You are here: Home / Archives for Blog

Blog Tour: Dawn Novotny and her book Ragdoll Redeemed: Growing up in the Shadow of Marilyn Monroe

By Leave a Comment

 

I’m so jazzed that I’m over at the National Association of Memoir Writers today to host my friend, former student and brave writer Dawn Novotny to celebrate her book Ragdoll Redeemed: Growing up in the Shadow of Marilyn Monroe. I was with her during the birth pangs of her stories, which at the time she had no intention of putting into a book–but now, she’s an author.

This is what can happen when you’re just writing to heal, and writing to learn how to write–you might find yourself an author!

Dawn has said many times, “I just wanted to learn about verb tenses. I didn’t really know what I was getting into!” Dawn’s journey from new writer to brave writer to author will inspire you, as it did me and the other members of our workshop. For three years, Dawn worked hard to get out some very painful stories, one by one, and then learned how to edit and develop the stories. I’m pleased for her that she was so determined to not only heal, but then to put a book together. As you will learn in her book, she goes from being ”nobody” to being the wife of Joey DiMaggio, plunged into the world of the rich and famous where she finds out about other aspects of Marilyn Monroe than what was published in the press. From there her life takes downward spirals and upward transcendence as she develops into a whole person, and eventually a gifted therapist. Dawn draws parallels between Marilyn, who was also a lost, abused, and discarded child and herself, and many other girls who were abused and confused by parental dysfunction, sexual abuse, and the demands on a girl/woman by society in the 1950s.

Join us over at the National Association of Memoir Writers to visit Dawn’s blog post today. Leave a comment and join the conversation!

Dawn D Novotny, author of Ragdoll Redeemed: Growing Up In the Shadow Of Marilyn Monroe, is a clinician, teacher, author, spiritual director and national workshop leader. She writes a weekly blog @ http://www.thefaceswelive.com. and her website is http://beyondtheparts.com

 

 

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , ,

Journaling Your Way to a Memoir

By 2 Comments

 

My first diary was a 6×6 inch leather bound book with a lock and key. I only wrote brief code-like entries. The rules in my house were that I could have no privacy, so I played it safe and didn’t record my truths, but sentences and phrases that reminded me of my memories. Years later, diary and journal writers like Virginia Woolf, Anais Nin, and May Sarton showed me that writing personal stories could invite the reader into musings and intimacies that helped me learn about my own life and showed me new ways to live.

Do you keep a journal? What do you write in it? Is it a place to download your memories, or try out writing ideas? Do you draw, doodle, or vent? Is it a legacy keeper or a way to gather ideas for your memoir?

 I got over my shyness with journals, and I, like many people, have dusty boxes filled with journals. For years, I didn’t look at them, but sometimes I do, which is a mixed blessing when I see the same themes over and over again! But I also see that the basic bones of my memoir appear again and again in my journals. The first drafts of every chapter in my memoir were born in my journals. The pages are torn and stained, a testimony to my efforts to write my memoir over the years.

Writing in a journal means that we can freely write, we have invited our writing to flow without thinking of the critics whispering in our ears because we’re not “really writing.” We are journaling, spending time in the private creative space of our minds, weaving imagination and memory.

I’m looking forward to my monthly teleseminar at the National Association of Memoir Writers on May 18th with journaling expert  and writer Amber Lea Starfire. Her book Week by Week—A Year’s Worth of Journaling Prompts and Meditations is a wonderful collection of ideas, themes, and writing prompts that will chase away any writer’s block—and inspire a new relationship with your journal. The book will inspire you to investigate memories that you may have forgotten, and lead you to new ways to make the connections in your heart and mind to write more–and better.

We are going to talk about the many ways you can use your journal to enhance your memoir writing—and help you get to “The End” sooner! We all know what a journey it is to write a memoir.

Where are you on your memoir journey?

What books have inspired you the most as you continue to write?

Tell us about your journaling history–do you have boxes and stack of journals?

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , , ,

Imagining Mother | An Imaginary Memoir

By 4 Comments

 My mother Josephine, age 10, with the dark hair. She had lived with her great-grandmother since she was 6.

 

All of humanity has something in common: we were born to a mother. We might not know who she is/was, or we might have been blessed to be bathed in her love–however she might have shown that love. Perhaps we were close to our mother, or yearned to be closer. Once she became a mother, she may have lost her original identity–what was her maiden name. Do you know what her life was before she had children–before you were relating to her as “mother?”

 Look at photographs of your mother–was she smiling? What was she wearing? Is there a familiar mood she exudes? Can you tell what she was feeling; do you know what she was doing just before or just after the photograph was taken? What do you imagine she felt/thought/did that day so long ago?

I’m often asked by people who are writing memoirs, “How can I write about my mother’s life? I don’t want to write fiction, but of course I wasn’t born yet for a lot of what she lived through. The stories I know are from others, from letters, from journals.”

 Here’s a great way to learn about your mother or grandmother:

1. Read about the era she lived in–clothes, furniture, food, holidays, schooling, expectations of those times. These can be found in history books, online, in diaries and in fictional stories set in that era.

2. Look at a photograph of your mother–is she smiling, posed or casual, what is her body language, what do you know about her at that age?

3. From what you know or imagine about your mother, write some pieces about her–from her point of view. Write a letter from her to her mother when she was 18 years old. What might she have said?

4. Write a diary entry about a secret your mother had, or might have had. See what comes out.

5. Write a diary entry she might have written on the day, or week, of your birth.

6. Create a scene where something in her life that was negative turned out to be positive. Rewrite her history.

7. Journal about your experiences as you create someone new in your imagination. Call it fiction, call it body knowledge or intuition. Who knows? But these exercises might tempt you to know more about her, or see her as separate from you–as a person with her own life, hopes, dreams, and disappointments.

 ______________________________________________________________________________

It’s Muscatine Iowa, circa 1926.  Josephine is playing with another child in the family who lives with her great-grandmother, also called Josephine, the mother of Blanche.

The woman who became my mother was an abandoned child, like me. As a little girl she would wait and wait for her mother to visit, and melt into her arms for the few moments of ecstasy before having to face the “real” world, which later she would describe as dingy and depressing.

Muscatine was the home of several generations of her mother’s side of the family. Her father lived about 20 miles away with a new wife and their baby daughter. I see her feeling displaced, I can see the sadness in her eyes from the time she was very young. This photograph was given to me by a relative after she died. I stare at the photos of mother when she was young, and I can see her then, her small limbs, her dark wistful eyes.

Little Josephine used to walk up and down the sidewalk on Iowa street, glancing at the boats and barged that plied the Mississippi River just a few blocks away. The button factories, the alcohol plant, the industries along the wharf were more interesting to her than the women’s life at home, cooking, taking care of everyone.

She yearned for Chicago where her beautiful mother would come from on the train. She ached for the big city clothes and excitement. Her mother has planted hope in her heart. “Someday,” she says, brushing the dust off her smooth wool coat.

For now, Josephine must practice piano, study her lessons, and put up with farm people who have no dreams. She squeezes her eyes shut, and grits her teeth. One day, she will have her mother and all the finery and live in the big city. One day.

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , ,

The Community of Writers | What Is Your Tribe?

By 5 Comments

 

It’s so exciting to have so many friends around the world–writers, heartful marketers like Lynn Serafinn, bloggers, like Kathy Pooler–I’m a guest on her site today–and all kinds of people passionate about memoir writing. I was telling someone about my good friend Sharon Lippincott the other day, and they asked how I knew her. Sharon is one of my colleagues at the National Association of Memoir Writers, and–we’ve never met, in person that is. We have talked on the phone countless times, collaborated, schemed ideas, planned, and even Skyped–so I know what she looks like–but meet? No, not yet. I hope to see her in person when she comes west. But we are good friends thanks to the Internet.

The other day on Facebook I was awed by the number of people responding to the huge beautiful moon this weekend–dozens of people posted about it and added their photos of the moon taken from all over the country. I felt blessed to be connected even in cyber space by so many people and their response to the moon! It is because of social media that we can be connected like this–and though people disparage the cyber space thing at times–every one of those posts I read was made by a real person. And on Twitter–it does not operate by bots, for the most part. The tweets that I read, and I don’t spend enough time there really, are all by real people who are writing, publishing, and reaching out with their message. It’s amazing to see this. There are so many communities online and so many ways to shake hands with people. I’m learning a lot about this attitude from Dan Blank, whose terrific course” How to Build your Author’s Platform” will help you change your thinking.

I know that memoir writers sometimes struggle with “social media” and mistakenly think that it’s superficial or a waste of time. I was one of those people, but no more. When we approach marketing and getting the word out about something important to us with respect, we will receive it back. When we offer something of value to others–in a memoir it’s the lesson, the message, the wisdom that is offered–others will think about how that message affects them. They will get curious and reach out to you.

Lynn Serafinn, a two-time guest at the National Association of Memoir Writers, is offering a conference about what I call “heartful marketing” in London in June–and I’m going! The reason I’m going is to connect with a large community of people who are passionate about having a spirit-ful connection with others, and I want to bring back lessons and wisdom about how memoir writers can shift their attitude about marketing and reaching out from a grudging “Okay, I supposed I have to start a blog and get on Facebook, what a drag,” to curiosity–”how can I make new friends on the web whom I would never know otherwise. How can I learn how to make all this work for me so I grow my community?” See below for how you can sign up.

1. Think about who you already have in your community–friends, relatives, friends of friends. That’s where you start.

2. Make a list of people whose message you resonate with–and what they say that triggers your response to them.

3. Now make a list of well known people–authors, talk show hosts, movie stars–whoever you really admire and like. Look at the review on Amazon of your favorite authors–maybe someone there is a person you can connect with.

4. Remember community is a circle–give and receive, comment and respond. It’s a little like going to a party where you shake hands and find out what you have in common. You listen, and you say a few things about yourself. Not the long form speech about your book, but the two-line elevator speech where you say what it is about and how it can help others.

There. Homework done, but keep making your lists and adding to them. Check your negative attitude at the door, and open up to the grand community we have here on the www–the World Wide Web.

If you are interested in Lynn’s global conference, the early bird discount is available. Sign up here for the conference or the simulcast–it’s very reasonable and easy to attend.

In my local community, I’m teaching a workshop at Beth Barany’s Write and Publish your Book in 2012 on May 19th.  A great group of presenters will get you up to date in the 21st century of writing and publishing.

Now, back to writing. Later, I’ll look into Facebook for a few minutes, Twitter for a few minutes, and stop off at a couple of blogs. Just a regular day with my community of writers!

 

The 7 Graces Global Conference - London and Live Stream

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , ,
Next Page »