a little stillness
This morning I ripped the month’s page away from the year. March, defined by thirty-one small white boxes, was filled with ink, a few arrows, and many cross outs. The month was a busy one for me as scheduling dominated my weeks. From an electrician called to my home to replace a switch, but needed to reschedule for a day to rewire the kitchen, to rescheduling a painter because the new wood floor wasn’t dry, to events celebrating my mom's ninety-first birthday, I always looked ahead to the next day, [...]
now moments
I would be remiss if I didn’t write about my reflections during this time of isolation because of the corona virus, when connecting is at odds with social distancing. I know we’ll look back on this when future conversations will begin “remember when” stories that will never end. I think of memories being made now for those “remember when’s” later. I came upon a quote from Pema Chodron, an American Buddhist Monk and ordained nun. “This very moment is the perfect teacher.” I can’t help but to think just how [...]
on losing my voice
Last month I posted “truth didn’t set me free.” It was about my experience one early January morning in a courtroom. I read the post a week later and then took it down. As a memoir writer, I didn’t like how I wrote it; there should be more meaning to the experience than what I had written. But I wondered after some time if I found its meaning. When rewriting memoir, I use time like an elixir, a magical potion that when applied, will pull meaning up from below a [...]
Memoir – one size doesn’t fit all
I sized up the sock I was knitting. While following a standard pattern—a one size fits all—I realized my almost-completed-sock would not fit my smaller-than-average foot. I thought about how the term sometimes can’t be taken literally, as for clothing, for example, or figuratively, like for a weight-loss program. I was reminded how “one size fits all” didn’t apply to memoir, too, after recently attending a writing organization event. At the event, four published writers talked about their memoirs. What I really heard was how different was each story—the [...]
unsticking from writer’s remorse in the new year
It’s a new year, and I was still toting like old baggage writerly guilt from the last weeks of 2019, hindering any New Year resolution-making. But because I followed an underlying assumption—that resolutions will be broken—I never made promises to myself in the past and I wasn’t about to start of this year with making them. Guilt from breaking any promise is too overwhelming. My held-over writer’s remorse was enough for me to handle. I thought about why we bother to make resolutions. After all, we're human and the odds [...]
making connections and an open petri dish
In November, a traditional month for homecoming, I gave thanks. And now in December as the year ends and calls for holiday parties, tree lighting ceremonies, and Hanukkah preparations, some may recount their year in specifics. Maybe you know what I’m talking about—the letter—tucked inside a holiday card you received. You read a script font printed on holiday paper catching you up on a year's worth of travels, additions to family, or sadly, deaths. The end of the year summons a sure-to-follow response, “Where did the time go?” On New [...]
homecoming
Memoir writer Alice Tallmadge said it best in an essay, “Your First Book, When the Cheering Stops,” - “But your writing mind is as empty as a flat pocket. You can’t imagine writing another paragraph, ever. You say you are taking a break. And you do. (https://bit.ly/2JzmG7U) And I did. Taking a break from writing seemed to be an excuse, if not, a procrastination from facing an empty writing mind. Maybe deflecting guilt about a loss of an attraction I once had to all things memoir? Has taking a break [...]
when your writing changes
Have you ever liked an author’s second book more than, let’s say, their first? It’s not that an author’s latest book is better; it may be because the writing was different. You may have enjoyed their work of fiction over their first nonfiction book. I’ve always been a writer. I journaled through my anxious teens and in college, I recorded life’s contemplations. Then onto my early twenties where pages saw some loneliness with a little fear as I entered an unknown working and dating world. And then came BlogSpot, a [...]