In this final doorstep chat of the season (and perhaps forever!), I speak to my close friend Emma Cummins - a writer, copywriter and reader who works in the books and media industry, and lives between Northern Ireland and London. We talk about how nurturing a creative practice can help us to navigate transitions, connect with ourselves, and lead an honest life.

Emma generously shares how she has turned to writing in times of grief, both after losing her father in 2013 and, more recently by writing an open letter to her late uncle and brilliant artist, Peter McConville - a letter Emma began in March 2020 after receiving news of his terminal diagnosis as a way to connect with him across the Atlantic.

We talk about how lockdown has engendered the difficult, but ultimately freeing, process of accessing deeper emotional recesses, and how that’s impacted Emma’s writing. And inspired by poet and critic Yanyi’s theory that the way we treat our writing is the way we treat ourselves, Emma shares how she’s built more kindness, flexibility and rest into her writing practice.

Finally, we explore how giving ourselves permission to be who we are in our writing – or any creative practice – can bring a sense of contentment and empowerment. In Emma’s case, this has been through embracing her Northern Irish accent, and seeking out other writers who’ve given her the confidence to do so.

During the episode, Emma reads extracts from two pieces: her letter to her uncle Peter, and Up the Town, a short story based on Emma’s experience of the explosion of a car bomb in Banbridge, Northern Ireland in August 1998.

Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy this doorstep chat.

Links:

Emma’s website: https://emmacummins-writer.com

Dear Peter: an Open Letter to ‘My Uncle the Artist’, by Emma Cummins: https://emma-cummins.medium.com/dear-peter-an-open-letter-to-my-uncle-the-artist-115086fc172d

Inside Outside: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_Out_(2015_film)

Safe Words, by Sean O’Reilly: https://stingingfly.org/2018/12/13/safe-words/

Yanyi https://yanyiii.com

Wintering, Katherine May https://uk.bookshop.org/books/wintering-the-power-of-rest-and-retreat-in-difficult-times/9781846045998?aid=7019

Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg https://uk.bookshop.org/books/writing-down-the-bones-freeing-the-writer-within/9781611803082?aid=7019

A String of Pearls, by Emma Cummins, The Quietus: https://thequietus.com/articles/25046-the-cost-of-living-deborah-levy

The Cost of Living, by Deborah Levy: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-cost-of-living-9780241977569/9780241977569?aid=7019

Milkman, by Anna Burns: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/milkman-winner-of-the-man-booker-prize-2018/9780571338757?aid=7019

Sweet Home, by Wendy Erskine: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/sweet-home-9781529017069/9781529017076?aid=7019

Multitudes, by Lucy Caldwell: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/multitudes-9780571313518/9780571313518?aid=7019

My website: https://www.somethingilearnt.co.uk