As part of the virtual book tour for my memoir, I was invited to write a guest post for The Cuckleburr Times, an online magazine for writers. This is the post I wrote; it's called "Touching on What We All Share." This is how it starts:
I recently published a memoir, And Twice the Marrow of Her Bones, about my daughter Timora’s struggle to lead a normal life while battling leukemia, and about my own journey as a mother while she was ill and as a bereaved parent after she died at the age of eighteen. To my delight and deep gratitude, “compelling,” “moving,” and “inspiring” are just a few of the kind words readers and reviewers have used to describe their reactions; many have said they couldn’t put it down – even stayed up all night reading it. I believe this is so partly because I wrote the book straight from my heart, the way I wanted – needed – to write it, rather than thinking about marketing considerations in mind, or obeying accepted wisdom in the publishing world.
You can read the rest here.
2 comments:
My mother died of leukemia at a young age, and like you I began writing, though not about her. A memoir like yours is a brave journey. The poetry your daughter wrote was both painful and moving, like the memory of my mother's bruises, the way she tried to ignore them.
Ward, I'm so sorry to hear of your mother's suffering and early death. Yes, writing is one way of dealing with things that, ironically, really have no words to truly describe them. Yet we keep trying - you, me, Timora, and so many others.
Thank you very much for taking the time to write here, and the best of luck with your more serious writing.
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