It’s baby Loss Awareness Week in October and this year I’d like to not only use the week to think about the loss of my little girl, Matilda, and the two miscarriages my husband and I went through, but to also reach out a friendly hand to those who have suffered the loss of their own babies, at whatever stage. My daughter, an IVF baby, died during an emergency c-section in 2010. There’s not a day goes by when I don’t think of her.

In my own experience I have found creative writing, in my case poetry and memoir, has helped enormously in dealing with my grief process and finding a way to remember my daughter, to mark her time with us. Creative writing can be therapeutic; it allows emotional experiences to be handled in a way that perhaps isn’t possible through other means. The act of creating something beautiful, of memorialising your lost baby, writing letters to them, celebrating your love for them and their short lives or simply exploring your loss through prose; getting it out of your head and onto the page, are all ways in which grief can be accepted and acknowledged.

This year I’d like to invite you to join me for a week long, no pressure, prompt based workshop exploring and remembering your lost babies. As well as having gentle prompts delivered to your inbox daily, the workshop will have a closed facebook group where people can share their work in a safe and supportive environment. Only the people within the group will see anything shared. Having said that, you might not want to join the facebook group at all, and that’s OK, you might want to keep the prompts and work on them in your own time, in your own way.

The workshop is open to anyone who has experienced baby loss, mums and dads as well as siblings and grandparents. It is suitable for people aged 18+ . It is open to non writers, writers, beginners and experienced writers alike and the focus will be on creativity. Please drop me a line if you have any concerns or questions.

There will be some guidance notes at the beginning and end of the week, and a daily prompt will be delivered directly to your inbox every day for that week. The closed Facebook page is moderated daily by myself.

The cost of the workshop is just £10. I do hope you will join me for this gentle, supportive workshop. Please find instructions below:

INSTRUCTIONS