An Impossible Writing Prompt

In these quiet days as well as making progress with my writing I've also been reading a lot…

I loved the poet Maggie Smith's memoir, You Could Make This Place Beautiful, in which she explores the breakup of her marriage and its aftermath. The story is told in vignettes which carry the narrative forward ensuring a degree of tension, but also offer reflections on secrets, anger, forgiveness, and even the writing process itself. It’s a compelling read despite being fragmented; thoughtful, clever, funny at times though often sad. I really admire the way Smith shows compassion and restraint for the other parties in this breakup.

Winifred Nicolson - The Early Flowering of the First Mrs N, via The Independent.

I've also enjoyed, Cloistered by Catherine Coldstream. Cloistered is the story of her life as a nun, immersive and at times unsettling, I found it a compelling read. (It has recently been materialised on Radio 4)

I'm currently reading, Stone Yard Devotional, by Charlotte Wood, which is about a woman's retreat from the world and is set in a rural Australian monastery. I'm beginning to wonder if there is a new fashion for books about nuns! Despite the setting it feels different from Cloistered, being bleaker and more despairing, It is a novel about grief, personal grief, as well as climate grief. Beware the plague of mice!

I've also been skimming through some of my books on memoir, Bill Roorbach's, Writing Life Stories, Cathy Rentzenbrink's Write it All Down, and Natalie Goldberg's, Old Friend from Far Away. I’ve been looking at paintings by Winifred Nicholson and Edouard Vuillard, and reading one of my favourite poets, Esther Morgan.

There is so much silence and space within her work, and her interiors:

In the stillness, everything becomes itself:
the circle of white plates on the kitchen table
the serious chairs that attend them
 

and also in her landscapes, you can read more here - space – wide landscapes, and time, and the smallness of people within them

Now for the impossible! Here is a prompt from Old Friend Far Away that defeated me. Maybe you'd like to try it: If you could chose only one memory what would it be - write about it for ten minutes...I think if you complete this you may well have the beginning of a great piece of writing, quite possibly a memoir project. It defeated me. I spent too long trying to choose. I think I should have gone with the first thing that came to mind.

Finally, if you’ve been trying to E mail me - I’m having big problems with my email - so please bear with me and if its important please try again

thanks for reading

Avril x