Writing A Memoir

Image borrowed from Bing

Writing A Memoir

"like building a house in a hurricane"--is how Faulker
described the writing of a novel.

I just printed up the 300 double spaced pages, and have my
scissors to see and rearrange, then go back in and write.
It's due. Now.

In the meantime, pulling up other sources, notes, and
researching. Yesterday I finally got proof that I am also
African American through Osceola, his mother. His story
and the story of those times are beginning to draw me in.
I will write that story one day.

While the manuscript was printing I dug randomly through
notes and dreams. I came upon a dream that presaged the
title of Lurline's novel, which is based on the screenplay we
wrote together of the same name: Between the Deep Blue
Sea and Me. The title was in the dream!! As was the shark
who was central to the story. It came to me in the dream,
and through me to become a central character and presence
in the story.

Now I want to dig through my other dreams....
No, back to the story in the whirlwind.

Joy Harjo

Posted over on her site Poetic Adventures into the Last World Blog