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Writing memoir can be a joyous ride or a rugged trip down memory lane. Writing the stories of growing up in Levittown for this blog is like tripping into fairyland--the sky is aglitter with rainbows and mist, the grass is neon green, and the air smells of clover, toasted marshmallows and honeysuckle. But no one's life is completely docile and idyllic. For me it was adulthood that pushed me over the edge.
Though this blog is about Levittown, it is also about the process of memoir writing. And today's post addresses the tough stuff. I have been fortunate to have many writers as a support team to get me through what I have dared not write about for so long. First of all is my writers' group. We met through IWWG and have been meeting for seven years. Our group's name is "Tapestries" because we are woven together by our writing dreams and our compatible personalities. I also belong to Story Circle Network. I have been a member for 11 years and have been supported by online classes, publication in Story Circle Journal, belonging to online reading and writing circles, and for the first time this year attending their National Conference. At the conference I was able to connect with some wonderful women, among them Susan Wittig Albert, founder of SCN, Lisa Shirah Hiers, the SCN President, and writers like Janet Riehl, Matilda Butler, and Linda Joy Myers. I have made new connections that will help me get the tough memoir written, finally.
Today I am grateful for these wonderful women and support teams that honor my writing. I thank you all for your love and dedication to women and the craft of writing. When you share the struggles of writing, especially the hard stuff, and offer soft shouilders to cry on when the going gets impossible, you know you have found your tribe. I'm glad I belong to the big tribe of writing women and to the smaller tribes of Tapestries, Story Circle Network, and the International Women's Writing Guild.
Happy writing to all of you and happy reading to the rest.
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5 comments:
Hi Renee:
It was wonderful meeting you in Austin at the Story Circle Network Stories from the Heart conference.
I like that you point to the contrasting stories in our hearts. No life has been perfect and we are true to our life story when we acknowledge all parts of our past. This isn't easy but it doesn't have to pull us down either. We get to shape our future stories and it is easier to do that once we examine our pasts.
I was just re-reading Jill Ker Conway's When Memory Speaks. She writes: "We travel through life guided by an inner life plot--part the creation of family, part the internalization of broader social norms, part the function of our imaginations and our own capacity for insight into ourselves, part from our groping to understand the universe in which the planet we inhabit is a speck. ... We should pay close attention to our stories. Polish their imagery. Find their positive rather than their negative form. Search for ways we experience life differently from the inherited version and edit the plot accordingly, keeping our eyes on the philosophical implications of the changes we make."
I know that was a long quote, but it gave me a lot to think about. It seems to suggest that we should look at our lives in a broad context and then see where we want to go from here. That's important so that we can look at and write about our past without feeling that we are stuck there.
-Matilda
Matilda, thank you for your comments. It is a struggle for memoir writers to put thier stories into some larger social, psychological and familial context, but we need to do that to avoid that navel gazing we are often accused of. But more importantly it helps us to better understand the things we've done and the things that we're done to us and to make sense of it all in a productive way.
I read Conway's book a while ago, but now I need to re-read it. I think examining the global context in which I lived my life will help my memoirs be more marketbale and readable.
Dear Renee,
What an honor it is to be included in this company of inspirational writers.
I'm in the process of reviewing Linda Joy Myers book "The Power of Memoir: How to Write Your Healing Story." It's a useful handbook that guides and encourages us to wend our way through the hard stuff.
Keep writing...through all of life's mysteries.
Janet Riehl
Janet
Thank you for the comments. I am reading Linda Joy's book and find it very helpful. Every memoir writer should read it as well as her first book "Becoming Whole." Both books have given me the strength to dive into my memoirs and get them written and hopefully published.
Renee, I was sorry I didn't connect with you at the conference. I grew up fairly close to Levittown -- well, Center Moriches in Suffolk County, which may not be all that close -- but feels close from this distance from the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, where I now live. I'm interested in your blog and your writing about a place, Long Island, where I spent many of my childhood years. Look forward to reading your stories and hope to meet you in 2012! Mary Jo
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