I’ve used a few painful writing prompts in the past that resulted in fine books being written, and published. Pain is a subject that gets to the gut wrenching honest to goodness truth in life. So just because something is painful, don’t tuck it away in a drawer, if you want to write words that resonate with others, Drag that stuff out, and use it!
My first successful example of this was my first poetry collection, “damaged children, Precious Gems” that was about child sex abuse, rape, and other child abuse issues. The collection did have a narrative arc of sorts, beginning with the worst stuff, and ending in a much happier way.
My next relevant book on this subject would have been my first memoir, I suppose, a book of prose mostly, but some poetry. It looks at my life after Multiple Sclerosis came into my life. Some of the material there is painful in some ways for sure, the changes it makes to a person’s life, when they are suddenly labelled as disabled.
And then came the most recent published book, “Angles on Ankles”, that has poems I wrote in the time after I fell over and broke my right ankle. Not a good time, that one, that’s for sure. This was a slim little poetry collection named a ‘chap book’, which have become quite popular these days.
So what to do when I fall over, and think I may have broken a bone in my forearm, what do I do? Well apart from going to the hospital to get treatment of some kind, I write a poem about it, of course! That happened last Saturday, 10 April 2021, a date I won’t forget, because it was the day after my 58th birthday.
So, less than a week later, with a painful, but not broken forearm, keeping quiet, and carefully resting my arm as much as I can, I find I’ve written four poems on the theme of my sore arm, and I’m wondering whether it may end up being a prompt that brings to life enough poems for another little chap book. I have one in my head, wanting to be released, and I’m going to be talking about it, and other poetry prompt related things tomorrow, and who knows what else I may write.
When life gives me things to write about, no matter how painful, of course I’m going to use them, I’m a writer!
Carolyn Cordon - Creative 