The Gift of Wings

Friends who know me have heard me speak of my love for Lucy Maud Montgomery. The heroine of my youth, the woman I chose to pattern my life by, the author of the greatest selling novel of all time, has kept me enthralled for most of my life. It all began when my mother first read Anne of Green Gables to a group of rapt sixth grade girls; it was my first book club. Wisely choosing to read to us at exactly the right time in our life and in the month of June where the story is set, my mother created a fan for life in me.

Having read L.M. Montgomery's entire body of work, as well as the complete journals, I thought I had exhausted the supply of information regarding this amazing woman. This summer, I decided to take a look at Mary Henley Rubio's highly acclaimed biography, The Gift of Wings.

Thinking there was nothing left to learn about my beloved author, I was, of course, wrong. A good biography will furnish tidbits and details drawn not just from the body of work, but from family members and friends as well. This beautifully written biography of one of Canada's most celebrated writers looks far beyond Montgomery's own published journals, and draws on a wealth of previously undiscovered material.

These words can be found on the back of the book jacket.

"The writings of Lucy Maud Montgomery are so familiar and captivating that it is easy to feel we know her. But the complex woman behind the sparkling story of Anne of Green Gables experienced the dark side of life, as well as the intense joy of creativity." 

It all started one Sunday evening when sitting alone in front of the tube, flipping the channels to find something entertaining, I happened upon an excellent production of Anne of Green Gables. While I cannot count the number of times I have read the book and seen the show, I always find something new. In the much loved story, there is a point of departure in the deep friendship Anne shares with her neighbor, Dianna Barry. Anne goes off to college to study to be a teacher, while Dianna is told that educating women is a waste of money and that she must begin her duties as a wife and mother. Watching Dianna walk away, in this film production, I felt the most terrible sadness imaginable. Was I thinking of my own mother and grandmother who were told the same awful story? Were the legions of women who were the first in their respective families to obtain a  degree on my mind? I can attest to the fact that when my mother attended my graduation from Mills College,  in Oakland California,  she did feel proud, and even though I knew it was difficult for her to tell me this, I truly appreciated it when she did. Married with a five year old son, and another baby on the way, I was anything but a traditional student, and getting to the point of actually acquiring my diploma had been a quest in and of itself.

Perhaps the success of Anne of Green Gables has to do with her depiction of the world of girls and women at the turn of the last century, devoid of argument, but full of hope and possibility.  Lucy Maud Montgomery saw her novel rejected. It was a female friend who worked in the editorial department for Lewis Page who championed the cause and convinced  the publisher to accept it.

As an advocate of education for women, the beneficiary of an excellent high school single sex education, as well as a graduate of a woman's college, I am painfully aware of the sad fact that much of the world still refuses to allow girls to attend school. We must never forget where we come from, all we have accomplished and how much work still needs to be done.

As for those who were the vanguard of the new age, I can only remain deeply grateful and forever in their debt. Thank you, Lucy Maud Montgomery.

Scrap Booking As A Way to Writing

Friends always say, “I don’t know what to write about” and then ask me where I get my ideas for stories, blogs or a book. Do you “scrap book” using special printed papers, embellishments and photos? Do you include a cute or wise caption? If so, you have all the makings for a story you can write!

Looking at the scrap book page of your son’s first day of kindergarten, I am sure you can remember his excitement, or apprehension, how you helped him choose the clothes he was going to wear or the struggle you had trying on school clothes at the store when all he wanted to do was play outside. Maybe you remember your own first day of kindergarten. These are kernels of stories that just need to be expanded.

Your grandmother’s 90^th birthday, a family vacation, your honeymoon or an average summer evening with friends around the outside deck dining table, all cataloged in your scrapbook present an endless supply of story materials. You can use the picture to imagine not your son’s first day, not your first day of kindergarten but a different young child, a composite born and named in your mind who has a story to tell.

Your grandmother’s 90^th birthday party celebration pictures may trigger wondering about what things will be like when you are ninety years old. What will the world look like? Where will your be and what will you be doing? Do you want to live to be 90? Any of these would make marvelous stories.

Your story does not have to be long. When challenged to write a six-word story, Ernest Hemingway thought, drank another beer and said, “For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn” and won the bet without discussion. Your story can be 500 words to 5,000. It does not matter. What matters is that you have the visualization, the images, opinions and feelings about all sorts of subjects and that you write them down.

There are numerous approaches to writing of any kind. One is brainstorming. Using your reference picture, write down all words that come to mind in three minutes. It will show you what you feel about the picture and thus what direction you could take for your story. A second method is to write a basic outline using incomplete or complete sentences as you wish. You can fill in a detailed outline once you decide this is the story you want to write. A third method is to use post-a-note stickies and write different aspect of what you feel when you see the picture, one to each piece of paper. Afterwards line them up on your desk or a wall and place them in various spots and in different orders and eventually a layout will develop that makes sense to you. Different colored, lined index cards serve the same purpose. You write your story using those thoughts as topic sentences or fillers. 

Writing comes more easily than you think. Your sentences do not have to be complete sentences or the spelling correct. Your computer, spouse or high school child can “put things in order” once you have the thoughts down if you desire. What is important is finding that you can write. Once done, writing stories from your scrap book of pictures or from the scrap book in your mind are all waiting to be tapped. Think of how much fun you will have putting a story to those pictures and what a legacy you will leave!