Memoir Happens Slowly While The World Moves Fast
Today's post comes to you from an hour hauled from my overstuffed schedule.
This year, I've tried to do it all: continue reweaving the tenth draft of my memoir, create writing class content, teach two writing classes at Coonara Community House, and teach a Majickal Bellydance class at Dashanti Yoga.
And I have managed it all, except – if you're a writer you've probably guessed – the memoir almost slipped from the edges of my rapidly spinning world. But I grabbed it in time, by setting a deadline. Then I realised that if I wanted to meet the deadline I'd set with a writing mentor, something had to be compromised.
This means I'll be taking a little sabbatical from teaching Majickal Bellydance. I'll be back – I always come back. I've returned from several 'retirements.' So with that knowledge, the door isn't locked, just closed for a little while.
If you're a writer, you will know that writing a book takes enormous mental focus – free of distractions. If you're a memoirist, you will know that writing a memoir involves processing the emotions associated with memory. And if you're a trauma survivor writing memoir, you will know that each chapter can leave a writer a shuddering mess. The writing itself unlocks deeply buried trauma from our bodies, which causes us to feel bit shaky – at best. At worst, which has happened to me a few times, the trauma shaking can result in full-blown seizures. So for me, writing memoir has to be a slow process. There's only so much I can handle at once. I've experienced long gaps between writing sessions, much longer than previous books. But I'm patient with the process. I have to be.
If you're a teacher, you will know that we don't just show up and start the class. We spend hours of preparation time, researching and creating notes. For me, this means one day of teaching equals one day of preparation. All of this work then takes recovery time, leaving only scraps of time for my memoir. But I'm working on streamlining my course work, and have already undertaken thorough planning to enable this.
And that's not all I'm doing. The Dandenong Ranges Literary Festival will be taking place in Belgrave in October. I've taken on the role of Minutes Secretary, which means I'm quite involved with the planning stages. Sometimes I think I'm nuts for taking on so many projects. But then I remind myself that I waited so long to focus on my writing goals, that I just have to keep marching forward and take any opportunity I can to entrench myself deeply into the local writing scene. I'm meeting some great people, and I'm hoping to grow more comfortable in the writing festival environment; which can feel a bit much for this introvert to tackle. I have a theory that if I help to organise a festival, I won't be so intimidated by them. But if you see me looking stricken at the festival, you'll know it isn't working!
This term the Coonara Writers participated in group projects. Each group produced a piece of content for the Coonara House Blog. I encourage you to take a look. Wrangling each group together and getting them on the same page was a challenge for me, and also a lot of fun. My sweet spot seems to be standing at a whiteboard, Texta in hand, brainstorming with the group. Both groups worked hard to polish their ideas into finished pieces of content, and all of the writers are delighted to be published. We'll be starting on our next amazing writing project on Thursday 31 July. Join in.
Bellydance is still an important therapeutic and fun part of my life, and I love sharing the ancient movements with others. But the writing must come first. It must. But check back in summer, and you might find me back in studio.
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