VALLEY CENTER -- The charred landscape around Valley Center is recovering from the Paradise fire, and green grass can be seen sprouting up along the hillsides. But the emotional scars left on the residents affected by the blaze are still fresh.

A group gathered Saturday morning at the Valley Center Library to write about their experiences with the fire that started Oct. 26 and burned 56,700 acres and 221 homes. No one in the group had lost their home to the flames, and what was intended to be two hours of writing therapy turned into a discussion as well as writing.

The workshop, titled "From the Ashes of Paradise," was organized by Petei McHenry, director of the Valley Center History Museum and Sandy Puccio, library manager. McHenry said the written documentation of people's thoughts and reactions to the blaze were not only therapeutic, but historically significant.

"Historically, the best time to do this is as soon as you can, before memories fade away and you forget all the bad," McHenry said. "It's healing to write things down, and we have had a lot of people severely affected (by the fire). It is a part of oral history that needs to be preserved."

Those that gathered had a wide variety of stories to share and some read their writing out loud. There were stories about loading cats, dogs and stubborn horses into trailers, and stories about being in Europe when the fire began. Elizabeth Usher brought her two daughters, Brittney, 9, and Bridgette, 5, to help them deal with their feelings. The girls' father is a firefighter who fought the blaze for eight days.

"I am writing about how my father was out on the fires and how close it got to my friend's house," Brittney said, her voice cracking with emotion. "It feels better to write because I am not keeping my thoughts inside, where it hurts more."

Vera Littlejohn, who has only lived in Valley Center for 10 months, said she heard about California's infamous wildfires when she lived in Texas and New York, but she never thought she would live through them. She tried to read her story out loud but her emotions overwhelmed her and another member of the group had to finish the account.

"I found out by writing I was feeling emotions I hadn't let out," Littlejohn said. "I didn't realize they were all bottled up."

Littlejohn's story recounted the morning of the fire when she went out for a walk with her dog at dawn and saw a peculiar-looking cloud on the horizon. When she went home to get her camera, her daughter told her she was seeing smoke from the fire. The family was forced to evacuate.

Littlejohn ended her account with, "Writing this makes me cry."

All of the stories written during the workshop will go into a book that will be published, McHenry said. The book will include residents' memories of the fire as well as photographs and newspaper clippings. McHenry said the book will be available in all county libraries and bookstores.

She said that people interested in contributing to the book can send their stories and photos to the library.

Tama Dumlao, a local artist, came to the workshop not only to write about her experiences but also present a piece of artwork she created in response to the fire. Dumlao was in Paris when the fire struck and her sister was staying at Dumlao's home.

"It was on the news (in Paris), and they were talking about the simultaneous fires in San Bernardino," Dumlao said. "It was very surreal being so far away. It felt very apocalyptic as far as Southern California was concerned."

McHenry said that writing is "therapy for the soul" and very helpful in getting people past devastation.

"There was tragedy, but out of tragedy comes rebirth and out of rebirth comes gladness," McHenry said. "We will prevail."

The library will host another writing workshop from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday.The workshop is free and open to all ages and anyone interested in sharing their stories about the fire. The library is at 29200 Cole Grade Road. For details, call (760) 749-1305.