By Eithne Cullen

Welcome to Thoughtful Tuesday. March is the month of misunderstandings, madness, mad hares and blustery days. Today’s page moves away from some of the misunderstandings the end of winter and the arrival of spring might bring.

There’s quite a tradition of writers looking for places of calm and peaceful surroundings to find the space to write; just to be. In my mother’s generation, it was quite a thing for people (many of them women) to go off on religious retreats. For them, believing in the power of religion to heal and bring peace also meant a few hours or days away from the demands of children, housework and chores.  Modern women are more likely to seek out spa breaks and girly weekends; still looking for the peaceful respite they might bring.

In an effort to find the peace and calm of the changing season and to celebrate National Storytelling Week, Mary Walsh and I (along with Pen to Print’s Lisa Roullier) took a group of writers off on a retreat. We sought order and clarity, freedom from the muddle of our busy days and a space to write. We certainly achieved that!

We held the retreat in Valence House in Dagenham, a welcoming venue with a comfortable classroom and the provision of objects to inspire our writing. We had access to the Museum and the sensory garden, also points of inspiration. It was a real hit! Everyone was happy in the friendly environment and the writing flowed. It was coincidence that the wind died down for a whole day and the sun shone in a blue sky.

I’m looking forward to sharing some of the writing we produced below. I hope you enjoy it!

Gloria Maloney kicks us off with her perspectives on the day.

I attended the Pen to Print writers’ day retreat on the sixth of February at Valence House Museum. As a poet, it was lovely to come away from my solitary desk and connect with a group of people from all walks of life who share a passion for writing.

This warm, friendly inviting space helped clear my mind of everyday clutter. By collaborating and chatting with fellow writers, I came away buoyed up with enthusiasm and buzzing with new ideas.

© Gloria Maloney, 2025

*****

Next, a poem from Tavinder New, sent along with these words of thanks: Great session on the writing retreat! I’m sending this in because I would like to contribute to the essence of the day.

Always Something To Do

There is always something to do, always something to sort out,
lists go on, emails to follow, housework waiting with a breath to be cleaned,
There is always something to do, always something to sort out,
The power to get away, the power to be you, the power just to create,
lists no more, emails to forget, housework to leave at the back of the mind that never stops,

The retreat for silence.

A place for inner peace,
A place to write, create, and share without distractions or the pressure of doing,
A place for the voice, the pen and the paper for creativity
The retreat is just to be a woman – not a mother, wife, single or without a child.
The mind stops talking, the self relaxes and it can go off into another place.
A retreat with the notion of just getting away, the permission to be allowed to get away, to be yourself,
As there is always something to do, something to sort out, something.

© Tavinder Kaur New, 2025

Connect with Tavinder on: X @NewTavinder

*****

Danny Baxter shared this poem, written using a prompt from the very generous Joseph Fasano.

No One Knows

No one knows the beast that smiles in me
No one knows my heart is a dark knight
I carry through the battle towards the victory
No one knows the assailants I dispatch but I do, I do.

I will wake up and rouse the beast
I will wake up and smile the smile
I will fight until I satisfy the beast

© Danny Baxter, 2025

Connect with Danny on Instagram: @dan_lbbd

*****

The grounds of the house and Museum contain historically significant trees and Mary inspired us to use them as the starting point for our poems. This was my reflection.

A Poem That Starts With A Tree

It started with an oak tree, sending
its leaves all over the ground below.
Leaves with small, curved edges – brown
and crisp – stems pointing skyward.
Autumn and the glory of the oak’s
splendid growth dwindles to show bare
and sagging cankered branches
that give away the tree’s ancient
history. Small twigs and boughs yielded
to the squirrels’ squabbles
longer sticks bounced off the ground.
The oak never budged, solid roots anchoring
into solid ground. Thick ridges in the
darkening bark. Steady, steadfast, solid.

© Eithne Cullen, 2025

Connect with Eithne on Instagram: @eithnecullen57 and X: @eithne_cullen

*****

Julian Walker came along to the retreat. While we were getting to know him, he told us a bit about the work he’s involved with. Creating beautiful books of words and prints, StuffLikeThat is a craft publishing venture run by Julian Walker at Valentines Mansion Studios in Ilford.

StuffLikeThat

I’ve made handmade books since I was at school and they’ve been an important part of my career as an artist. I started StuffLikeThat in 2023, designing and printing chapbooks as a way of getting my short stories into print. The chapbook pattern – chapbook means ‘cheap book’ – was used for the earliest children’s books printed in Britain. They were usually printed on both sides of a single large sheet folded, sewn and cut, and sold by pedlars in markets or door-to-door. The model was taken up by poets in the early twentieth century and has been used since for independent publishing, a companion to the zine.

StuffLikeThat books are individually made, with hand-printed covers, generously laid out on decent paper and with hand-sewn bindings. Editions are small, usually a first run of 15 copies, but extra batches are printed as they sell out (and they do).

An important aspect of the project in the context of current publishing is the desire to move away from the quick turnover of digital publishing. Instead, SLT books are designed to encourage slow and repeat reading, returning to the idea of the book as an object to be held and enjoyed. The emergence of AI and recent reports about how texts were being altered and reassigned, in some cases to non-existent authors, to suit the market has been another reason for sidestepping the digital establishment.

Rather than a rejection of progress, this may be seen as subversive, and there is an acknowledgement of this in the use of a mechanical typewriter for the titles: unauthorised literature was published in the Soviet bloc using typewriters and carbon paper, in important and valued editions of as little as five or six.

Our covers are hand-printed using linocut, woodblock, letterpress, stencil and collage, with occasional use within the design of illustrations from children’s books from the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Since last year, SLT has been publishing a range of works beyond short stories – a book of haikus to raise money for the Red Cross, another illustrated book of haikus by Wanstead poet Hazel Dongworth, an essay on dogs in slang by Jonathan Green, and a memoir by Sheena Calvert – and we’re open to submissions of unpublished work.

Currently,we have about 50 titles in print and are now looking at creating zines, based on compilations of short non-fiction.

StuffLikeThat books are available via the website, at book and craft fairs, and at Valentines Mansion open studios: the next are on 27 April and 20 July.

© Julian Walker, 2025

Find out more at W: stufflikethat.godaddysites.com

*****

To round off the pieces from the day, a poem from Mary sums up our feelings about the sense of positivity we all took away with us.

Reflections

We had an immensely inspirational day in beautiful surroundings and I got the sense from the attendees that this opportunity to write without interruption or distraction was invaluable. The space we were in really helped, with many saying that even a small prompt gave them the starter they needed to write a poem or start a story idea. To me, it showed that having time + space + a quiet place + guided inspiration = fantastic writing with many writers surprising themselves!

Using the beautiful Holm Oak tree in the garden of Valence House, I wrote a short piece about the birds that inhabit the branches and what would happen when magpies move into the area and cause all sorts of trouble. The birds hid away while the magpies were free to roam. I thought about this happening in our communities and how the good people live in a prison of their own making but should reclaim the streets and make the bad guys afraid.

I also read a short poem about what happens when the visitors go home.

When The Visitors Go Home

When our visitors go home
we settle into the old routine
like figures on a church clock
we circle around and close the doors
Safe in our inner space
familiar, cosseted, warm
We return to ourselves
our habitual life
comfortable in each other’s silence
No need to put on graces
or air our gregarious nature
They are they, and we are we.

© Mary L Walsh, 2025

Connect with Mary on Bluesky: @Melw66.bsky.social and Instagram: @Marelwa60

*****

Finally, March, along with all its madness, is also the month for celebrating mothers. We all have them, or had them, maybe we are them (and don’t forget to mention grandmothers!). It’s nice to stop just for a moment to think and maybe even wish a Happy Mother’s Day to the mothers in your life, past and present. With this in mind, here’s a poem from Julie Dexter to finish on.

Motherhood

Sometimes, I just hang my head
and weep, the absurdity of it all.
They push you away,
then pull you back,
ask if you’ll go,
I ask if you’ll come!
Will I be there when you need me?
Leave you alone when you don’t?
I will, I say,
But now I’m writing.
You hear me downstairs
tapping the keys,
I hear your breath on the stairs.
Are you there, you ask?
I am, I say.
I know she knows
There I will stay.

© Julie Dexter, 2025

Connect with Julie on Instagram: @LateNightSwimmer and via her website Juliedexterwriter.com

*****

Issue 23 is out now. You can find it in libraries and other outlets. Alternatively all current and previous editions can be found on our magazines page here. 

You can hear great new ideas, creative work and writing tips on Write On! Audio. Find us on all major podcast platforms, including Apple and Google Podcasts and Spotify. Type Pen to Print into your browser and look for our logo or find us on Spotify.  

*****

If you or someone you know has been affected by issues covered in our pages, please see the relevant link below for ​information, advice and support​: