WRITERS’ CIRCLES
The slip up
Julie Phillips urges writing group members to embrace the moments that make them cringe with embarrassment in these exercises
Julie Phillips
L
et’s face it, no one is perfect. We’re all a load of losers. We lose all the time. We’ve all had monumental failures at work, epic relationship dives, toe curling, embarrassing misunderstandings. Failure is bad. Very bad. Right? Wrong! This month, as embarrassing as it may be and as reluctant they may be, your writing group are going to revisit their past failings and use them to their advantage in their writing.
One writer (names have been withheld to protect the not so innocent!) told me about the time they had gone to a bar to work, only to be told they wouldn’t be behind the bar but front of house, waitressing. Something they had absolutely zero experience in. The inevitable happened. Whilst precariously carrying a tray of plates of Sunday lunches, their hand slipped and the unsuspecting diner ended up wearing, not eating, his lunch, with a glass of wine tipped over by the waitress’s elbow and spoiling the front of the other diner’s blouse, to add insult to injury. This waitress was banished to the kitchens instead and still blazes with shame every time she thinks about it.