9/11 Ten Year Anniversary – our legacy

Posted on September 11, 2011 by moonbridgebooks

No, I haven’t written down my experience of 9/11, but it’s about time. I remember my first reaction quite well, even after ten years, and I don’t like to think about it. I dropped my youngest child off at the preschool in our church and noted the hallway was a bit empty. A few mothers I didn’t know had stopped in small clusters to whisper to each other and then quickly left. I wondered if there was something going on with the preschool, but inside the classroom, everything seemed normal. Still, I felt a strange undercurrent from the anxious tones of the whispering. I turned the car radio on during the short drive home and heard the deejays say something was going on in New York, but they weren’t sure what. Their voices were tense and quiet, not the usual super-cheerful morning show chattering. Ads came on, then music.

At home I turned on the TV just after the second plane hit. I could not comprehend what was going on, but my blood – and my mind – froze. My jaw fell open in shock. When the first tower began to fall, so did my tears. I remember crying to the TV, “Oh, no, oh my God!” At that point I ran to the front closet, grabbed our big flag and placed it in the holder outside the door. It was the only way I could think to show my pain and my support for those who had died, those who were trying to escape, and above all for the rescue personnel I had seen going into the towers.

Ten years later it still hurts to think about this, even though I was all the way over here in Missouri when it happened and I don’t even know anyone who lost someone they loved. Guess I’m too sensitive – after the tragedy I had to quit watching and reading the round-the-clock news because I was empathizing so much my nerves were starting to break.

For everyone who lived through 9/11, the event has become part of our history, part of who we are. Even if we think we weren’t personally affected that much, we see how it has affected our lives each time we go to the airport. It’s part of our legacy now to tell the story of where we were and how we were affected, partly to honor those who died and the heroes who risked their lives to save others, but also to remember how shockingly we learned that an ocean is not wide enough to keep us safe from enemies and that we should not take for granted life and the people we love.

Some people journal through trauma and find that helps them heal. Others have to wait until after they recover. Either way, the story is most full when we can bear to look at it and we have gained perspective – soon after, or ten years later. Lauren Manning survived 9/11 after being burned over 82% of her body. Her scars carry great meaning. Her inspirational memoir, Unmeasured Strength, has just been published.

Linda Austin
“Cherry Blossoms in Twilight”
http://www.moonbridgebooks.com

Posted in bad memories, capturing memories | Comments Off on 9/11 Ten Year Anniversary – our legacy

Have memoirs put biographies on the endangered species list?

Posted on August 21, 2011 by moonbridgebooks

British author Hilary Spurling just won the James Tait Black award for her “part biography” of Pearl Buck, Burying the Bones: Pearl Buck in China. In the U.S., the title is Pearl Buck in China: Journey to the Good Earth. Spurling’s book, at 320 pages is said to focus mainly on how Buck became a prolific writer and ignores most of her life in the U.S. until her death. This is rather interesting as usually a biography is comprehensive, like an autobiography. Even more interesting is that Spurling agrees with top British biographer Michael Holroyd that biography is out of style. Holroyd says the genre has been “subsumed into life writing,” and I agree with him.

Memoir has really hit its stride, especially due to technology advances that allow for more affordable self-publishing and good digital print quality. The generally cold, factual biography has been overcome by the warmth of personal stories straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Also, biographies tend to be about VIPs, not ordinary Joe’s like me and probably you. I think it depends on the person, and perhaps less people these days are that interested in reading a history book about a political figure, the usual biography topic. With our entertainment, short-attention-span culture, many prefer the shorter and get-to-the-interesting part focus of memoir. Plus, if you’re famous, why not write it your way and before you’re dead? Holroyd wrote his own memoir in 1999, and his most recent biography, Book of Secrets, of three not-so-famous women connected with one house, uses bits of memoir, and he has inserted himself into the story, experimenting with ways to keep biography interesting to the public.

I don’t remember the last biography I read since I devoured them in elementary and middle school, although now I’m tempted to go after one of Pearl Buck. I loved and cried over The Good Earth and should read more of Buck’s over 100 works. She had quite a life. Do you read biographies?

Book review by Stacy Schiff of The New York Times.

Linda Austin
“Cherry Blossoms in Twilight”
http://www.moonbridgebooks.com
Posted in book talk, history | 5 Comments

Boyd Lemon: Daring to dig deep to write a divorce memoir

Posted on August 13, 2011 by moonbridgebooks

Boyd Lemon is a very brave man. I have just finished his memoir, Digging Deep: A Writer Uncovers His Marriages, where he studies the failures of his three marriages and his role in their collapses. Not only does he dive to the bottom of his psyche, he writes very personal details of his thoughts, perspectives, expectations – and worse – his experiences of sex and drugs (usually involving a wife). Heavens! But Boyd dares to expose all in his quest for understanding and in his desire to help others, especially those who grew up in the same era he did, on the cusp of the immense social changes of the 60s and 70s. Boyd manages to objectively examine his own beliefs and behaviors instead of playing the blame game or exacting written revenge on his ex-wives. [Very Important: do not write your memoir until any anger you have against others you include in your story has cooled off.]

Sharon Lippincott, author of The Heart and Craft of Lifestory Writing, interviewed Boyd Lemon about the delicate subject of how his ex-wives viewed his memoir exposing them to the world. Since Boyd was a lawyer most of his life, he probably had more clue than the rest of us about how not to get sued for writing unflattering things about others, but he is very generous with and respectful of his ex-spouses, knowing that neither they nor he was perfect and trying to understand their perspectives. Digging Deep is well worth reading, especially for middle-aged and older readers who will undoubtedly recognize some of their own foibles in the pages, and for those who plan to write about their own difficult relationships.

One last observation: Digging Deep uses an unconventional and innovative literary tactic of using present tense as Boyd writes and experiences the frustrations of writing his memoir, then switches to past tense to tell the actual stories of his marriages. The tenses/timeframes are separated by three centered asterisks to help the reader transition. It works brilliantly. And Boyd writes very well, interspersing lovely prose in his eye-opening stories. You shouldn’t get bored. (Warning: sexual details, but never gratuitous).

Digging Deep is available in print through online book sellers, in most e-book formats through Smashwords, or via the Boyd Lemon author website. Boyd also has a Divorce Recovery Resource website.

The Heart and Craft of Lifestory Writing: How to Transform Memories Into Meaningful Stories

Linda Austin
"Cherry Blossoms in Twilight"
http://www.moonbridgebooks.com

Posted in bad memories, book reviews, book talk, writing | 4 Comments