Wednesday, November 17, 2021

The Great Sea


I don't think memoir subjects can really grasp how fully they are with you when you are attempting to channel a book-length work on their behalf. Every day for the better part of a year, you sit in front of a screen and try to conjure their reality, their words, how they might have experienced the events of their lives through their five senses, even beyond what they have yet been able to share. So much connective material must be inferred, and you hope that when they read what you give them, they will exhale and say, yes, you got it right, and if you didn't get it right, they will say, no, not quite, it was like this, because what you managed to put on the page has helped them call to the fore memories that had been in hiding before, and oh, it's an incredibly intimate dance, and the sustaining of it requires a kind of attention and devotion to both person and craft that is hard to describe. But I'm in it, now. I'm in the middle of the great sea and stroking through the water slowly, thoughtfully, intentionally—rowing faithfully for shore.


A dismaying yet absolutely predictable feature of this process is when you look at what you have written and it all sounds like drivel. Maybe you just need to sit in a different boat for a while, take in a slightly different view, because even in those moments, you must press on.

Arriving at forty thousand words this morning, I'm halfway to a completed first draft. After that, the process gets a little easier, as you now have a map you can pore over with your subject in the effort to discover where refinements must be made.



10 comments:

  1. I am in awe of the creative work you do. I can't imagine what it's like trying to eloquently write the words of someone's life story. It's part therapy and part poetry.

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  2. It's hard for me to imagine inhabiting someone else's reality so deeply that you can write from what you hope is their perspective. It's not like doing even an in-depth newspaper profile, when the writer is writing as him/her/themself, not attempting to BE the voice of the subject.

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  3. As always I am in awe of your ability to shape a book our of words, one at a time, woven together to tell a story. And you look lovely.

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  4. The work you do moves me deeply. Right now I'm beginning to understand how you experienced Mazie Hirono's life as she told you her stories and how it helped me to experience her life. All part of a sacred process of trust and helping one another to move forward together and in turn helping others to move forward. Sending love as you approach half way into a first draft. In that lovely photo, I see you pressing on gracefully with intuition and hard-won wisdom.

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  5. "Maybe you just need to sit in a different boat for a while, take in a slightly different view, because even in those moments, you must press on." Those words apply to life too! You have a lovely way with words! Thank you!

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  6. What an amazing process! It is so over and beyond simply writing, whether fiction, non-fiction, or memoir. To capture someone else's voice is absolutely a rare talent. I am in awe of you.
    Also? You are beautiful!

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  7. Oh my that photo is and you are stunning

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  8. Oh I have always wondered how people can actually describe another persons Memories!
    When I retell a story that my mother had told me and try to retell I know that it is lacking! So I really admire how you can do this awesome work and I am so proud of you!
    I am back in Texas. It is a long story. I am going to try and find a comfortable place to work on my blog. I want to talk but all I have been doing is really sleeping from the flight from Hell. I guess Jet Lag finally got me and got me pretty good.
    Hugs xoxoxoxoxo

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  9. You have a singular talent I think, to put your ego aside and channel your subject. But I know what you mean by being in the middle of the great sea. I get there too, so immersed in the work that there is no awareness of time or that my focus is so narrow that nothing else penetrates.

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  10. Thank you for this glimpse behind the writing of a memoir. It's so much different from what I imagine other forms of writing must be; always, the needing to see the world and events from inside another's head and heart.

    Good luck as you continue, and oh my but that photo of you is wonderful! (I admit I am partial to B&W photography!)

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