Writing with Writers by Valerie Bird
Writing with other writers It’s a story I’ve told so many times of four women meeting at a writing workshop twenty five years ago and realising that they were better together than waiting on the words of their tutor. Renegades we were, convinced of our worth; a good and unusual feeling for women. The honest sharing, listening and encouragement has continued to this day. Two of those women, Henrietta Branford and Vera Forster, are sadly no longer alive, but their spirits are always with us. Other writers have joined us, Sandra Horn and me. Many short stories, poems and novels later, this is what keeps me believing I am a writer. Recently I’ve begun to meet a younger friend who, having completed an OU creative writing course some years ago, finds that the pressure of work keeps him from putting pen to paper. Once a month we meet to talk about what we want to write, ways to get round the lack of time, keeping the ideas floating...