I Have A Dream ....

I decided yesterday that now was the right time to register at the Jobcentre.  I haven't had to do this in a decade but in that short time, the whole thing has changed!  Then I remember walking into the Jobcentre, finding it a hive of activity, having a look at the vacancies on display, talking to an advisor (then finding a job without her help a week or two later).  The Jobcentre now looks more like an internet cafe.  There are computers and a few staff.  But no job-boards, no vacancies on display. Fortunately I had signed up to their online jobsite a few days earlier so I am checking that at least three times a day - but no nibbles yet.  In a way, I think this is a better system.  In the old days it was an altogether humiliating experience with mainly illiterate staff who thought you owed them a living and treated you with complete disdain.  In fact I once pulled one Jobcentre up about the spelling and grammatical errors appearing with such regularity on their vacancies board, even offering to proofread them - but they wouldn't have it!  The guy I spoke to yesterday was really nice, very helpful and he actually made me feel important, so all credit to the new style Jobcentre and their attitude.

In the meantime, I am so enjoying rediscovering the writer within.  I have been invited to do a Creative Writing session next Friday afternoon for a group for 6 - 10 year olds called Chatterbooks which advocates all things literary.  I have also had lots of enquiries about the Young Writer group and one lady who approached me wants to highlight the initiative somehow and draw more attention to it.  So you know what?  I have a dream (as the late great Martin Luther King said). I want to pioneer Young Writer groups all over the country.  I have tried a number of publishers with the idea of a book outlining how to start a group like this, even offering to include the huge number of worksheets and certificates I have produced in the five years the group has been running, but for some reason nobody wants to know.  If their fear is that it is a somewhat limited market then I can reassure them all that it is actually a huge market.  Just think of the schools and childrens' libraries all over the country that could run a Young Writer group!  Not just schools and libraries either but youth centres, churches, after-school clubs ... the list is endless!  What I'd also like to do is set up an official award to be run annually or bi-annually that will give Young Writers everywhere the chance to show what they can do and try to earn a prestigious trophy and/or monetary reward .

Having said all that, and as deliciously heady as I find it,  I do know that things like this don't happen overnight.  I believe in the scheme a hundred and ten per cent.  Convincing other people to share that belief is another matter! So I shall hang on to it, nurture it, love it and believe in it forever.  And in the meantime I will write.  I will Write.  I Will Write ...