Creative Writing With Burn and Wound Survivors

Donor support helped Moss and others write through hardship together

Moss Bittner approaches the podium after his creative writing workshop. He wears a dark suit jacket and sweater with khakis.
Moss Bittner prepares to read his piece in front of the crowd at our Winter Reading & Book Release last December.

Last Fall, Moss Bittner wrote in our creative writing workshop hosted with the Legacy Oregon Burn Center. It was his second Write Around Portland experience, driven by a growing passion for creative writing.

Moss has been unable to work in recent years due to his injuries. However, creative writing has been a challenging and stimulating task that’s been helpful as he heals. And our program made creative writing even more enjoyable.

He reflected, “When you’re writing by yourself, you have all of these ideas and don’t know where to start. Write Around Portland has really opened my mind to this process – ‘just choose one prompt and go.’ And it’s nice when you have that prompt coming from another person because the decision is made for you. You think, ‘I’m just going to respond to this prompt.’”

Thanks to community support, Moss’s Write Around experiences have helped him connect with other survivors. He said, “It’s hard to survive through major accidents. Other survivors know it’s not easy to get through the things we’ve been through. So that creates the warmth and openness that’s really beneficial for all of us.”

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