Writing is a refuge: discuss. 

I think for many writing is a self-healing mechanism. Usually unplanned but unmeasureably helpful. My two contributions to a charity anthology are both science-fiction. The poem is a found poem and the short story is science fiction. The prose was written to fit the theme, refugees. The charity is to support the Alf Dubs Foundation. Science fiction, definitely unconsciously, but in hindsight clearly a deliberate to make an intolerable situation bareable to write about. It tells the story of a young girl who saves her younger brother from the street, only to be swept to a foreign country to work as a slave. The book can be purchased from Voices Along the Road. 

One of my poems didn't make the final cut due to its unusual arrangement. So here it is:

Last week I attended a 2 hour playwriting course with Ryan Craig. It was good fun. He said the secret to writing a story is to have two characters who want opposing things. I thought about this after I saw John by Annie Baker. I struggled and struggled to see how this worked for the main couple. Perhaps as it was so clearly known by the writer but so subtley conveyed by the play. The woman wanted her partner and her lover. The man wanted her to himself. It seemed so simple in hindsight. It was a beautifully crafted play. When one thinks of a superhero film. Villian wants to destroy/rule the world and the heroes want a world which is intact/free, it's very clear. But of course, human life is not like that. Therefore, Annie's genius is to pick such a beautifully set of opposing wants.