On Writing
Timeless Treatment
This is a great article written almost 30 years ago.
I think the “experts” are lagging behind though, just look at the Psalms, written mostly by King David almost 3,000 years ago. For example, Psalm 2 describes emotional hardship by someone, in this case King David, and provides a rough outline for how to overcome distress: Detail the problem, problematic perspective, action, and finally new perspective.
However, as the Time magazine article states, not all instances of emotional distress are relieved using poetry. In some cases, other forms of medical treatment are better suited to stabilize emotional distress.
Poetic Means
Below is a PowerPoint presentation on using poetry as a means to process difficult experiences. Hope you enjoy! Please let me know if this mechanism works for you.
Poetry Therapy
Poetry is more than a form of self-expression.
It can heal.
As a volunteer at a local hospital, I have written poems with children in the Children’s Emergency Department and have found that the children who contribute to creating these poems come away happier as a result.
One young lady, who had suffered a terrible injury, cried to me that she didn’t want to be alone. Her mother was caught up at work and hadn’t made it to the hospital yet. The young lady felt she had no where to turn.
As we wrote a poem together, she began to weep.
As a matter of course, I try to guide the children from a sense of loss and hurt to a place of healing. I create a rough framework for the poems, having the children state:
- Their problem/injury,
- The outcome of their healing and recovery, and
- Their dreams and aspirations.
By following this framework, I was able to process the aforementioned young lady’s loss and allow her to define what her healing and recovery would look like.
I’m not the first to use writing as therapy. Professionals like Michael White and David Epston, use writing as a therapeutic tool.
White, who is co-director of the Dulwich Centre in Adelaide, South Australia, and Epston, who is co-director of The Family Therapy Centre in Auckland, New Zealand, have written an excellent book on using writing as therapy.
Their book, “Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends,” describes, among other subjects, using story as a mechanism for healing and gaining knowledge and power. One tool they describe, and that I have found useful in my work, is what they call “externalizing the problem.”
As the phrase subjects, “externalizing the problem” means describing the problem as an outside entity. In my work, I let the patients define the problem and own it, perhaps a slight deviation from White’s model. Still, once the patients define the problem, I let them process a positive outcome and their future aspirations.
White and Epson stress providing patients with a certificate or declaration that details the obstacle that the patient has now overcome.
In the spirit of their model, I print out a copy of the poems that the children and I write and give them a copy. I also provide a copy for the hospital staff which gives them added insight into the inner lives of the children: their fears and aspirations.
Providing all parties with a copy of these poems has served as an inspiration for all involved.
For more on White and Epson’s work, visit: http://www.narrativeapproaches.com/
Writing for the Web
Are you finding writing for the Web is an exercise in futility?
Remember information or content is the key.
Think of your own experience as a Web surfer:
You visit a site to check your bank balance, apply for a job, check the weather report – you know what you do. In the end, you’re seeking content that you can take with you. Using the Web is an interactive not a passive experience like watching TV.
That said, users are driving the process. They’re in control of finding the information they seek. So, the job of a Web content writer is to make the users’ job as easy as possible.
In her book “Letting Go of the Words,” Janice Redish presents the way Web users respond to content. According to Redish, users:
- Skim and scan,
- Read for information gathering or for performing tasks, and
- Don’t read more because: they’re too busy, find information is irrelevant, or are looking only for primary information.
To be sure, good Web writing communicates the message a business or organization wants to communicate. But in the attempt to communicate that message, the language must be speak-easy . . . not in the sense of a ’20s house of ill repute.
Redish says the language is like a conversation. This means you’re having a conversation with your audience – remember interactive, not passive. You want to speak your audience’s language so they:
- Know what you’re saying,
- Understand that you’re addressing their concerns, and
- See that you’re giving them the information they want.
Remember what you want from a Web site and provide the same for your users.
For a sample chapter from Redish’s book, you can visit her site at: http://www.redish.net/writingfortheweb/.