{"id":4345,"date":"2014-04-28T19:17:40","date_gmt":"2014-04-28T23:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.katrinakenison.com\/?p=4345"},"modified":"2014-04-28T19:17:40","modified_gmt":"2014-04-28T23:17:40","slug":"write-still-always-want-waking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/write-still-always-want-waking\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I write: “We still and always want waking”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"photo\"I’<\/span>ve been fascinated, over the last month or so, to read so many of my favorite bloggers’ answers to the following questions about their writing process. \u00a0(Don’t we all want to know what inspires the writers we love to do what they do?)<\/p>\n

Today, thanks to Nicki Gilbert’s<\/strong> invitation, it’s my pleasure to hop on this train and try to put my own writing into some kind of context. \u00a0And it’s an even greater pleasure to introduce three fellow writers I consider among my must-reads, Jeanne Henriques<\/strong>, whose gorgeous photos and vivid descriptions of her ex-pat life give rise to all sorts of fantasies; author Beth Kephart<\/strong>, who writes about books and the writing life with sustained insight, eloquence, and passion; and Amy VanEchaute<\/strong>, new to the blogging world and already accruing many devoted readers at her exquisitely executed site My Path With Stars Bestrewn<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0A little background. . .<\/strong><\/p>\n

F<\/span>ifteen years ago, when my two sons were small, I found myself haunted by a lack I couldn\u2019t even name.\u00a0 I had a steady editing job I could do from home, babysitting help during those working hours, a comfortable house in the suburbs, two precious little boys and a husband I loved.\u00a0 A \u201cgood\u201d life.\u00a0\u00a0 And yet I juggled all the balls \u2013 mothering, working, household chores, activities, socializing, going and doing and getting \u2013 with a sense I was missing something essential. As my children grew and entered school, as I got busier and our days more complicated, this inchoate longing only intensified.<\/p>\n

One afternoon, while sitting on the sofa with my five-year-old son, crocheting mitten strings as snowflakes drifted past the window, \u00a0I finally realized what this painful yearning was: a desire to inhabit my own life more fully. Not to do<\/strong><\/em> more, but to be<\/strong><\/em> more. \u00a0To have more quiet moments just like this one. And so I began systematically, and a bit ruthlessly, to simplify our family life. I also began to write about it.\u00a0 Having spent years as a literary editor, I never imagined myself as a writer.\u00a0 But suddenly I had something I wanted \u2013 actually, needed<\/em> is not too strong a word here \u2013 to say. I needed to remind myself, again and again, what kind of person I wanted to be and what kind of life I wanted to lead.<\/p>\n

Writing demanded that I sit still and pay attention.\u00a0 It required time, reflection and, most of all, a confrontation with my innermost self.\u00a0 If I really wanted to inhabit my life, it seemed, then the best way to do it was to slow down enough to notice the details. \u00a0And then, by subtle alchemy, something inside shifted. As I began to shape words, the words I wrote began to shape me.\u00a0 The more I saw, the more deeply I felt.\u00a0 And slowly, day by day and word by word, the hunger for something that always seemed just out of reach was transformed into gratitude for what was right in front of me.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t ever set out to write a trio of books charting the journey from mothering young children up through midlife and beyond.\u00a0 And yet, here I am.<\/p>\n

What am I working on?<\/b><\/p>\n

I<\/span>\u2019ve had the idea for a while to write a book I\u2019m calling, for now anyway, \u201cOffline: Reclaiming the Simple Pleasures of a Real-Time Life.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 I spend way too much time sitting at my computer.\u00a0 And even when I\u2019m not typing at a keyboard, my devices are ever present, woven through my days. I suspect I\u2019m not alone in my concern about the complexity of our relationships with technology. I feel anxious if I forget my phone at home, yet I also wonder what it might be like to take a complete technology vacation.\u00a0 And much as I love the convenience of my fully wired life, I also miss the textures and challenges and diversity of my life as it was not so very long ago.\u00a0 I\u2019d love to explore a different balance for myself, and write a collection of short reflections about rediscovering the beauty (and the necessity) of non-wired, hands-on experience.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also in the process of compiling five years worth of blog posts into a small book.\u00a0 I thought this would be a quick project, but as it turns out, I want to revise and edit and turn them into a more thematically cohesive whole.\u00a0 So, it will take me a little longer than I thought, but I hope the results are worth it.<\/p>\n

How does my work\/writing differ from others in its genre?<\/b><\/p>\n

W<\/span>henever someone asks what I write, I always find myself pausing awkwardly after my answer of\u00a0 \u201cmemoir.\u201d \u00a0To say I write memoir is to imply that I\u2019ve confronted and overcome some kind of major life challenge that\u2019s worth sharing with the world. Explaining that I write about my own ordinary, everyday life feels both incredibly self-absorbed and utterly boring.\u00a0 And yet, these really are my themes.\u00a0 I have no philosophy to share, no trauma to heal, no addiction to recover from, no dark secrets to reveal.\u00a0 My books aren\u2019t exactly page turners!<\/p>\n

Yet my hope, always, is that in writing from my own experience I also touch on something universal \u2013 perhaps simply our human desire to honor life as it is by illuminating the sacred in the everyday.\u00a0 There is a hidden meaning and beauty in life\u2019s most ordinary moments, and deep inner work to be done as we wrestle with the inevitable questions that are part of every human existence.\u00a0 My writing tends to be quiet, exploratory, transparent, intimate.\u00a0 And perhaps what I\u2019m trying to do is not so much tell the story of my own life, which is nothing special, but rather tell a<\/i> story, which just happens to be mine, but that is also a reminder that what we have in common is greater than what keeps us apart.<\/p>\n

Why do I write what I do?<\/b><\/p>\n

I<\/span> actually answered this question above, in my introduction.\u00a0 So instead of repeating myself, I\u2019ll share a quote from Annie Dillard\u2019s The Writing Life<\/strong><\/a>, a book I cherish.\u00a0 She answers the question of why we read and why we write better than anyone I know:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are we reading, if not in hope of beauty laid bare, life heightened and its deepest mystery probed? Can the writer isolate and vivify all in experience that most engages our intellects and our hearts? Can the writer renew our hope for literary forms? Why are we reading if not in hope that the writer will magnify and dramatize our days, will illuminate and inspire us with wisdom, courage, and the possibility of meaningfulness, and will press upon our minds the deepest mysteries, so we may feel again their majesty and power? What do we ever know that is higher than that power which, from time to time, seizes our lives, and reveals us startlingly to ourselves as creatures set down here bewildered? Why does death so catch us by surprise, and why love? We still and always want waking.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/b>How does my writing process work?<\/b><\/p>\n

I<\/span> am a very slow writer and a terrible multi-tasker.\u00a0 A friend of mine keeps a notebook in the car and writes at traffic lights.\u00a0 Another writes on the train. I seem to require solitude and quiet and clear space and lots of uninterrupted time \u2013 which means I\u2019m not very productive. I don\u2019t write every day, because not every day affords me a luxurious stretch of vast silence.\u00a0 Nor am I one of those writers who needs to write in order to feel alive.\u00a0 I can feel very much alive and fulfilled by working in the garden or making dinner.\u00a0 And yet, if too many days go by without writing, I feel myself pulled to create that quiet place for myself.\u00a0 And once I sit down to work, I will go six or eight hours without even moving.<\/p>\n

I wrote Magical Journey<\/strong><\/a> by pretty much holing up in a room for many months and writing for many hours a day, moving from my lair only to eat and sleep and take a walk so that I could go and sit again.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know, when I began, where the writing would take me.\u00a0 I had to begin as if I were embarking on a journey, put in the time, and see where the road led.<\/p>\n

When I sit down to write a blog post, it\u2019s the same; I begin right where I am without really knowing where I\u2019m going.\u00a0 Eight hours later, I\u2019ve arrived somewhere.\u00a0 I take a break, go do something else to clear my head, then come back and edit and revise.\u00a0 I\u2019m embarrassed to admit how long it takes me to write a simple blog post.\u00a0 And I\u2019m a bit in awe of anyone who posts more than once a week.<\/p>\n

What kind of writer are you? \u00a0Journal-keeper? List-maker? Story weaver? Truth teller? Steady or erratic? Fast or slow? Public or private? I’d love to know!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Meet my fellow blog hop writers. . .<\/b><\/p>\n

\"1471822_10152442427702796_667154247_n\"Jeanne Henriques<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/b>is wife to a nomadic husband, mother to four independent children, one well-travelled dog and is the writer behind the blogs,\u00a0Collage of Life<\/i><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Expat Diary Viet Nam<\/i><\/a>. Over the past 26 years, her family has packed up and moved between America, Australia, New Zealand, UK and Vietnam. She has some ideas of when and where the Expat Express will go next but can never be certain.\u00a0Jeanne recently added “empty nester” to her repertoire with her four children now living between America and Australia. She looks to the years ahead as an opportunity to explore new horizons. She hangs her hat and camera part of the year at\u00a0Chateau Mango<\/i><\/a>\u00a0in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and the other half\u00a0at\u00a0Tahilla Farm<\/i><\/a>\u00a0in the foothills of the Monadnock mountain range in New Hampshire. She writes to tell the tale. You can follow her adventures on her blogs,\u00a0Collage of Life<\/i><\/a>, and\u00a0Expat Diary Viet Nam<\/i><\/a>.\u00a0Jeanne can also be found chatting on\u00a0Twitter<\/i><\/a>,\u00a0Instagram<\/a><\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Facebook<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"_MG_0012\"Beth Kephart<\/strong>\u00a0is the award-winning author of eighteen books, an adjunct professor of creative nonfiction at the University of Pennsylvania, a frequent contributor to the Chicago Tribune and Philadelphia Inquirer, and the strategic writing partner in a boutique marketing communications firm. Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir<\/strong><\/a> won the 2013 Books for a Better Life Award (Motivational Category). Nest. Flight. Sky<\/strong><\/a>., Kephart\u2019s first memoir in years, was recently published by Shebooks. Most recently, Beth\u2019s ninth young adult novel, Going Over<\/strong><\/a> (Chronicle Books)<\/strong>,<\/strong> <\/i>a 1983 Berlin story and a Junior Library Guild Selection, was launched to three starred reviews and was named a Booklist Top Ten Historical Fiction for Youth.\u00a0\u00a0Beth writes about books and writing and life at\u00a0Beth Kephart Books.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Amy'sA self-described closet writer who surprised herself by making the decision to dip a toe into the blogosphere this year,\u00a0Amy VanEchaute<\/strong> lives in Illinois with her husband, Jeff. Together, they’ve raised three (splendidly) literate children. Amy\u00a0studies and reveres nature, subsists on poetry, and chooses peace for her daily portion. She enjoys sharing her photos and her perspective on My Path with Stars Bestrewn.<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"nickigilbertpic\"South African by chance and Californian by choice,\u00a0Nicki Gilbert<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0lives in the Bay Area with her husband, four kids and an aging dachshund. With dreams of reporting live on CNN, she majored in Drama and Journalism at Rhodes University in South Africa, met a boy, married him and moved almost 180 degrees west to San Francisco, to live her life as a wife, marketer, event coordinator, non-profit board member, and eventually stay-at-home mom. There was very little writing and even less acting during those years. Last year Nicki started blogging for\u00a0Times of Israel<\/a><\/em>,<\/em>\u00a0and now writes on her own website\u00a0Red Boots<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 from dancing to walking and everything in between, and beyond.\u00a0As a reluctant yet full-time, barely-at-home mom, writer, avid reader, country music lover and wannabe surf diva, she writes to keep perspective about it all. With tears, humor, skepticism, love, pain and truth. Trying to keep it real. Follow her at\u00a0www.redboots.me<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and on Twitter\u00a0@nixgilbertca<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Might there be a writing retreat in your future? <\/strong>
\nI took the photo above of my “outdoor office” at The Lavender Inn<\/strong><\/a>, in Ojai, California, where my husband and I stayed while on vacation last month. \u00a0It is, quite simply, a writer\u2019s paradise. \u00a0I want to share this exquisite experience! \u00a0So, I\u2019ve reserved the entire inn for \u00a03 nights next March (22-24), to host a small writers\u2019 retreat.\u00a0 I’ll have all the details here soon.\u00a0 But if you\u00a0think<\/i><\/b>\u00a0you might be interested, say so in a comment below or write me here<\/strong><\/a> and I’ll make sure you receive all the info.\u00a0 Space will be limited to 10.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been fascinated, over the last month or so, to read so many of my favorite bloggers’ answers to the following questions about their writing process. \u00a0(Don’t we all want to know what inspires the writers we love to do what they do?) Today, thanks to Nicki Gilbert’s invitation, it’s my pleasure to hop on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,15],"tags":[90,477],"class_list":{"0":"post-4345","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-writing","8":"category-writing-and-reading","9":"tag-blog-hop","10":"tag-writing-2","11":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/600x600.png?fit=600%2C600","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}