Post #69 – Women’s Memoirs, Writing Prompt – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
Memoir Writing Prompt: A Special Day, A Special Event
Welcome to Winter Solstice, a special day that occurs once each year. There are celebrations marking the day when the earth’s axial tilt is the farthest away from the sun creating the shortest day and the longest night. For people light candles to welcome in the light to come. In some countries, yule logs greet the Winter Solstice. For all, Winter Solstice is a turning point for beginning tomorrow there is a little more light and a little less darkness each day. Each day, that is, until we reach the Summer Solstice.
Since I knew I would be doing a blog post for December 21, I thought I’d write a little about Winter Solstice. As many of you know, I’ve completed a move from California to Oregon and have been house hunting. This means I haven’t followed all the news and only learned a few days ago that today is not only the Winter Solstice but is also the day of a total lunar eclipse. With a little research, I learned that the last time these two events occurred on the same day was in 1636 and won’t occur again until 2382. This is indeed a special day. Another kind of turning point.
I just now walked outside to check on the eclipse and find it is in progress. This photo shows the stage of the eclipse. The sky is not clear but the cloud cover is light and the temperature is mild enough that I just walked out in shirt sleeves. Of course, I didn’t stay out long but I’ll continue to check on the event over the next 45 minutes or so. There is something special about watching an eclipse.
Connection with Memoir
Well, what does all of this has to do with memoir? Kendra and I, when we teach memoir, always start with life turning points. We are perhaps well described as individuals shaped by a constellation of events. But there are always the turning points, those times or events or people that significantly account for the person we now are. The turning point or turning points are the core of our story.
Since this is the Winter Solstice, the turning point when we move away from darkness toward light, I thought it would be timely to write about a turning point if your life that took you away from the dark times of your life, from sadness or sorrow toward greater light and happiness. You could probably write a memoir around this single topic. But for today think about the way that the Winter Solstice is a single point in time. The lunar eclipse is a brief point in time. Therefore, write as if you didn’t need to account for all the days before the turning point or after.
Memoir Writing Prompt:
Write about a turning point in your life, a turning that is like the Winter Solstice when your life was brighter after the event. You could focus on a big turning point or a small one. If you move beyond the particulars, the time, the place, the people into your emotional state then and now, you’ll probably find yourself feeling gratitude. This is a perfect day and time of the year to express this emotion.
Write for five to ten minutes. Write today on the 2010 Winter Solstice.
