how a quiet memoir can still speak
I recently read through the “memoir” category of books in Kirkus online reviews to see a mixture of abuse and dysfunction, trauma and grief. These were just a few of the many descriptions among an emotional tumult of topics. Though my heart was heavy, I couldn’t relate to their experiences. And because of this, I saw what most other memoirs were and what mine wasn’t. Though I don’t like to categorize my memoir as what it isn’t, this difference was worth exploring. When I wrote my book over 10 years [...]
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“Get connected”- not in the way you think
Connection. That word is well-known and well-used thanks to social media. Our electronic conversations never lack the words “get connected” or “connect with me.” The social media applications—Facebook, Instagram and Twitter —are the top contenders that keep us connected with others. Through our connecting posts, we learn of others’ daily lives, who they meet, places they go, even the foods they eat. We connect, literally, with others through social media. However, our connections in the stratosphere of social media fall short. After all, we are human . . . with [...]
connecting through our soles
You will take over 200 million steps in your lifetime. Imagine if your feet could narrate a travelogue, report miles and destinations, when they are at rest, and injuries they may have sustained. What would they say? They dance and run, burrow in sand, hold you in mountain pose. Your feet connect you. Your feet track memories, record the spot beneath them while your mind and heart merge to make lasting impressions. Fred Astaire said, “I just put my feet in the air and move them around.” What joy our feet [...]
how to discover your connections
Do you find yourself taking an unexpected pause during your daily travels? For unexplained reasons you stop to consider a feeling or emotion, even a memory that has suddenly hit you? Consider three scenarios. The first, you take a walk, a hike maybe, along a dirt path through a forest preserve where there is an abundance of trees and other foliage. You look in the distance and see a tree, standing bigger than the others. You stop and take inventory of its large, stately trunk, maze of limbs and a [...]
a ride with Jeanne
He reminded me of Dennis Rodman, sans tat art, sporting a sparkly studded gray square earring that covered his earlobe. And he worked a toothpick in his mouth like any good gum chewer works his gum. “So, how ya likin’ this weather?” the dark-skinned driver asked me as I took a big step up to slide into the front seat of his medic-van. “Oh, just great,” I replied. “Man, I love this weather. This cold and kinda rainy, gray. I can’t stand the heat, any kind. Ya see, I have [...]
how autobiography can still be called memoir
I'm usually not a rule breaker. But, full disclosure: my memoir, Under the Birch Tree, reflects a rule, a memoir is not an autobiography, that I broke. Though Under the Birch Tree is now memoir, it maintains characteristics of autobiography. How I handled this telltale suggestion tipped the category from autobiography to memoir. The leap from a chronological autobiography to a memoir took years of self-study, reading best-selling books about memoir writing, reading memoirs, and listening to webinars and podcasts. I managed copious rewrites and allowed my years of reflecting on my [...]
first run – a discovered connection
The asphalt path just north of Oak Street was abuzz with bikers, runners, inline skaters and walkers. Warmth radiated from a sunny sky to cool the early afternoon spring air. I jumped on the path to join the others in a pace too fast for me then but would later be a rhythm I could fold into. Following a pulse was connecting to a place that was once familiar. Connecting was being at home again. In my twenties, I quickly became familiar with Chicago due to searching for a job [...]