Aaaaaagh no… I’ve done that thing I told myself I wouldn’t do, which is let my blog slip, meaning I have to start with an apology and a promise to do better. Sorry! I’ll try to do better.
I thought I’d talk a little about the Green Ink Sponsored Write I did at the end of September, and what a privilege it was to take part in. The Sponsored Write is (usually) an annual event organised by Rachel Knightley, in which writers of all stripes and stages come together to create work around a topic, in order to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. On a select day we write our stories, and (after 24 hours for editing) the results are collated and emailed to our very generous sponsors as a thank you.
As the evening of the night before this year’s Sponsored Write rolled around I was feeling worried. I didn’t have a clue what I was going to write about. And, come the morning, I’d dropped my kid off at school and still didn’t know. I had a few wild ideas but nothing I felt very connected to. So I leafed desperately through my notebook and lo, found this scrawled little gem of wisdom:
Tell the truth about what it feels like to be a human being - Jacob Ross
I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure this was scribbled down from a brilliant talk by the equally brilliant Jacob Ross (author of The Bone Readers and more), at one of TLC’s fantastic Writer’s Days. Anyway, it immediately got my brain whirring. I realised it didn’t matter what I wrote, as long as it rang true on some level to the human experience. What I ended up writing - although total fiction - ended up being deeply personal and, by the end, something I felt pretty proud of. So here’s to you, Jacob Ross and TLC, and thank you!
It really was fantastic to be able to play even just a small part in helping to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. If you are a writer and fancy taking part next time, even if you’re just starting out (you don’t have to have anything to your name: just a willingness to write!) then Rachel Knightley is the person to talk to.
I’d love to share my Sponsored Write story very soon. For now it remains with our sponsors to enjoy (and I really hope they do)!