IWSG: Wednesday, December 1, 2015 ~ Lurching Forward

It's the first Wednesday 
of the month ~ 
the day when members of the
Insecure Writer's Support Group
share their writing struggles
and offer their encouragement
and support to other members.




To visit the IWSG website, click here.

To become a member of the IWSG, click here.

Our wonderful co-hosts who are stepping up to help 
IWSG founder Alex J. Cavanaugh are:  Sandra Hoover, Mark Koopmans, Doreen McGettigan, Megan Morgan and Melodie Campbell.

Visit them and thank them for co-hosting.
I'm sure they would appreciate an encouraging comment!

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My exasperating memoir lurched forward this month. 
In the middle of a flat-on-my-back medical setback,
an unexpected thing happened
that pushed me past a standstill.

My wonderful friend Cheri 
was visiting for several days, 
and all I could physically do was talk.

No problem!
Let me tell you, the two of us 
could talk circles around Oprah
when we get together.

We talked about my memoir 
and I bombarded her with a barrage
of information, books, maps, photos, and frustrations
from under my blanket on the couch.
I couldn't find a way to pull everything together
into a coherent whole.

The next morning over coffee (for me)
and tea (for her), Cheri said,
"I was thinking about all you said last night,
and I had a thought.  What if ... ."

Bam!  Slam!

Suddenly the answers 
to all the questions 
I had about what on Earth to do, 
how I should handle this 
metastasizing morass of a memoir,
what organizing principal should I use,
snapped into place.
It was a surprising, but duh moment!

Sometimes you can't see what is staring you in the face.

It's like you're trying to find even two pieces 
of fossilized bone in a pile that fit together.
You try combination after combination 
that looks right, but it's not; 
and suddenly there is that magic instant 
when two pieces lock together 
and you know they belong.
And you know you're going to solve the puzzle
of what those fossils are.

A Cozy Place to Write Near the Fireplace

My memoir takes place in Lansdowne House 
deep in the northern Ontario bush over fifty years ago.
It's been a tough go from the beginning.

I've slogged through difficult memories to be able to write, 
and I've learned how to balance my father's voice with mine.

And now, thanks to Cheri, I've figured out a way 
to handle my family's personal story 
in the historical context of the Canadian North.

My Brother and I 

Lake Attawapiskat, 1961

Photo by Donald MacBeath

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All rights Reserved

I continue to dig into
Charles Bishop’s insightful
The Northern Ojibwa and the Fur Trade:
An Historical and Ecological Study.










I'm still having a blast tackling my research,
and the Ever-Patient Terry is still asking if I'm having fun.
He shakes his head and says it looks like work to him.

 

Human Refuse

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rghts Reserved

But I am having fun!
No more coffee-fueled desperate all-nighters.
Those university days are long gone, 
Instead I'm laughing at the memories 
as I lurch forward with my memoir.

Still Fueled by Coffee, but Less Desperate

I'm not feeling insecure this morning;
I'm excited and relieved!
After floundering endlessly, I've found my true north.