Continuing the Women of Alamos Writing Project

Earlier this week, I held a second memoir-writing workshop here in sunny, slow Alamos, Sonora, Mexico, a colonial puebla full of arches, gringos, and contrasting life stories.

I was excited that a dozen Mexican women wanted to attend because my current project, Women of Alamos, is taking shape. We are collecting stories for a book to be published late this year.

24 More Woman Writers in the World

Last Saturday, 24 women gathered at my little house in Alamos, Sonora, Mexico, and I encouraged them to write their stories. The goal is a collection of tales about expats and their relationships both with themselves and this small, colonial pueblo tucked into the folds of the foothills of Oeste Sierra Madre.

The workshop began with ice cream cones (I believe ice cream in the morning fosters courage). Then we launched into a series of three-minute writing exercises to prime the creative pump.

Courage

A friend recently told me about a day when her daughter, then in third grade, didn’t want to go to school because she was afraid.

Her mother listened to her daughter’s story, hugged her, and said, “I know, honey. Sometimes it takes courage to go to school.”

“What’s courage?” her daughter looked up with wide eyes.

After my friend explained, her daughter asked, “Well, how do I get it?”

“You eat ice cream for breakfast.”

Hello From Mexico!

From deep in the sun-washed South East corner of Sonora, Mexico, I finally sit down to write a blog for the first time in weeks!

In the small, historic pueblo of Alamos, last week, all week long, tourists from Mexico and abroad, local Mexicans and gringos listened to 400 musicians from all over the world. A Mexican clarinet quintet; a piano, viola, violin trio from Russia, a Polish pianist who played Chopin’s Polonesa op 53 with such vigor, his glasses bounced on is nose. Vietnamese opera soprano Sumi Jo, charmed the audience when she flirted with the conductor. Various rock bands played out on the edge of town near the cemetery. Puerto Rican salsa music had dancers in the street. In the church and the palacio and the streets and even in a stone alley with excellent acoustics, music poured over Alamos from every direction.

Where Will Your Memoir Start?

Last week, I met Cathy Cress, author of Mom Loves You Best and expert on aging. We talked about my mother, who, at 98, spent six weeks in a rehab center after cracking her pelvis…

One day, when her time at the rehab center had just about expired, my mother looked around the sunny room where she had been lying and told her gray-haired children, “I like this place. I think I’ll stay.”

“Mother, this is a rehab center. You get to stay for only six weeks.”

“Call the manager.”

A Taste of Wave Street

I was fortunate to be interviewed several weeks ago by Michael Hemp in Monterey, California, for Wave Street Studios’ authors series.  For an hour we discussed my three books, written since reaching the age of 80, and my life as a member of the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament.

My current passion is encouraging others to write their stories. We each have stories to tell that inform readers of our personal lives as well as the historic times in which we grew up and became who we are today. Often daunted by all that we want to say, writing becomes overwhelming and we want to quit before we start.

What Writing Questions Do You Have?

I often write posts on issues that I come across, share feedback that I learn.. However, I would like to open up the floor to my readers. What do you want to learn about when it comes to writing? For those of you who haven’t attended any of my memoir writing workshops, is there something that you want me to write a post on?

I’ll do my best to accommodate your suggestions and questions in additional posts, if not in the comments below.

Thanks for the feedback!

Walking – Literally! – For Our Lives

Last evening my friend Marilynn called to say she wanted to buy several copies of Walking for Our Lives and asked where they are available. I told her that Book Shop Santa Cruz, Capitola Book Café, and the Craft Galleria in Capitola carry copies. Otherwise, she could buy them from Amazon, from my website, or directly from me… out of the back of the car.

My question to her was, “Why do you want several copies?”

Dreams Realized and Holiday Wishes For You!

For several months I have wished that Walking for Our Lives might be the subject of a feature story, several columns in a weekly paper.  And then, through a series of introductions, a lovely young freelance writer wrote the feature story that I had been dreaming of. A page and a half plus a photo of the book!

In the evening of the same day, I presented at the Capitola Book Café. I arrived 20 minutes early with my publisher and friend, Patricia, to be  greeted at the door with, “Where are the books? People are here asking for them!” We walked into a group anxious for me to start my presentation and reading.

Occupy the Highway vs Great Peace March for Nuclear Disarmament

As I watch Occupy Wall Street participants March from New York to Washington DC, I recall vividly the walk we on the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament did twenty five years ago. It was cold in November with drenching rain that flooded our campsites in New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. But we trooped along, buoyant and cheerful, determined, confident after more than eight months on the road.

A two-week walk of 240 miles is just as significant today as we were then. I believe that the dozen or so Occupy marchers who left New York will be joined by other hopeful people – a variety of folks who gain courage from the core group  and are willing to join a cause larger than themselves to speak up.