As a writer and psychologist I believe in the power of stories. There are the stories of how we frame and understand our own lives, the stories of our different cultures and tribes (once told around the fireplace by elders - we may have lost that tradition of storytelling but we need to be careful not to lose those stories) and the stories of our imagination. All of these enrich us, mould who we are and shape our lives. For who are we but the stories we tell ourselves, about ourselves, and believe?”

 

I love writing – it’s one of the times when I feel I’m really in the flow – immersed in the creativity of the moment. And so I love having a creative project to work on. It gives me a focus, allows my creative mind to be playful and sizzle with ideas, words and images.

 

Part of the magic of writing is that it’s like walking into the desert – you don’t know where you will arrive at. This can be a bit scary but also exciting! Writing draws me to being open to and aware of the poetry of life, exploring and describing the texture of being in the world, and then grappling with the challenge of finding the right words to express it.

 

In my experience to be a writer you have to be passionate, but you also have to be really stubborn, dogged even, and not give up on those writing projects you have in your mind. The projects I have worked on have crossed various different genres and forms of writing.

 

And so the three books I have published are in three different genres:

 

• Non Fiction - Genesis the Book with Seventy Faces (also crossing genres because it is written in multiple layers for the different ages in a family)
   

• Young Adult Novella - Jacob – a world of faces
   

• Picture Book - Loni and the Moon.

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So for me writing involves venturing out into the unknown, which can be scary! but also exhilarating. As I write this I am reminded of the last page of “Genesis the Book with Seventy Faces.” Throughout the journeys in that book two calls are heard and repeated many times –“Go Forth” and “Fear Not.”

 

“Go Forth tells us not to wait for life to come to us but to go out into the world and discover the journey of our own life… And together with this Fear Not. Although life is uncertain, although the future is unknown, although we all make mistakes, fear should not stop us. Each one of us was created unique with our own contribution to make to this world.”

 

I guess writing is part of my go forth and fear not!