Skip to main content

Creative Writing and Competition

 In 2020 the newsXpress website organised a national writing competition. 

The competition had two categories, poetry and short stories. 

At the urging of my brother I decided to enter the competition and to my big surprise my poem Breaking News Agency won the open age category.

The newsXpress judges said "Chris' poem, Breaking News Agency, was inspiring and heartwarming, connecting with hopes and dreams, which can become a reality."

Those words about something I wrote mean a lot to me because one of the reasons I love creative writing is to make people feel. 

In life I am an extremely competitive person. When I play a game, I don't just play for fun. I have to win. 

When I am creating though the only person I am competing with is myself. The only reason I ever enter writing or film competitions is in the hope that my work will be highlighted. The fact that Breaking News Agency won a prize, to me, means it was worth highlighting not that I am better than any of my fellow writers. 

I started writing because it meant I could create things that were not restricted because of my disability. When I write, I can always get the girl, win the cage fight, or climb Mt Everest. 

My writing also allows me to show in two minutes how I feel about something that would usually  take a lifetime to understand. 

If you haven't read my Breaking News Agency poem yet from one of my many posts since the winners were announced, please click here and then come back and I will finish the story.

When I write my poetry it is about expressing something important to me that I hope the world can get something out of. 

I think a lot about what will be left behind when I die. Will people remember me? This is what creative writing is all about for me. 

I love creative writing and I love competition. Very rarely do I put the two together because art is about soul and showing common humanity as a whole. 

I wish to thank newsXpress and the Australian Newsagency Blog for their support of this competition. 

While on a high after the success of the Breaking News Agency entry, I have decided to finish this blog post with another poem.




Creative Writing Competition


Creative writing is my art and my soul competition; creativity puts my mind into a reflective position.

I turn to creative writing when everything is in chaos and my pain is biting.

When I don't know what the answers are supposed to be, or whether I even know who is the real me?

That is when my words come out fighting.


Creative writing makes my wheelchair disappear and I am the only hero here.

It helps me find my emotion when I'm lost inside my mind's stormy ocean. 

I can always find the right place to go. I can even find my sexy mojo.

Creativity writing helps me metaphorically stand up for what is right and order my thoughts late at night.


When I write and create I feel like I'm truly the master of my own fate. 

I can connect with my alpha power and pretend nothing can hurt me at the top of my castle's tower. 

Creativity means so much to me because it helps me conquer my disability. 

Life is full of poetic potential when I give myself permission to answer the call of the creative writing competition.


© Chris Van Ingen | 8 February 2021

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sexuality Through the Ages

 It is twenty years this year since I was first approached by the School of Occupational Therapy to speak on the topic of transition to adulthood, disability, and sexuality. Since that time I have expanded to deliver disability education across Australia and yet disability and sexuality is still the most common topic I get asked to speak on.  With this in mind I am going to shock you all by saying I wish I had never had to speak on the topic. Sexuality is such a fundamental part of life that from the teenage years till death it should be assumed that anyone engaged in helping a human being with the occupation of life should automatically include the topic of sexuality.  Society has conflicting views when it comes to talking about and expressing sexuality. Add the word disability into the mix and people tend to run away or shut their eyes.  I started my sexual life like all young people by going through puberty. In the mid-nineties the environmental factors and condit...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lights! Camera! Rhyme Time!

Chris Van Ingen and William McInnes on set of Rhyme Time Photo credit: Charlie Kinross  For regular readers of this blog it is no secret that acting is my life, and my life is acting. I can now share with you a joyful experience I had shooting a film called Rhyme Time . Rhyme Time  is a thought provoking, sweet comedy about an old school librarian coming to terms with an ever changing modern world.  Throughout my career I have been lucky enough to be billed alongside great casts such as Rachel Griffiths, Claudia Karvan, and Matt Nable to name a few.  Rhyme Time continues my blessed luck working with Australian legends such as William McInnes from Blue Heelers , Sea Change , and NCIS Sydney fame. William is joined by Emily Havea best known for her work in Wentworth . The cast was rounded out by an amazing group of adorable and rambunctious children that completely stole the show and made the final act of the film one of the sweetest things I've ever seen. Lastly I ha...
Post a Comment
Read more

Circle of Life or Circle of Tech

 I have written extensively about how assistive technology helps me be independent. In blog posts such as More Than a Test Drive and Tony Stark's House (an Assistive Technology Dream) . My disability has turned the circle of life into a circle of tech.  Every few years I have to go through the assistive technology merry go round because all of my equipment seems to break down at the same time.  I am in the process of applying for a new hoist and sling, shower commode chair, bed, front door opener, and new abductor cushion.  I also am aware in the not too distant future I will have to attempt to try and get a new wheelchair. Every time I have to apply for a new piece of equipment my therapists and I have to make the case as to why that particular piece of equipment is 'reasonable and necessary'.  The frustrating thing about this is, even though it might be clear that I need a piece of equipment, one or two words in the funding form can make a difference on wheth...
Post a Comment
Read more