Suzanne Strong's Blog, page 4
August 27, 2023
Gethsemane Garden – Jerusalem
2000 years of gnarley growth
From when your pain
Fell to earth in droplets of blood
When you surrendered to Gods will
To sacrifice yourself
For our salvation
I wanted to lie down in the dirt
Where you had been
Be there alone in Your presence
That I felt as real as breath
I felt your anguish
I cried as I walked around this place
But there were thousands of people there
Taking selfies where you wept
Where blood poured from your head
Where you grappled with what you were about to do
But you said “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”
What a beautiful gnarley olive tree –
2000 years old
That was the place that you sought refuge
In such moments.
I loved it and wanted to stay in your presence
But I had to go.
It’s etched in my memory
The most profound place on earth.
Where God touched earth and humanity
And paid a debt that wasn’t his
For their freedom
May 19, 2023
Expressive Writing Course I have been doing…
Hello, I haven’t written a blog for a while, but so much has been happening. I want to write some reflections on this course I have been doing over the past two months. To write about the things I have been learning in my life, the new techniques and elements I am taking away from this course as well as new ways to explore writing therapy, and my old ways seen in a new light. I feel so enriched by learning these new techniques and reading many more authors ideas and study about writing for well being as well as research that has revealed things about this. It is an exciting world exploring the way writing can free people from trauma, particularly an article that I was fascinated with about helping young people with this. I will share more about this, but this quote was amazing that I read yesterday.
“people who have led difficult lives have important things to say”
This statenent is what they tell the teens in the Pongo program in the USA which brings poetry therapy to teens in juvenile detention centres, psychiatric wards and many other places. I have always believed this, but it was so good to read this in this way. These teens have been through so much and have absorbed shame whether that is from care givers or the world at large or themselves. But this affirms them. I have also been through a lot in my life and it is such a beautiful statement, as people who have been through a lot, have a knowledge of life that othes may not have had. They have been through things and come out the other end and been stronger and learnt to thrive through this. They have seen things in people that were grotesque and ugly, but they have been able to survive and still love despite this, though it is very difficult.
This statement I think would make a huge difference to teens and anyone marginalised by where they find themsleves, they have “important things to say” and indeed they do. I have always wanted to give a voice to the voiceless and this all feeds into this. But I will share more later. I am simply saying I am about to complete a writing therapy course with the Write Well Community. It has been amazing to interact, learn from and get to know the students from all around the world who are on this course as well. 
I feel so grateful and blessed to have found this community. The tutors were amazing and they are experts in the world of writing and poetry therapy.
May 5, 2023
Free Where the Sun Rises :)
For a few days, Where the Sun Rises is free until Sunday.
March 15, 2023
March 13, 2023
January 26, 2023
December 24, 2022
September 28, 2022
Where the Sun Rises
Malve Von Hassell, Amazon USA“The writing is vivid and believable with colorful descriptions of family life in Kobani and the sounds and scents of Kurdish life which makes the destruction wreaked by the war even more devastating. The author provides compelling insights into the various complex emotions experienced by these women who reach their decisions to join up for a range of reasons, but are united in friendship and affection until the end.”
September 27, 2022
August 12, 2022
My short story The Wall 6th out of 106- Amazon Shorts Comp -2006
Hey guys ,
I was just looking through old creative work for an application – and I found this document which has all of the comments people put on my short story, The Wall. It was beautfiul to read people’s impressions of my work and how they received something out of it. Some of the people defended my work and others wanted to critique it. But most of them loved it haha. It amused me how some people could say “I am not a writer but here’s how I would write it…” haha. It is easy to be a critic, but not easy to create people should remember that. So many people loved the story, it took me six months to write and edit it, and I thought about it for about ten years, after I met a man on the streets of Kings Cross when I was giving out food and coffee with a group where male prostitutes were. I spent a few years doing that but this one man I based the character of Jay on. He made a significant impact on me the way, he could be so resilient when he had been raised in a house where his Mum made him be a prostitute. Some people’s lives, you wonder how they have survived. What struck me was how he just wanted to be loved and accepted. That’s all he wanted. Isn’t that all we all want? Just saying. It still makes me sad thinking about him. My story is fictional however, I heard his story but the two characters are fictional and I didn’t tell his story. That’s his to tell. I created a story around what I saw in his character. I pray he is loved now.
