Precious Gems

Precious Gems is the working title of my poetry collection in progress and it seems like a very precious gem to me. I have been working on this for so long, without realising it, and now it's so close to actually happening.

Writing the poems for this collection, even before I had ever thought of there being a poetry collection, has been so helpful to me. I find my creative writing is my personal therapy. I write out the worry and stress, and write my way to a better understanding of the issues affecting my life.

If I didn't write, I hope I would have found some other creative way to work through my issues. I completely understand the need people have to be creative. It is a chance to move 'somewhere else' and go to a place where you have the peace and quiet to explore yourself in some way.

Last year during winter I spent many hours crocheting a rug. The rug was made up spare scraps of yarn I had, and it was never meant to be a beautiful work of art. It was simply something I could still do, even though I had a new disability. I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (ms) in late February 2010, and found my fingers, arms and legs didn't work as well as they used to. I was so glad that I was still able to do crochet.

The Precious Gems poetry collection is something completely apart from ms, something I can do that isn't relevant to my new disease. But that's not really true. Having ms means I now have time and a new mindset. This has given me what I need to properly give these poems the attention they deserve. Without my ms I may never have worked as much on this poetry collection.

In a strange way, having ms has given me a new kind of freedom and I am glad!