Writing Is Good For Your Health Carol Ross
What inspired you to put together a book about the
What is your occupation? Does writing feature in your
I feel writing helps me, for example by lifting my mood, and
My main job is in clinical audit in the NHS – a very analytical
everyday work?
potential writing has to help and heal?
quality-oriented job. But I also lead weekly writing groups in
making me feel calmer and more relaxed.
mental health wards to encourage patients to write to help their
So I wanted to create a book that would encourage other
wellbeing.
people to try writing themselves and hopefully feel wellbeing benefits from doing it.
How important is writing to you on a personal level?
I have always been interested in writing, books and publishing.
Are you able to describe the process, from initial idea to printing? Was it what you expected?
I worked in scientific publishing for many years so I had some
Editing and publishing the book wasn’t much different from what
knowledge and experience of publishing before I started the
I had expected, except that it took months longer than I had
book. I wrote lots of poetry at school, but I stopped for quite a few
envisaged! Also I had to learn a lot as I went along.
years and only started again when my son (then 7) asked me to
The idea was born at a hotel dinner I attended with half
write stories with him.
a dozen people the evening before the Writing in Healthcare
Once I started writing again I began to realise how much I
conference I organised in March 2011 (the conference was the
LOVE the process of writing – the creative process.
finale of the Cumbria Partnership Year of Writing, a big writing project I carried out in the NHS trust I work for). At the dinner I said that I really wanted the momentum of the
Can you talk about what you have learnt about yourself
Year of Writing to keep going after the project finished, and that
and others during the process of creating ‘Words for
I wanted to spread the message about writing being good for
Wellbeing?’
For one thing I learned that I tend to underestimate how long
health and wellbeing as far and wide as possible.
things will take me to do! I learned a lot about how other people
Someone (no idea who) suggested creating a book and four of the people at the dinner immediately volunteered to write a
– practitioners and individuals – use writing, books and stories
chapter for it.
for wellbeing, and I read some very moving personal stories from the contributors to the book.
The tasks involved in producing the book have included: identifying the funding for printing, finding a printer, finding a small number of people to write chapters for the book and
Which books have inspired you before and during the
working with them to get to their finished chapter, creating and
creation of the book?
Prompted to write edited by Victoria Field and Zeeba Ansari was
circulating a leaflet across Cumbria asking for poetry and prose
quite a big influence for me in designing the book.
submissions to the book, identifying people to form the panel
Other books that have influenced the work I do in writing
that selected the poems and prose for the book, coordinating the selection process via email, letting everyone know whether
groups include several by Gillie Bolton, Journal to the self:
their writing was going in the book or not, getting contributors
Twenty-two paths to personal growth by Kay Adams, Creative
to sign and return permission forms, identifying a graphic artist
writing in groupwork by Robin Dynes, and Writing well: Creative
and other illustrators to illustrate the book and liaising with them
writing and mental health by Deborah Philips, Debra Penman
about the illustrations I wanted, editing all the writing that went
and Liz Linnington.
in the book, proof reading, deciding on font, paper size, cover design, etc., creating all the inside pages and fully formatting
Who do you believe will benefit from reading ‘Words for
them in Microsoft Word, ‘printing’ the Word document to a
Wellbeing?’
I am hoping that many people will benefit from reading this book
‘press-ready’ PDF document, sending the cover artwork and logos and the PDF of the inside pages to the printer for them to
– I want people who don’t usually write to start writing because
print and bind.
of it, and I hope that everyone who reads it will find something in
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