ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the process of writing in more detail, in particular how for Painting Words members, the text produced is both the thing through which the self is cared for and the way members of the group care for each other. Members of Painting Words can be seen as occupying a healthy 'third age' or exhibiting features of 'successful ageing'. They are independent and productive. Contrary to many of these assumptions about retrospection and life stories, members of Painting Words never dwelled very long on their past lives. The writing session that followed was memorable for the variety of ways in which Painting Words members had responded to the theme, many with a sense of humour. While for Joan and for Katherine a sense of self could be sustained in the present moment of creative writing and through an exercised precision in language, there were also other ways in which group members' writing displayed a temporal orientation.
