inspiration for writing – Norma J. Hill

I thought I’d share some notes I took from CBC Ideas – the 2024 Beatty Lecture – interviewing Conal Creedon (https://www.conalcreedon.com/ ), a major award-winning storyteller/writer from Cork, Ireland. You can listen to the interview here: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-23-ideas/clip/16112235-the-2024-beatty-lecture-pairs-two-great-minds

Creedon says he writes just because he’s a storyteller, and storytelling can manifest itself as writing; he measures his success as being able to do what he loves to do. I really relate to that! I suppose that is partly why I’ve put off compiling my Summerland-Story-telling for so long: I originally wrote the stories after telling them orally and being encouraged by people to record and share them a bit farther abroad through writing in periodicals and on one of my websites. Then people who read them there encouraged me to compile them into a book. Really? That seemed to me to be stretching my story-telling more than I intended, and it seemed like more effort than I wanted to put into it.

But Creedon also says another great aspect of writing is that you really don’t need resources other than a pen and a piece of paper; it’s a simple thing to do, and if you have the urge to do it, you should. Although, as he also said, there are compromises that can interfere with writing, like book launches and lectures and reading tours. I think that’s what was scaring me off. I don’t know why it scared me, because as an editor and writing coach and tutor and school teacher, I’ve helped lots of other people do those things—and the fact is, I enjoyed helping them.

Still, as Creedon says, “if ever you’re giving a reading, you’re really better off if nobody turns up than if one person turns up, because if one person turns up, they’re a witness…” (he tells a really funny story about this: you really should listen to it!). I suppose that is another reason I’ve put this process off; I’m nervous about the response I might get if the “witnesses” don’t like it and, as he says “ridicule” it. Yes, I know I have been fearing “the expectations of others.”

But then he says that for him, true creativity comes from embracing ridicule. So I guess it’s time for me to cast aside my worries about what others think, too. I find it encouraging that Creedon says that in creative expression, you are actually not writing for anyone else; rather, you’re writing for yourself. He goes on to explain that we humans have a rather excessive need not only to be entertained, but also to entertain—in everything we do, even like how we dress ourselves or comb our hair or whatever. Or tell stories. And write them.

Creedon explains this as our awareness of our mortality, and that is maybe why storytellers are held in esteem, because in telling stories, storytellers can give a level of immortality to the characters [and places and events… and perhaps the writer themself?] in the story. That’s impressive, don’t you think? Hmmm… I am encouraged! Definitely time to carry on with my Summerland Stories!

Norma J. Hill

a pen and paper mama site

Category: inspiration for writing

Summerland Stories 6: Notes from Conal Creedon

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