Firstly I’m a graduate from the University of Life, with first class honours, cuts bruises and scars.
My life experience is something I draw upon when writing. It’s cathartic and healing to do so. This is something I actively promote in my teaching. Writing creatively is a craft, something to learn, something to find discipline in.
I like to think of it like this – there’s flow and balance like the yin to the yang as Chuang Tzu puts it:
“In stillness, he and the yin share a single Virtue; in motion, he and the yang share a single flow.”
Or to put it another way comedian Bill Hicks said:
“The world is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, around and around, it has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly colored, and it's very loud, and it's fun for a while...”
In other words we have the up and downs in life (the rollercoaster) and we have the left and right in life (the yin yang). We have simple choices between fear and love and between left and right, and good and bad, but somewhere along the way that all gets blurred and confused.
Creative writing is a way. A way to untangle those blurred lines, create focus to imagine clearly and talk through our experiences, whether fantastic or banal, horrific or joyous.
It's another way to express moments of this life.