You’ve read their work, admire their writing and anticipate reading their next book. Have you ever wondered, from whence did those words spring forth? Some readers are curious about the forces that give shape to a writer’s identity. They are intrigued about the circumstances that were foundational to the development of an author’s work.
Now, there are those who believe that you have to be Crazy Brave to be a writer. It’s true. You have to be brave enough to work yourself through all of the crazy kinds of things that can happen in the Ordinary Light of a day and live to tell the tale.
When a writer pens a memoir, they begin Where the Past Begins, perhaps, in a Yellow House, long disappeared but that is, still, alive and noisy with rooms full of comings, goings and gatherings. Whisperings and shouts crowd into every space of their mind demanding to be heard.
Perhaps, they were a City Kid standing outside a Dimestore feeling like a Little Failure. Now, they have the language and the tools to look back at the boy who has become His Ownself, a self that can name all of the penny candy needed to sweeten a boy’s life.
South and West, north and east writers write their lives. They tell their side of the story, pen their Thoughts Without Cigarettes clouding their vision of those Mean years, blessed years, years of yearnings of the oh-so young. Bittersweet years where All You Can Ever Know is what you have seen, felt and witnessed from a long ago time comes spilling out, comes in fits and starts.
As The Years come and go, writers learn that The Art of Leaving requires the making of a map, a map of memory that traces their path to a future self.
Have you, ever, met a stranger who told you a compelling story about their life? Do you, still, remember where and how you met them and how you felt as this perfect stranger spoke, so openly, about their life? Have you told a perfect stranger the story, the real story that has stamped upon your soul a memory that shapes your every waking hour?
Along life’s journey, a writer is a fellow traveler. What if there’s a story on the resource list Write On!: Writers Writing Life that leads you to an unanticipated discovery about your own life? Every reader knows that there’s more than one way to travel.
This blog post is part of a multi-part series. Catch up with other posts: Write on!: The Very Personal Journey of Keeping a Journal; Write On! Nonfiction Writing Informs the World; Write On! A Story Only You Can Tell, Writing a Memoir; Write On! Crafting the Novel, Creating Imaginary Lives; Write On!: Get Moving, Write that Screenplay; and The Last Note Begins with See Sharp: On Transforming Your Thoughts Into Poetry.
~ posted by Chris
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