By this time next year the Orkney 2025 Island Games will have had its first day of competition. There will already be winners and losers, moments of success and disappointment will have passed. After observing many hours of youngsters playing sports, primarily football, I feel that while winning is the aim, losing really is where the journey takes place. It’s the experience of losing that has the power to move someone into a new direction. Sometimes the experience is solitary, sometimes it is as part of a team – sometimes a whole community can feel loss.
I have been busy putting together the technological rigmarole for accepting pieces of writing from all the island groups who are participating in the games. This has been anything but an artistic or creative process. I have been learning how to use google forms and automate e-mail responses. All very prosaic.
However, the process of seeking out prompts has connected more with my creative element. I hope what I have chosen (from George Mackay Brown, Issy Grieve and Harry Josephine Giles) provides finger holds and inspiration for anyone who wants to participate.
Unlike the sporting competition, where more than a degree of competence is required, I’m hoping to attract some beginners. To begin is to start a new journey, to take a risk, to throw the dice, to try. There is a wonderful freedom in being a beginner. The experience is squeezed out of adult lives, where expected competence becomes the benchmark. Doors to being a beginner close even when there is so much to begin.
I’m beginning to learn Polish. One tongue-twisting word at a time. That’s all I can do.
So if you think about writing, just start there – one word at a time. If anyone asks, just say you’re a beginner. It’s more than okay. It’s great.
If you’re from Orkney or Shetland or the Western Isles or any of the 24 participating island groups for the island games then please, you are warmly invited to submit something here.
