A Creative Writing Workshop for Nurses and a Tribute, Too

Nurses, believe me, have plenty of stories to tell.  They've seen it all on their jobs, the daily drama of life-and-death, the painful loss of loved ones (parents losing a child or vice versa), miraculous recoveries after doctors have given up all hope, and even patients falling in love with them.  So I felt honored being asked to conduct a creative writing workshop for thirty-three nurses (and a few extras including the organizers) from the Malaysian Nurses Association over a recent weekend in Kuala Lumpur.


Robert Raymer with a shaky hand!The transition from my two workshops in Kota Kinabalu (a six-hour, and a four-hour) to a two-day (16-hour) workshop in KL went quite smoothly thanks to the nurses who were there to assist me all the way from Borneo.  They not only posted the agenda online, way in advance, but also entertained me during meals and tea breaks with their nursing "war" stories.  These included swapping their first death encounters—the first time as a young nurse they encountered a patient who had died.  One even freaked out when that very patient turned out to be still alive.  Although the outside wounds suggested death (partly blown off face and loss of limbs, a soldier caught in a jungle booby trap during the communist insurgency), a more experienced nurse urged her to check his pulse—yes, he was still alive.
One thing I aim for in all of my creative workshops, no matter the duration, no matter the participants, is to keep it lively and low tech to avoid needless delays and technology glitches that have marred plenty of presentations (a few of my own and many others at conferences when the equipment they're not familiar with fails to cooperate or a virus wreaks havoc on their Power Point presentation).  So now I use a series of index cards that also gives me flexibility to adjust the tempo along the way, depending on the participant's level of writing and their English language skills, and how much time is left prior to a break.  
Basically I aim to get everyone involved in the writing process from pre-writing techniques (and making sure they're using it properly) to a complete first draft, after taking them through a series of writing tasks and story starter ideas.  Not only do I apply some of my Tree Methodology from Tropical Affairs: Episodes from an Expat's Life in Malaysia, but also give them some judging tips to improve their stories.
Day Two began with introducing my 19-year-old son Zaini, who is studying in KL and became an honorary nurse for the morning session, which proved to be a bonus for the younger nurses, since I was the only male present.  Several of the nurses had read snippets about him in their signed copy of Tropical Affairs—so they asked him to sign their books, too!  The previous day they already heard about him, after I used him as an example for the topic fear (he had a fear of heights after a elevator experience when he was toddler that I later corrected), and mentioned his surprise visit to my creative writing class when he was five in "And Please Welcome".   After the article appeared in the New Straits Times, an older student (I taught mostly teachers in my writing classes at USM) quipped, "How can you write 1000 words about a 20-minute visit, when we can't write about our entire lives in half that many words?"  My reply was, "That's why I'm here to teach you."
I taught the nurses, too, whose ages ranged from their early 20's to 76, taking them through the steps of writing a first-person narrative about a significant, unforgettable experience on Day One.  I held them back from the actual writing until I had them probe further with 5W and sensory detail questions which I gave them time to flush out before moving onto the next one, so when they were finally allowed to write, they were more than ready, since they've been thinking about it for a long time, and the results showed!  No surface, off-the-top-of-their heads writing here—I wouldn't allow it, one of the reasons I take them through the steps so they can produce some­thing not only well written (at least content wise for a first draft) but insightful, too.  The nurses lived up to the challenge.  More importantly, they had tangible proof of their writing to show for their efforts, something they could now work with and polish to make even better.
On Day Two, we explored their childhood fears, and then moved into the realm of fiction as we brainstormed topics such as "They Found Me" and "He kicked in the Door" which I developed in my creative writing classes at two Malaysian universities so my students could see the endless possibilities that the topic presented limited only by their imagination.  Most of the nurses were able to turn their ideas into a story.
Since we had some time on Day Two thanks to an early Sunday morning start, several volunteers read what they had written, even revealing personal secrets that many of their friends and fellow nurses didn't know.  Several of these, I felt, had the potential to be published—after some post-workshop writing cleanup—especially those that touched us in unexpected ways.  Particularly one about an on-the-spot offer to adopt one of their patient's new born baby.  Would her husband agree, on such short notice, to make that decision with her, one that will drastically affect their lives for the next couple of decades?  Would you be able to make that decision?  This was a story that had been waiting to be written for over thirty-two years, and it may never have come about had this particular nurse not attended the creative writing workshop.
Other stories went back even further, forty-fifty-sixty and yes seventy years, including a terrifying (at least for me) account of female circumcision, when two "nurses" visited their house wielding a razor blade and finding her naked hiding under her parent's bed.  Although retold in a light-hearted, lively manner that only a trained nurse could do, I was caught unaware that this went on in Malaysia for Muslim women.  But that was a long, long time ago . . . . Now they do the procedure in hospitals with qualified doctors shortly after the child's birth, as they did for most of the boys back in the US during my generation.  Thankfully, I have no memory of that!
The things you learn at a creative writing workshop!  I know from the comments forwarded to me from their internal questionnaire, how much they learned about writing and how eager the nurses were for a follow-up workshop so they can improve their writing style, even hoping to have their work edited for possible publication in their newsletter.  Book ideas and an anthology or two were even bandied about on such topics as "first death encounters" or "first time a patient fell in love with them."  An example of the latter was being put in the awkward position of having to turn down a marriage proposal from a patient recovering from the trauma of losing his leg.  With all hope gone, he hoped that the lovely nurse taking care of him would also marry him!
I know for a fact that I have learned an awful lot about nurses in those two days, and I do appreciate what they have gone through in their careers as nurses, too.  So I would like to salute the nurses of the Malaysian Nurses Association, and all nurses around the world, because we depend on them to help us and our families to get through one of the most trying, heart-wrenching periods of our lives.  And yes, they do have plenty of stories to share, but so do many of us if we reflect back on our own lives, regardless of our professions, regardless where we live. 
The truth is that too often, most of us are too busy living our lives to write, or we tend to think that no one else would be interested in our stories, our triumphs and failures.  So if you're part of any organization or an association in Malaysia (or this region), and you have a budget for personal development, as the Malaysian Nurses Association thankfully do, you might want to contact me, so I can help you deliver your story into your own eagerly waiting hands, once and for all.  That's doctors—er, I mean, nurses—orders!                  —Robert Raymer, Borneo Expat Writer
*Here's the link to the workshop in Kota Kinabalu with three attached blogs from some of the participants. http://borneoexpatwriter.blogspot.com...
** And another in Kuching http://borneoexpatwriter.blogspot.com/2010/07/creative-writing-workshop-in-kuching.html