Welcome back to A Writing Life, 26’s sharing space for stories from our members’ writing lives. Having followed Rob Self-Pierson and Anita Holford over the last two years, 26er Molly Ovenden takes up the baton in the first of six guest pieces.
Maybe it’s in our human nature to be nosey. Not nosey exactly, but curious. We are made for relationships and connection. Often inquisitive questions can build community. Perhaps that’s why writers love knowing about other writers’ lives, why readers love reading about their favourite authors’ favourites.
There’s that sentiment about the danger of disappointment when meeting one’s hero. Sometimes our favourite authors, actors, artists, whomevers, appear to us on a pedestal or somehow else larger than life. That can be disappointing, for sure, when we learn they are more like us than we hoped.
Comparison can be a painful trap, too. I’m not writing enough, reading enough, connecting enough, marketing enough. I’m not like so-and-so. A lack of contentment, an abundance of doubt; these are such distractions from simply being ourselves on the page. I’m laughing over here at my computer because I know what that feels like.
I am not here to pretend to be anyone’s hero or to show anyone the way to be a writer, but I would love to offer my hand as an invitation into my writing life over the next six months. I hope that my very human life as a working writer inspires you and your own writing life. Maybe you will discover something new about yourself as you create. But really, what I hope is that our monthly moments of meeting will feel like an invitation to be at peace, to be yourself, and to live your own writing life in the company of others doing the same.
Hello! I’m Molly Ovenden.
With that, I want to officially introduce myself.
I’m a contemplative poet and painter who writes poems for people at their request, on-the-spot, in live settings with the help of my 1959 Smith-Corona Galaxie in Hunter Red (you might have seen one like it in Breakfast at Tiffany’s with Audrey Hepburn).
Born in Minnesota, Leeds is my beloved home in Yorkshire. When I’m not writing, I’m coaching, reading, laughing, smiling, eating, drinking tea and coffee, painting, daydreaming, training for marathons, doing yoga, or going for circular walks.
I have an exceptionally supportive, patient bearded furniture-making Englishman husband called Max who knows to ask when I talk about meeting or mourning people, whether these are characters or actual flesh and blood people he can see outside of a book.
I’ve been on the fringes of 26 for a handful of years now. I was a writer-in-residence at the Bloomsbury festival in October 2023 and 2024; my London-based brother-in-law, Will Ovenden, and I co-created a poetic (me) and hand-embroidered (Will) tribute to Richmond Footbridge and Lock in 2025; and I’m delighted to be part of the current “Look for the Light” project for the winter solstice.
It is with gratitude that I join you here for A Writing Life, receiving the beautiful baton from Anita Holford and Rob Self-Pierson. The search for writerly identity, purpose, meaning is a real quest. Sometimes the journey is helpful in the company of others. I am privileged for the opportunity to be alongside you for a spell.
“So Are You Still Writing?”
Friends I hadn’t seen for a few years asked me this. I smiled as I said, “Yes. That’s pretty much what my life is about: writing.” I love the question because for many writing is a beautiful, life-giving hobby or practice, that could be a seasonal way to spend time. For me, it’s a lifelong pursuit. I’ve been writing since before I could write. My mom recorded me singing songs and telling stories I had made up. We’d go for walks and make up stories together, committing them to paper when we returned home.
There’s a sense of nostalgia associated with writing when I think about precious time with my mom. She, Maggie Cedarberg, writes and publishes middle grade stories about adventures with grandparents and grandchildren. Look her up. At 79 she still inspires me with her prolific imagination. We talk regularly about what we read and write and want to write.
When I first came to England in 2010, I couldn’t work, study, or volunteer legally with the visa I had. With everything stripped away, I was left with writing and art. Eventually, I began to take myself seriously and create on-purpose. Over time, I realised that my writing and art are not bottom-of-the-barrel leftover things and I stopped scraping. Writing and art are defining pieces of who I am and what I have to offer the world.
So, yes, I am still writing whatever, whenever, however I can. It’s a priority. I chose to self-publish back in 2022; one of the best decisions I have made. This summer I released my sixth collection of poems written for people on my typewriter, Cold Wet Windy. Writing is (still) a way of life for me. I don’t think I’ll ever stop.
Typewriter Poetry
When I was a teenager I read about someone writing poems for people in a park. I thought that was so cool. Sadly, I was afraid, deciding I knew better: this was not something I was “allowed” to do. But the desire persisted for over two decades. Several coaching clients who came along after the pandemic expressed their own desires to write poetry. I couldn’t hide my desire anymore. As it re-surfaced, so did the gift of my first typewriter: a blue 1960s Smith-Corona Classic 12. It came to me from a friend’s mother’s attic.
In 2022, I began writing poems for people. Flash forward to August 2026: I spent a week traveling with my typewriter. I started in Chester, writing 16 poems for people at a magical more-than-hole-in-the-wall bookshop with a cafe called books on the walls. I moved on to Manchester, writing 15 more poems at an inspiring community bookshop (also with a coffee shop) called House of Books & Friends. I am well on my way to completing another poetry collection.
Thomas Goodun’s New Philosophy on Life
While the last couple years of my main writing life has consisted of writing poems in live settings and publishing poetry collections, I’ve also been writing a novel. Since 2012. Oofda. Recently, I heard a writing coach ask another writer, “Do you want to be a novelist or do you want to write a book?”
This question brings such clarity for me. While there is nothing inherently wrong or right with either option, I know I want to finish Thomas’ story and pitch this book to literary agents this autumn. I am up to my ears in re-writes.
And, who is this character? Thomas Goodun is a recently retired philosophy professor from fictionalised University of Leeds. Upon retirement he realises he has no purpose, no plan, and no friends. When Sylvia, a feisty Californian woman moves in across the street for her own fresh start, Thomas’ life gets turned upside down. It’s a story of second chances, new-found purpose, and unexpected friendships. I really want to share his story with the world. Let’s see what September brings.
Thanks for coming on this journey of A Writing Life with me, Molly Ovenden.
Until next time… Happy Writing!