Meet Nysha Concannon-Brook

Meet Nysha Concannon-Brook

 

A new country symbolises many things; a new life, new beginnings, a new social group. My immigration experience struck me in the face like the slap of a cold, slimy fish. I was naïve and prepared for nothing. Every battle I fought felt like an uphill struggle because I was isolated, ignorant and didn’t know where to begin connecting with the locals. I joined a dreaded expats group purely because they advertised that they had a writers group. It was the best decision I ever made, as the group inspired me in ways I never knew I needed. 

I arrived, having attempted three manuscripts (otherwise known as failed stories/books/novels) without ever finishing one. The first Crossroads Writers Club meeting was a daunting experience, full of unknown faces and rules I did not understand. But then they talked about their writing, shared what they did and I was enraptured. Here was a group that spoke not just my language, but a language of literature which I didn’t understand and longed to learn. I met people who were already published and people who were taking university courses in creative writing. I met people whose lives had been so full of intrigue, their stories were almost “un-connectable” with the outside world. Without these people my writing journey would never have started. This companionship in a solitary industry allows you not only to be a better writer, but to understand humanity at a level that allows intrinsic compassion and comprehension to flow through your writing. Anyone can be a writer. Writing words on a page is not difficult. But the right words, the words which allow our souls to fly high above the earth, need truth and pain to walk hand in hand. What makes us different and unique can be nurtured, and a writing group allows you to open up about those idiosyncrasies and feel normal.

Good writers need a community, not always a physical community – but certainly a virtual one. Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of being a newbie is that you don’t know such communities exist. There are online critique groups, writers’ forums, friends who you never knew wanted to write. The list becomes an endless source of motivation and despair in equal measure. But finding the right group can be what makes you a writer. Not because you are among a peer group, but because you are finally declaring in a loud/timid/petrified voice ‘I am a writer’. And you know what, YOU ARE! Just by stating yourself as such. By writing regularly. By entering competitions. All these things make you a writer. Crossroads Writers Club allowed me to call myself a writer, take myself seriously and protect my writing time as a wild boar protects its fragile young. 

Writing groups hold you to account. Writing groups insist on you being the best version of yourself. Occasionally they even offer you praise. You get to experience first-hand what impact your writing has on the reader. My favourite moment was the admission that my latest short story had made people cry when reading it. Don’t worry, it was intentionally sad – they weren’t crying because the writing was so bad. And all of this, the good, the bad and the ugly, in its essence makes you successful. Your own writers’ group can strip your writing down to bones, tell you how many errors you made whilst still encouraging you to reach further and achieve more. I urge you, if there is not a writers’ group close to you, be the person who creates one – it will change your life. 

Writing is often depicted as being successful. Being published. Being accepted by society as a whole. But none of these things make you writer, those things make you a successful writer. But to be a writer, all you actually need do is write. Writing, art, any profession that requires expression bows its head to different and unique perspectives. Tracy Emin is successful because people were shocked by her and she broke the mould. Toni Morrison made people uncomfortable. John Grisham exposed rules and human flaws that were previously labelled infallible. But this plethora of humanity has one thing in common: they are all doing it their way. In any profession we are taught that rules are unerring, but great writers break the rules. We are taught to write good prose, avoid alliteration, avoid adverbs and above all – show, don’t tell. But none of this breaks down what makes writing successful. It is not the presence of rules, but the absence of definitives. We are successful because we don’t give up, we find our own voice and we write from the heart (often dripping blood directly onto the pages). We live to suffuse our characters into the minds of our readers and change their lives forever. So whatever the reason you choose to write, understand that rules are for roads - the writing road is one that is not yet paved.

Blog editor's note: Nysha Concannon Brook was one of the contributors to the club's first publication Blue Fountain.