I had the great pleasure to be the guest speaker at the Grand River Women’s Probus club in Brantford on the first full day of summer. The skies were grey, but this audience was bright and sunny. No more fitting way to start the season.
Category: Memoir
Lovely Review
Thank you “Joanne’s Reading Blog”!
Now ‘Out There’!
Our television interview by Nós Portugueses was aired on OMNI TV April 19th and is now available on YouTube!
Click here to watch the full video.
Writing is darn hard!
“Having such a huge adventure to draw on, did the words flow freely when you wrote your book?”
That was a question asked of me by a man in Bobcaygeon last week where I was talking to a group about my memoir, Ready to Come About.
My response was an immediate and emphatic, “NO!”
The truth is, whether you are writing a novel or a true story, writing is darn hard.
As Miriam Toews, one of my favourite authors, once put it, “You have to leave your blood on every page.”
However, fortunately, there are resources out there to help. Primary among them, for me, was learning all I could about the art and craft of story-telling through classes in Creative Writing; the first, and most pivotal, being Brian Henry’s Writing Personal Stories 101, over fourteen years ago.
Coincidentally, Brian is offering that exact same course online this summer, and fantastically, he has asked me, again, to be his guest speaker, specifically on the topic of memoir! Click here for details.
Delighted to have this opportunity to pay it forward, my response to Brian was an immediate and emphatic, “YES!”
Some Unforeseen Highs
Pretty much everyone knows the journey to becoming a published author is a roller coaster, replete with ups and downs, highs and lows, excitement and moments of deep despair.
A lesser known fact is that, for most authors, that ride continues well after publication.
There are post-publication lows like; standing at a book table in the mall that no-one visits, showing up to a bookstore to discover they’ve forgotten you were coming, getting hurtful reviews, getting no reviews at all.
But, after your book has come out, there are naturally many highs too; such as, receiving your very own box of books from the printer, holding the finished product in your hands, spotting it on actual bookstore shelves.
There are also the wish-come-true kinds of highs; such as, people expressing they loved your story, discovering wonderful online comments, getting positive media attention, perhaps even selling a book or two.
And then, if you’re super lucky, there might be an occasional totally unforeseeable high.
Two such unforeseeable highs happened to me, one leading to the other.
Two years ago, Practice Portuguese, a language training site out of Lisbon, translated the prologue of my memoir, Ready to Come About, into European Portuguese, which they then narrated and posted online as an audio language-learning tool for their membership.
Subsequently, one of Practice Portuguese’s intrepid members from Germany, Andreas, stumbled on this Portuguese audio translation of the prologue. He liked the sound of the story such that he obtained my full memoir to study with his English-language learning group in Berlin.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago. Andreas and, his wife, Ulrike, visited Canada on their honeymoon and we arranged to meet!
At Andreas’ suggestion, we met in Hamilton Harbour, the very spot where our transatlantic voyage began. It was a wonderful visit on a beautiful October day.
Since their return to Germany, we have been in frequent email contact. David and Andreas, kindred Portuguese-learning obsessors, are now Zooming in Portuguese once a week. And, who knows, perhaps someday we’ll visit them in Berlin, or maybe Lisbon.
We have made new friends, all thanks to Ready to Come About!
What’s Love Got To Do With It?
David and I have just returned from doing a presentation to the Gravenhurst Probus Club in the historic Opera House.
After telling the story behind my memoir, Ready to Come About (Dundurn Press), I was asked, “How did you and David manage to get along with all the problems you experienced, and all the time alone in such a small space. If it were me, I likely would have divorced!”
Everyone laughed. But it was a legitimate question. The reality is, a long sailing voyage has an impact on relationships. Over the course of our year away, we, in fact, witnessed many such heartbreaking parting-of-ways. But, so too did we see couples who embraced the shared adventure. David and I were among the fortunate ones. As a result of spending 86 days alone, together, on the high seas, we grew closer.
Love Sail, an online dating and networking service for those passionate about sailing, invited me to write a blog post on the subject. I called it, “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” And my short answer was, “Everything!”
As well as a sailing memoir, Ready to Come About is a love story, my love story.
As an aside, forty-three years ago, David took me to see the play, West Side Story, performed in, guess where, the Gravenhurst Opera House! It was our first big date. Months later we were married!
Summertime, “Sex in the City”, and Me
Hear ye! Hear ye!…literally!
I’m delighted to report that my memoir, Ready to Come About (Dundurn Press), has just been released as an audio book by Scribd. It is narrated by Dina Pearlman, an actor who, among other things, has been on Sex and the City, which naturally leads me to conclude Scribd took time to find just the right person!
If you are looking for an expertly narrated true story of adventure-slash-misadventure to listen to while you drive to the cottage, pull weeds in your yard, walk along a woodland trail, toss a fresh salad, or stare off into space on some beach, this is the audio book for you.
Memoir – Panel Discussion
Have you experienced a time in your life that has affected you in a profound way? Do you wish to share this with others? Then perhaps you have a memoir in you.
My writing career began in my fifties as a result of a life-altering experience from which I felt I had a story that needed telling. The result was my memoir, Ready to Come About, published by Dundurn Press in 2019.
I am excited to be discussing the crafting of memoir with Keriann McGoogan, author of Chasing Lemurs – My Journey into the Heart of Madagascar, as part of the Wellington County Writers’ Festival. This panel discussion will take place at the Marden Library, 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Thursday May 12th.
You can reserve a seat at this link.
Hope to see you there.
Cataplana
I did not set out to write about food. Nevertheless, flipping through the pages of Ready to Come About, food, or sometimes the lack of it, was a significant backdrop to many scenes.
There were great concoctions we managed to pull together under sail, fantastic landfall meals in exotic places, and fabulous home cooked dinners around the kitchen tables in the homes of friends we met along the way. These were moments of celebration, of sharing, and of joy.
Then there were other food experiences; days of cold bean salads, simple meals to stretch out our limited reserves, meals in times of anxiety, distress, discord and sadness.
So it seems food and the human condition are inextricably linked.
When I came to, it was again night. Seeing David’s present sitting unopened where he had set it twelve hours before and him outside eating crackers from the box, I started to cry.
“Some Christmas,” I said to him through the companionway. “I had all the fixings for a special turkey dinner.”
“No worries, sweetie. Honestly, it’ll be great whenever.”
“And your present isn’t even —”
“No rush for that either. C’mon out here. You gotta see this night sky. I’ve never seen anything like it.” He slid over and I sat down. “Cracker?”
Excerpt from Ready to Come About
The rougher the passage, the more joyful the landfall. Our twelve day passage from the Azores to Portugal was particularly rough; sea sickness, storms, and fouling a rogue fishing net that disabled our engine and caused a continuous leak which we had to bail for nine days.
Once we cleared customs and Inia was safely secured in the beautiful city of Lagos, we headed into town to celebrate, “unshowered, unchanged, and unconcerned about it”. A local pointed us to a modest restaurant on the main drag, the Marina Café.
On that warm summer night, in the almost-empty restaurant, exhausted from our voyage, but so happy, we leisurely enjoyed a wonderful Portuguese meal and a nice bottle of vinho tinto. It was, indeed, a most joy filled landfall meal!
Friday night dinner at the Marina Café became a ritual. One night the owner, Ricardo, and the waitress, Karine, surprised us with the preparation of a special dish, Cataplana de Marisco. This seafood feast is a traditional dish popular in the Algarve. It was another memorable night of celebration, this time with new friends.
The Cataplana was such a wonderful discovery, I feel the need to share.
It is the name of the meal, but also the name of the vessel in which it is prepared: a hinged clam-shaped cooking container something like two small Woks clamped together.
We bought a small, inexpensive one in Lagos which we brought back with us across the Atlantic. It is a “go to” kitchen utensil which we now reserve for special occasions.
They are available in stainless steel, copper, or aluminum. If you can’t make it to Portugal, you can find one online.
It is a versatile cooking method, great for fully vegetarian meals, but also good for combining meat proteins and seafood. Essentially it is like a small pressure cooker to “steam” the ingredients. You can find many recipes online.
As far as the “steaming” material … I like the Portuguese approach! Lots of olive oil … and lots of white wine!
Here is a kind of made-up recipe we have prepared for company. Everyone raves about it. Hope you give it a try.
Bom apetite!
Ingredients:
- Olive oil
- Whole onion
- Green bell pepper
- Red bell pepper
- White potato
- Large carrot
- 4 Cloves of garlic
- Italian tomatoes
- Seasoning
- Other stuff (use your imagination: could be pickles, or basil leaves, or cilantro, or combination)
- Dash of Piri-Piri (or diced Jalapeno pepper) if you like it hot
- White wine
Preparation:
Prepare the ingredients in advance. Slice the onion and both bell peppers into thin strips. Peel the potato and slice into thin rounds. Slice carrot and tomato as well into thin rounds. Slice or dice the garlic (or leave whole),
Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the bottom of one shell of the Cataplana. Add a layer of onion, then a layer of red and green peppers. Add a layer of sliced tomatoes, then a layer of potato and carrot. Add the garlic. Season with salt and pepper.
The Cataplana half shell should now be about two-thirds full. Add another layer of onion, bell peppers and tomato. Then throw in extras as desired (like sliced pickles, or a bunch of chopped cilantro). If you wish to spice it up, add a dash of Piri-Piri or chopped Jalapeno peppers.
Add white wine … then a bit more white white, then another splash of olive oil.
One more ingredient that David discovered that works well is mint. On top of the veggies and proteins in the container, after adding the oil and white wine, top with a bunch of mint leaves tied together. The mint will add flavour to the meal, and, after about twenty minutes of steaming, the sweet aroma will permeate the room.
Close and clamp. Simmer on the stove top for about 30 minutes, then open and serve. The Cataplana itself can be brought to the table as a serving dish.
Getting Equipped to Write a Memoir
To my surprise, I discovered writing is a lot like crossing an ocean.
When writing my memoir, Ready to Come About, there were many moments of: ‘What the hell was I thinking’. ‘This is way more than I bargained for’. ‘I’m not equipped to do this; was I ever stupid to even think I was’. ‘Will I survive? If I do, I swear, never again!’
Then I stumbled onto Brian Henry’s creative writing courses, the very first of which was Writing Personal Stories. These courses were jam-packed with information that helped equip me with what I needed to get through to the other side.
However, writing a book differs from an ocean crossing in that it is a journey of years, and it is necessarily a solitary endeavor, most of the time. But you can’t do it entirely alone. It’s important to meet people who talk the same language, who consider writing a worthwhile endeavor, who too spend whole afternoons inserting and taking out commas, only to insert them again in the morning. Through these courses I was introduced to a wonderful writing community, the support of which was essential.
So it feels extra-special to be a guest speaker in Brian’s fabulous upcoming online course, “Writing Personal Stories” where, eleven years ago, my memoir-writing journey began. Check out the details here.