I must admit it has been a few years since I have looked at the book I wanted to have written and maybe published before my dad passed away almost two years ago. My mind floats away, back to a time when everything was exciting and I knew I could still hear his voice. Now as I write about my late high school years and into my college years I feel as if I am transporting myself into an alternative universe.
There are times that are still freshly familiar in my mind. The moment my dad dropped me off at college, the first time walked into my dorm room. Reliving the past to write memoir is and experience barely tangible to write about. How does one write a memory on a page in such a way that another person wants to stop and savor that moment? We think about this in fiction as I have heard countless French professors tell the story of the Madeline cookie in Proust and how the taste of the cookie and tea brings back a vivid memory of the past. I remember recounting my own memories, a time where I was singing a song in English in the middle of a church in Bangladesh and the Bangladeshis were singing the same song in their native tongue. I cannot remember how they sung it differently, but if I thinking about the song in English, the Bengali language faintly chimes in the background as it is woven into the way I hear the song forever. I can remember what everyone's passionately smiling faces looked like and the warm evening air. The scent of curry gently wafted through to room. Pink flowers were passed out to many of the women and we tucked them behind our ears.
It is amazing how one moment of a memory can bring back so many sensations. As I journey through a manuscript I have not been working on, layers of memories I forgot to write down emerge. I never worked on something for so many years. I never knew that the outline of hints could lead me to even more vivid memories. Each read draws me closer to the time on the page. I long to step into it. Then I hear a crash!
My kids are playing with water again and I have to go and take care of it. The present time snaps me back into actual reality. I am glad these distractions exist, or I might be swallowed up by visions of the past. Being present is much more important and there will be no past later, if there is no present. Even if the crash startles me out of a dream-like state... even if I am cranky because I wanted to stay there just a little bit longer...there is room to go back later.
The beautiful part of the writer's dream-like universe is that one gets to create it. I travel to the page in brief ten minutes chunks, hours linked together, and moments where I sit and think. It is a capturing experience, but I get to beg to be let go, or even find myself forced free.
People ask me often when I find time to write. Do I ever sleep and I tell them it just happens when I can make it happen. I write in small windows of time and larger ones if I can. I go to bed by 10:00 most nights and wake up at 5:30. I guess you could say writing is a part of my routine, just like meals and brushing my teeth. You do not have to be locked away never to be disturbed to write, you just have to be willing to open and close the door to the writing universe.
Friday, October 31, 2014
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Angry Mamma Hen
What is one of the worst things that a person can do in a not so great moment? Make a writer very unhappy! Here is what happens when a writer does not like what she has been told she is doing wrong. It ends up in a blog.
Normally I would keep this post to myself, but this is an issue I have been hearing about for eight years. Early in my time here in Port Townsend, I saw an article about how kids should be appreciated more in this small community filled with elderly people. There is a dance studio in amongst a bunch of offices on Water Street. These offices are for lawyers, artists, some other people. Everyone pays for their space..it is a place of business. There are some that require silence apparently, and some that are slightly less silent.
In my experience, dance is a great way to teach children structure. However, when a child is 4 or 5 that is just the beginning of such a structure. This class only meets for less than an hour one day a week. This is also the class were even younger kids might be around since if the oldest is 4 there is most likely a sibling that is 3, 2, 1, or an infant. Last time I checked a hallway was not the same thing as a library. Sometimes babies cry, which is treated better at the library than this hallway. There is a little bit more noise before and after the class...why might this be business people? Perhaps parents are desperately trying to get their children into the dance class we paid $70 a month for? Maybe we have some money invested into this too? If none of these little kids want to take a dance class anymore, chances are the won't be an audience for the next age group and so on. Is it possible to give the youngest kids a little bit of a break? It is only one hour, in fact less than that, of YOUR week. Your lunch break is probably longer.
I know that probably the 4-5 time slot is more of an issues other days as the younger age groups meet during this time. It must be frustrating to have to hear people in the public hallway of your building. I know parents in Port Townsend have different parenting methods. However, DO NOT ASSUME WE ALL PARENT THE SAME WAY!!!!
My family of 8, yes, 6 kids is probably one of the better behaved in town. So before you scan the hallway for the short little Asian (helpless looking woman in your eyes) taking care of SIX kids to yell at, observe that it is not my children running around the hallway. You might see my older kids helping me with my younger ones. My oldest is only nine. I bet you have been complaining about nine year old kids, right? Well hold your tongue when you see mine. You made him question why an adult would tell off their mom when none of her children were at fault! Yes, he is smart.
If you have a problem with a dance studio being in the middle of your office space, this is not the parents' fault. We are in search of high quality dance education and your building happens to be where it is. These complaints have been going on for years. I wish the adults in this building could actually start acting grown up. Most of us do not have time to be caught up in your petty office politics. Sometimes people are actually being disrespectful and I understand that, but if you have no clue who it is...KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT until you know!
Normally I would keep this post to myself, but this is an issue I have been hearing about for eight years. Early in my time here in Port Townsend, I saw an article about how kids should be appreciated more in this small community filled with elderly people. There is a dance studio in amongst a bunch of offices on Water Street. These offices are for lawyers, artists, some other people. Everyone pays for their space..it is a place of business. There are some that require silence apparently, and some that are slightly less silent.
In my experience, dance is a great way to teach children structure. However, when a child is 4 or 5 that is just the beginning of such a structure. This class only meets for less than an hour one day a week. This is also the class were even younger kids might be around since if the oldest is 4 there is most likely a sibling that is 3, 2, 1, or an infant. Last time I checked a hallway was not the same thing as a library. Sometimes babies cry, which is treated better at the library than this hallway. There is a little bit more noise before and after the class...why might this be business people? Perhaps parents are desperately trying to get their children into the dance class we paid $70 a month for? Maybe we have some money invested into this too? If none of these little kids want to take a dance class anymore, chances are the won't be an audience for the next age group and so on. Is it possible to give the youngest kids a little bit of a break? It is only one hour, in fact less than that, of YOUR week. Your lunch break is probably longer.
I know that probably the 4-5 time slot is more of an issues other days as the younger age groups meet during this time. It must be frustrating to have to hear people in the public hallway of your building. I know parents in Port Townsend have different parenting methods. However, DO NOT ASSUME WE ALL PARENT THE SAME WAY!!!!
My family of 8, yes, 6 kids is probably one of the better behaved in town. So before you scan the hallway for the short little Asian (helpless looking woman in your eyes) taking care of SIX kids to yell at, observe that it is not my children running around the hallway. You might see my older kids helping me with my younger ones. My oldest is only nine. I bet you have been complaining about nine year old kids, right? Well hold your tongue when you see mine. You made him question why an adult would tell off their mom when none of her children were at fault! Yes, he is smart.
If you have a problem with a dance studio being in the middle of your office space, this is not the parents' fault. We are in search of high quality dance education and your building happens to be where it is. These complaints have been going on for years. I wish the adults in this building could actually start acting grown up. Most of us do not have time to be caught up in your petty office politics. Sometimes people are actually being disrespectful and I understand that, but if you have no clue who it is...KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT until you know!
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