MY ROAD TO WRITING

Please welcome Donna to the WJB this week with the story of her road to writing!

I guess I would say looking back my road to writing started at a very young age. I grew up in a home full of creativity, constantly surrounded by an eclectic source of music art, and books. As I grew older I found myself constantly loving to doddle upon paper whether it be simply drawing or writing and at night books were the food for a good night’s sleep, they still are today!!!

My big step into writing came in my early twenties when as a full-time wife and the mother of two young boys, I found it again, it became a comfort and source of expression to get through those tough days as well as being a source of relaxation. It helped me deal with lots of things that had gone on in my life over the years and still does to this very day. I am a firm believer that writing is a very valuable therapy to people whether they show their work to others or not, it helps to write it out, write it down.

Back in the early 2000s, it was a lot harder to find sources in which to get one’s work published but I tentatively started with local weekly papers which then had small poetry sections, now extinct sadly. Then through hard trawling, I built up a few contacts and got work published regularly in small presses, magazines, and anthologies.

The next big step I think came for me when around 2015 I took a big decision and decided to share my work on various poetry pages I had found and joined on Facebook. It was and continues to be a clogged place to share one’s work I find, so many people grappling to do the same thing too, getting ignored, and overlooked. But I still persist and have found a little niche of groups in which I am comfy, other groups have been left far behind now.

My next big step came back in September 2020 when I met Canadian artist Ala Ilescu in a poetry group and got chatting about my writing and her artwork. We eventually did a few collaborations together which were both a new a wonderful avenue for us both. These collaborations took root in the idea for a book which all credit given to her Ala produced from her side of the world in Canada. The whole project opened up new areas and ideas for me too. I have since learned a lot of new skills and techniques with apps such as Photo-scape and ventured onto new…

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