Dedicated to my spiritual daughter, Ceria
Friday night, I hooked up with a "fellow" fellow to see author Jeanette Walls. Walls is the author of the NYT bestselling memoir, The Glass Castle, which details her life growing up in extreme poverty and the unimaginable obstacles she faced.
To say Walls is a character is an understatement. She was brutally honest and funny and sweet and vulnerable as she talked about her life, and we in the audience were very receptive to her story; every time I nodded my head or offered a quiet "Mm mm mm," at least twenty people were in agreement with me.
One thing Walls talked about was the power of storytelling and how important it is for us to reveal our truths. These truths do not have to be in a NYT bestselling memoir, mind you. They can be revealed to yourself as admission. They can be revealed to another as an initiation of comfort.
As she talked about this "revealing of truth," tears slipped down my cheeks. I thought about from which I came, and the painful stories of my past and how now I could look back at them and talk about them in the same way Walls talked about hers. Not removed, per se. But as a person who had overcome and who could examine things close-up and not fall apart at having done so.
In my writing, I can always tell when I have "moved past" an issue because my characters stop having the same inflictions as I do. A lot of my earlier writings were embedded with the things I lost, things I suffered in my life. Through the journey of my writing, I've moved from the things lost to the anticipation of great things to receive.
In a sense, I counseled myself through my writing - examining what hurt, exploring why it hurt, suggesting ways to fix the hurt and move past it.
But my writing has never been just for me. It's always been my goal to educate, entertain, move readers one word at a time.
This is another facet Walls spoke of, the overwhelming response to her story from people of all walks of life. It moved her to see a kid, much like she had been, read her book and think that she could have a better life. It moved her to see the "change" that occurred in readers when they connected her story with their lives.
And it's no coincidence that at a time when I had been worrying about my creativity, I received a gift that let me know my creativity was alive and thriving...even if it was creativity from years gone by.
My spiritual daughter came to me the other night on IM. All she could write was "Wow. Read your book. Wow. Can't stop crying." I had NO idea what book she had read. The ones out were not really tear-jerker stories. She told me that she went to her school library, on a mission to find other books I might have written. There, she found my master's thesis, the novel The Greyhound Chronicles. This is a novel I wrote back in 2003-2004 to receive my MFA in creative writing. This is a novel that I've touched a few times since and have always wanted to go back to, revise again, and resubmit to places. This is also a novel that has a lot of autobiographical experiences in it. A lot of the pain I had yet to overcome are within the pages.
When I read the title - The Greyhound Chronicles - my heart flipped. Memories came rushing back to me. Not making me sad or upset or angry. Just making me remember.
I asked my daughter why she was so moved, what had her so emotional. She told me she saw herself in my story. She saw what I went through and she hurt for me and hurt for herself for having gone through similar things. But ultimately, she felt joy because she saw that the character had managed, more or less, to overcome big issues in her life, and that gave my daughter hope, strength to know she could overcome her obstacles, too.
Needless to say, I was moved. A story I wrote nearly six years ago still had the ability to touch and move someone, especially someone as special as my daughter.
It made me realize, once again, how writing is a part of me. It will never leave. It will always seek to be released because 1) every story I write, in some way, chronicles those things I'm passionate about, 2) releasing these stories releases a lot of angst from me, making me able to breathe and see beyond the hurts, and 3) my words have the ability to matter to others.
And because of this, I am mindful of what I write and how I write. I have stories to tell. For my emotional release and growth. And hopefully, for the emotional release and growth of others.
Friday night, I hooked up with a "fellow" fellow to see author Jeanette Walls. Walls is the author of the NYT bestselling memoir, The Glass Castle, which details her life growing up in extreme poverty and the unimaginable obstacles she faced.
To say Walls is a character is an understatement. She was brutally honest and funny and sweet and vulnerable as she talked about her life, and we in the audience were very receptive to her story; every time I nodded my head or offered a quiet "Mm mm mm," at least twenty people were in agreement with me.
One thing Walls talked about was the power of storytelling and how important it is for us to reveal our truths. These truths do not have to be in a NYT bestselling memoir, mind you. They can be revealed to yourself as admission. They can be revealed to another as an initiation of comfort.
As she talked about this "revealing of truth," tears slipped down my cheeks. I thought about from which I came, and the painful stories of my past and how now I could look back at them and talk about them in the same way Walls talked about hers. Not removed, per se. But as a person who had overcome and who could examine things close-up and not fall apart at having done so.
In my writing, I can always tell when I have "moved past" an issue because my characters stop having the same inflictions as I do. A lot of my earlier writings were embedded with the things I lost, things I suffered in my life. Through the journey of my writing, I've moved from the things lost to the anticipation of great things to receive.
In a sense, I counseled myself through my writing - examining what hurt, exploring why it hurt, suggesting ways to fix the hurt and move past it.
But my writing has never been just for me. It's always been my goal to educate, entertain, move readers one word at a time.
This is another facet Walls spoke of, the overwhelming response to her story from people of all walks of life. It moved her to see a kid, much like she had been, read her book and think that she could have a better life. It moved her to see the "change" that occurred in readers when they connected her story with their lives.
And it's no coincidence that at a time when I had been worrying about my creativity, I received a gift that let me know my creativity was alive and thriving...even if it was creativity from years gone by.
My spiritual daughter came to me the other night on IM. All she could write was "Wow. Read your book. Wow. Can't stop crying." I had NO idea what book she had read. The ones out were not really tear-jerker stories. She told me that she went to her school library, on a mission to find other books I might have written. There, she found my master's thesis, the novel The Greyhound Chronicles. This is a novel I wrote back in 2003-2004 to receive my MFA in creative writing. This is a novel that I've touched a few times since and have always wanted to go back to, revise again, and resubmit to places. This is also a novel that has a lot of autobiographical experiences in it. A lot of the pain I had yet to overcome are within the pages.
When I read the title - The Greyhound Chronicles - my heart flipped. Memories came rushing back to me. Not making me sad or upset or angry. Just making me remember.
I asked my daughter why she was so moved, what had her so emotional. She told me she saw herself in my story. She saw what I went through and she hurt for me and hurt for herself for having gone through similar things. But ultimately, she felt joy because she saw that the character had managed, more or less, to overcome big issues in her life, and that gave my daughter hope, strength to know she could overcome her obstacles, too.
Needless to say, I was moved. A story I wrote nearly six years ago still had the ability to touch and move someone, especially someone as special as my daughter.
It made me realize, once again, how writing is a part of me. It will never leave. It will always seek to be released because 1) every story I write, in some way, chronicles those things I'm passionate about, 2) releasing these stories releases a lot of angst from me, making me able to breathe and see beyond the hurts, and 3) my words have the ability to matter to others.
And because of this, I am mindful of what I write and how I write. I have stories to tell. For my emotional release and growth. And hopefully, for the emotional release and growth of others.
First off I must say thanks for dedicating this to me I feel very honored and love. You brought tears to my eyes as I read it because, I could hear your voice as I was reading it, and I could feel how passionate you was about writing this piece. Reading your story has moved me to find myself and to do for myself and let go the pain. We all should. You should too, let go of the pain from your past and prosper on to your future, not only that but, today and tomorrow because, it is a bright one. You have dreams and hopes that you will obtain but, the only way you can is to let go. Each, piece of pain you let out, the more love you gain, so let it out. i look forward to reading more of your pieces as I find my own self and let out the pain, because, your story was really an eye opener into my life. As, I said before let the pain out and prosper into the bright future that you and God has planned for you. Love you mom! :-)
ReplyDeleteNow that's the kind of comment a mom likes getting, :-) Thanks, babe. *hugs*
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