I’m juggling so many projects that I haven’t finished any of them. My memoir Once a Pilgrim was nearly done when Kent and I walked on the Voie de Vézelay in May. But I haven’t returned to it. I’m uncertain about the structure. Should I end with the first half of my 2010 solo pilgrimage? Should I start a new book with the second half? Wherever I leave off, I want readers to wait breathlessly for the happy ending of my relationship with Kent.
I also created a children’s picture book based on We Ran Away to Sea, tentatively titled Home Sea Home. I thought it would be a great way to keep Kent’s book alive. Parents would buy the book for their kids and also read the adult version. Then the kids would grow up to read that one, too. I should have sent the picture book to a professional editor or queried it to agents. Instead, I showed it to other writers. Some loved it, and some had so many suggestions that I thought it would be better as a chapter book. That one is almost finished as well. One of the critics of the picture book said, “You’re not giving up on it, are you?”
Inspired by Facing East
When my friend, Evelyn Begody, published her second book, Facing East: Boarding School and Beyond, I was eager to read it. After finishing her kindergarten chapter, I was inspired to write about my own elementary school experiences. I wrote about Kindergarten and First Grade quickly and easily. But Second Grade was harder. The trauma I experienced with flashcards that year carried over to problems with math for the rest of my life. I’ve put the grown-up incidents in another chapter.
While writing about Third Grade, I really went down a rabbit hole. That was the year I fell in love with writing stories. While writing about that year, I remembered a collection of ribbon-tied, decorated books in the dining room bookcase. There is one for each year from grades 5 through 10, filled with my stories. Doesn’t everyone have a bookcase in their dining room? Mine has a set of encyclopedias to settle questions that come up in dinnertime conversations. They were a necessity before the Internet. Come to think of it, we haven’t looked at them since we got cell phones.
I’m still considering what, if anything, to do with those stories. I edited one about Santa, a mouse, a lonely reindeer, and a life-sized toy polar bear. They have an adventure with dancers in grass skirts on a tropical beach. There is also a witch and a volcano. I wrote it when I was 14. I’m sending that one to the grandsons for Christmas. I haven’t yet revisited Evelyn’s book, although Kent read it cover to cover. But I have finished writing about Third Grade, where the story-writing started.
Covers of the books and illustrations.
Childhood Writing
I’ve reflected on the kid I was all those years ago, and on how much the world has changed. I wonder where I got some of my ideas. Some are obvious, some not, and what, if anything, to do with them now.
I’m amazed by how many themes from those stories still hold my attention. They include the meaning of life, faith, irony, concern for injustice and the environment, and a love of travel. I was surprised to find neatly handwritten tables of contents with page numbers, and signatures with my full name. There are many illustrations. Linnea Hendrickson’s Freshman Folly of 1959 has a hand-lettered note: Copyright 1960 by L.M.H. Publishing House. All rights reserved.
The books include poems, jokes, limericks, and stories. In the upper grades, there are book reviews. My reading choices are revealing. As a freshman, I reviewed biographies of Nellie Bly, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Hans Christian Andersen. There was also a biography of a pair of dancers who escaped from behind the Iron Curtain. Our Hearts Were Young and Gay by Cornelia Otis Skinner and Emily Kimbrough captivated me. I became obsessed with Paris, although I didn’t get there until after I married Ed on my thirty-third birthday. Richard Halliburton’s New Worlds to Conquer (a book of my mother’s) fueled my love of travel and adventure. I read most, if not all, of Halliburton’s books. Who’s even heard of Halliburton today? There is a lengthy article in Wikipedia .
YouTube and Tiktok Videos
I have completed two videos from last May’s pilgrimage and many brief TikTok videos. Most of those were designed to bring attention to We Ran Away to Sea.
Short TikTok Videos for We Ran Away to Sea
À Bien tôt! (Until next time! See you soon!)
Caminobleu 