What is the date you began writing this memoir and the date when you completed the memoir? Began around September, 2006; published, August, 2020.
Where did you do most of your writing for this memoir? And please describe in detail. I do all my writing sitting on my memory foam mattress with the back of the bed tilting up to support my back.
When I re-read my earliest writing for the first time fourteen years ago, I recognized my adventures in Montana, Mexico, and Peru might make an interesting book.
I spread my ten journals over my bed and read. Ideas percolated up from my unconscious as soon as I slipped into my comfortable two-sided foam envelope. In August 2020, Between Inca Walls was published.
What were your writing habits while writing this memoir- did you drink something as you wrote, listen to music, write in pen and paper, directly on laptop; specific time of day? I wrote on my laptop in the morning after exercising. Sometimes I kept writing until bedtime; usually I wrote for several hours. I keep a quart of water nearby and munch on chocolate occasionally for a break.
Out of all the specific memories you write about in this memoir, which ONE MEMORY was the most emotional for you to write about? And can you share that specific excerpt with us here. The excerpt can be as short or as long as you prefer, and please provide page numbers or Chapter number as references. The most emotional was finding out that I was pregnant when I was about to leave Peru after finishing my service in the Peace Corps. Pages 299-300.
I walked to the doctor’s office alone, feeling out of place. A nurse in a starched white uniform ushered me into a bathroom and gave me a cup. After delivering the urine sample I was whisked off to an examining room. I perched on the end of a cold plastic-covered examining table in a thin white gown. I shivered. Muffled voices in Spanish came from the other side of the heavy wooden door to the doctor’s office. I strained to hear what was being said. When I couldn’t my thoughts turned inward. What was causing my morning nausea? Was it worms or something more life-changing?….I yearned for a touch of gentleness among this cold, clinical atmosphere.
After an eternity, the nurse returned to the room with the doctor. This time she wasn’t all business. She put her hand on my shoulder in a comforting gesture. Hers was the first touch of caring I’d felt since leaving Antonio in Cusco.
“Si, usted está embarazada,” the doctor said.“Yes, you are pregnant.”
The words felt like a slap in the face. My body shuddered. Sobs I’d been holding back hurtled out in a torrent. Unable to contain my passions, my life had taken the wrong turn. I was tumbling off the narrow mountain road into a tumultuous stream below. My world turned upside down.
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Can you describe the emotional process of writing about this ONE MEMORY? Forty years after I’d written in my journal about this time in the Lima obstetrician’s office, I read about that traumatic day. I’d never processed what I went through until I looked at the scene. A feeling of compassion went through me for my younger self—now that I had two fine sons and had been happily married to Antonio for 40 years.
Were there any deletions from this excerpt that you can share with us? No. In fact I kept adding more happenings as they bubbled up from my memory—such as meeting with the Peace Corps officials and having to decide between several options they recommended.
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