FREE RANGE writing
Fatherly feelings
With Father’s Day approaches, explore your relationship with father figures in these creative writing exercises from Jenny Alexander
Jenny Alexander
Free-range writing is personal writing – no one else will ever read it, and that makes it a safe space for exploring topics that could spark strong emotions. Father’s Day falls in June and whatever your relationship with your own father or the men who have been father figures in your life, writing about fathers could get emotional.
Don’t be afraid to feel the feelings. As the American poet Robert Frost said, ‘No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.’ If what you feel is mostly love and gratitude, enjoy it. If it’s more complicated or negative, take a step back after you have written and reflect that you are more than your relationship with your father – it is only one aspect in the kaleidoscope of experiences that make up your life.