Memoirous

File this under the corruption of memory. Memoir. The whole time I was at AROHO I was trying to remember when I had visited my sister who worked at Ghost Ranch on college staff sometime in the early 1980s. I narrowed my memory down to Christmas. I know that much because we snowshoed back into Box Canyon and on Christmas Eve I hopped into the back of a pickup truck for a ride to Christ in the Desert ( http://www.christdesert.org/ ). I seem to remember the chapel being lit only by candles. After the service there was a reception where we ate homemade bread made by the brothers—and rang in Christmas Day as it was well after midnight when we left the monastery. I had those memories, but had lost track of others. I also held onto a singular memory of being introduced to a nice young man newly married and his wife. My sister said he was going to be a turkey farmer. Later after returning home she wrote me to say that the young man had been killed, from a fall, during a hike on a mesa at G...

The women I was with at AROHO were a group of sighers. At the nightly readings at the end of a poem or prose piece there would be an audible exhale, an um hum—as if in agreement with the author. A Room of Her Own Retreat was basically about synchroneity, similar to the other S word AROHO is famous for, serendipity. But upon reflection, I’ve come to think of this external noise as an acknowledgment of beauty, a way of saying you touched me, for one small moment we connected—before the little bell rang to alert the reader that they’d gone overtime. Time for the next woman, sigh, to stand up, and evoke an “oh.” Please consider applying to AROHO for their 2013 conference or atleast following AROHO online. They have several contests including the Orlando Prize as well as the Gift of Freedom Award http://www.aroomofherownfoundation.org/giftfreedom.php

Accordng to Tom Skilling, WGN's TOP meterologist: Here's Irene--645 mi south of Cape Hatteras with 115 mph sustained winds churning north/northwest at 13 mph. It's at lat 25.9N long 76.8W and has a central pressure of 951 mb (28.08"). It is generating 12 ft or greater ocean swells out 345 mi from its center and its tropical storm force (39+ mph) winds reach up to 290 mi from its center and hurricane force winds (74+ mph) extend out to 70 mi from the eye. Hurricane watches have been posted from Surf City NC to the NC/VA border & tropical storm watches are out for Edisto Beach SC north to Surf City NC.  We just said goodbye to Grace who is heading into the eye of the hurricane. Not only do I have to worry about sending my only child off to college, to live in NYC, where she doesn't yet have an apartment and school starts in 3 days--that is if school starts on Monday, but now on top of all this I have Hurricane Irene to worry about.  Good luck New York Ci...

"Every mesa was duplicated by a cloud mesa, like a reflection, which lay motionless above it or moved slowly up from behind it. Those cloud formations seemed to be always there, however hot and blue the sky. sometimes they were flat terraces, ledges of vapour. . . .The great tables of granite set down in an empty plain were inconceivable without attendant clouds, which were part of them, as the smoke is part of the censer, or the foam of the wave. --Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop The above is a quote from one of my favorite books--ever. I probably reread it every year and for someone as busy reading new books such as myself, you have a sense of how important this book is to me. It is considered a novel, but is based on a real person, Father Jean Lamy who, after New Mexico was annexed to the United States, became the first archbishop of the territory. I'm sure he had his faults, history never serves its heroes very well. Fiction on the otherhand truly elevates ...

My goal before leaving for AROHO was to make connections, forge relationships. AROHO is big on Serendipity, which I interpreted as I am going to make such good friends. So of course the first three days of the conference I was disappointed. I wasn’t meeting anybody. I kept seeing women sitting around lunch tables laughing and having such animated talks. At dinner more of the same, though they lingered longer. I imagined they were working out the mysteries of life—or if not that then unraveling the secrets of the universe. I’ve always had the misfortune of entering dining halls and becoming paralyzed. I never know where to set my tray—thus I find either an empty table or the seat furthest away, perhaps sending the signal that I want to be left alone—or, hell, I’m not sure people even think about signals. More likely they just want to eat. So with this dining hall affliction, the problem of over-thinking where to sit mixed with fears of rejection and knowing I am utterly ruining the A...

At AROHO I met so so many cool women who were at all different points in their careers. One of the participating writers was Sandra Jean Ceas ( http://www.sandrajeanceas.com/ ). The whole point of her art work is not to make any money; she builds her installations only to dismantle them. Her intention is not to create archival work, but to create community. Her goal is to involve others, bring them together. That’s her art. One day as I was walking to the dining hall at Ghost Ranch http://www.ghostranch.org/ where the AROHO retreat was held, walking past the prayer labyrinth and a barbed-wire enclosure warning Burros Bite!, I paused for a second to dwell on Sandra Jean. For many of my readers you’ve noticed that at times I grumble about being poor, about free content, about publishing being a bit of a joke. No one is making money. Okay, maybe the celebrity authors. The world of publishing is becoming anachronistic. Someday a child will ask, Mommy what’s a book? Just like kids these ...

"Solitude, competitiveness and grief are the unavoidable lot of a writer only when there is no organization or network to which she can turn."—Toni Morrison What We Know: Powerful things happen when creative, dynamic AROHO women meet. The high desert of Georgia O’Keeffe’s Ghost Ranch is a place of unique inspiration and energy. Taking time apart for oneself and one’s work fosters unique artistic transformation, fresh work, and startling insight. Sometimes writers get stuck. Sometimes we need a shake, a shove, a push. Sometimes just an encouraging word. What We Propose: Shake it up, together! Consider joining an honest discussion among craftmasters in a thriving literary community of eighty women. Everyone speaks. Everyone listens. The AROHO Retreat is designed not around the needs of students, but from the passions of peers. AROHO women are building this retreat with their enthusiasm and concerns, and you could be part of it all. At the 2011 AROHO Retreat w...

Wow! What a day! I've lived four--maybe 5 lifetimes today. I get up QUITE early to cook breakfast for the community--about 350 people. And on Wednesdays I have to transition quickly, get on my bike, and make it to the Green City Market where I sell Flamin' Fury Peaches. I got done at 1 pm and hopped on my bike and decided to REAL QUICK visit a friend. Well, with these people nothing is quick. I got invited upstairs to a luncheon--yes, it was nice--wonderful after-lunch espresso, good conversation. I love this kind of spontaneity. Then in the middle of that I remembered my dentist appt. Yes! I was going back to the Art of Modern Dentistry--hoping for a teeth cleaning. I got there with five minutes to spare on my bike. I got the DEEP CLEANING--and boy does my mouth and teeth feel GREAT. I will add that they were very kind and gentle and did a thorough and excellent job. I plan to amend my blog from a few days ago--update it, I guess. Then I got home just in time to turn aroun...

The Wilder Life is a new non-fiction book just published by Wendy McClure Wendy is a Chicagoan and a fellow blogger and SCBWI member. This book is her memoir about Laura Ingalls Wilder's fictionalized memoir. Basically the Little House books are a house of mirrors. I'll let you read Wendy's book for the REAL STORY. Truthfully, Wendy's reflections are not all that unique--and that's the genius of it. WE CAN ALL RELATE. I, too, had the dream of being BEST FRIENDS with Laura. I also had a plan where I would travel to all the Little House sights and document them. I was also aware that there were some inconsistencies shall we say with the story. snip from book You mean Laura Ingalls Wilder was bullshitting? Another snip "I guess Laura never figured that there'd be people sitting around and able to look up every little detail of her life . . . " The books have stood the test of time--just not of veracity. Of course for Laura, (she published th...