers and peeling back the layers in terms of your mind, heart and soul,” she said.
On the book’s pages, the writers have shared true stories that have stuck with them from their early childhood to their senior years. The birth of a first child, growing up during the war, family life in Hong Kong, and explorations of faith are just some of the subjects raised in Storytellers.
However, the sharing of these personal accounts and the reflection on sensitive, and sometimes life-altering moments, was not something that came easily to all the writers.
“At first it was (challenging) because we didn’t know each other, and if I have to write about anything in my life I have to trust the people who are going to read it,” G. Olive Nimblett said. “And what happened over time is that there was a trust built up with the people in this class that’s never going to go away.”
“So then there was the freedom to put on paper what I felt. And because of their comments and responses, then that helped to free me to put something in print for the public,” she said.
According to contributor Tony Zienkiewicz, the writing process has prompted him to reflect on older, murkier memories, and through discussion with his fellow writers, the details, feelings and senses related to those memories have become more refined.
“It slowly comes back,” he said. “You go into your mind, way up there in the attic, and you find your memories. And from there you clean off the cobwebs, blow off the dust and they really start to stand out bit by bit.”
Writers also had to determine whether they would share their nitty-gritty memories and moments that weren’t the happiest, as they delved deeper into their past.
“I found too that some of the fine-tuning was working through some of the emotions and not putting all of that on paper, and yet being true and respectful to the memory and that at times was a challenge,” Darlene Fehr said. “Writing it over and over again was healing, and like Olive, I found that I began to be so comfortable with the group because of the affirmation, the trust, and the bonding.”
Cecilia Au, who contributed four pieces to the anthology, said all the stories that her colleagues shared were compelling and the exchange of history and life stories has been invaluable.
“I learned a lot from them and they’ve been very helpful,” Au said. “It was truly a remarkable experience to have this,” she said hugging the paperback book.
Storytellers: Gathering as Writers of Life is available through PAL (55+) for $10.