What is the date you began writing this memoir and the date when you completed the memoir? I have always written, even as a child. I wrote my first book, Kids Helping Kids Break the Silence of Sexual Abuse(Linda Lee Foltz, Lighthouse Point Press) many years earlier and I started journaling the events that would eventually make up this book, Entrenched: A Memoir of Holding on and Letting Go, (Linda Lee Blakemore, Leonella Press) after my second husband and I had separated for the third time. I used writing as a way “to try” to make sense of my troubled marriage. But it wasn’t until the marriage was officially over – that I became focused on this project.
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As far as completing the project – is it ever done? Without a deadline from the publisher, I would probably still be editing. In fact, the completed manuscript passed through the hands of three separate editors and four professionals reviewers. All four gave good reviews of the writing but two reviewers felt the story ended a bit abruptly. So, even though the editor didn’t feel it was necessary, I decided to add another scene at the very last minute.
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Where did you do most of your writing for this memoir? And please describe in detail. Believe it or not, after writing in coffee shops, at my work office, in the home office, at the library, and other expected and unexpected places, I found that I did my best writing when I was perched on the third barstool at the kitchen island.
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’m not a morning person, but for some reason I was most productive when I rose early, fixed a cup of my favorite brew, reread what I had written the day before, and plucked out whatever thoughts had been rattling around in my head since I had last written. I do not write chapters, but rather in scenes. And I wrote in no particular order – whatever scene came to me was the scene I wrote.
When I was finished writing, I laid it all out on the floor, scene by scene, and pieced it together – not unlike the process Anne Lamott describes in her book, Bird By Bird.
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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 as reference. The most emotional scene for me was what I consider the denouement – Chapter 89 – The Revelation, pages 354 and 355.
I had been sitting by myself on the concrete sidewalk, building a house from a deck of playing cards. My father taught me how so I’d have something to do when I didn’t want to play with the other kids. It was a thick August evening and third grade was about to begin. I had just turned nine.
My father’s younger and only brother pulled up in a car my dad had rebuilt for him. My uncle walked over to where I was playing and crouched down. The cigarette clenched between his fingers sent a ribbon of white smoke curling above his head.
“I won’t be coming around anymore,” he said.
“Why not?”
“I’m getting married.” He smiled like he expected I would smile back.
“You said you were going to marry me.”
“I can’t marry a nine-year-old,” he sneered. “Come on. You know that.”
“But you said.”
What my uncle said next changed me and my life forever.
Can you describe the emotional process of writing about this ONE MEMORY? This entire memoir was an emotional journey – I liken it to swimming in sewer water. I felt as emotional when I wrote that climatic scene as it did when I remembered it, as I had the day it occurred. And, yet, that scene also contributed the most to my ability to understand, heal, and, eventually, to let go.
Were there any deletions from this excerpt that you can share with us. I made some conscious choices NOT to write a few scenes, but there were no deletions. Every scene I wrote became an integral part of the book.
Linda Lee Blakemore is a speaker, advocate for women and children, and renown author of a top selling nonfiction book and an acclaimed memoir. Her first book, Kids Helping Kids Break the Silence of Sexual Abuse (Linda Foltz, Lighthouse Point Press) tells the true stories of fifteen child survivors. Designed to educate, intervene when a child is trapped in silence, and offer hope through healing, Kids Helping Kids was written with the support of the late Erika Harkema, Director Pittsburgh Child Advocacy and Dr. Walter Smith, Executive Director of Pittsburgh Family Resources. The book received prestigious endorsements from hundreds of professionals across the country including: Jack Canfield, co-author of #1 NY Times Best Selling Series, “Chicken Soup for the Soul,” Dr. Robert Brooks, (Harvard Medical School) co- author of “Raising Resilient Children,” Nancy Wells, Executive Director of the Center for Victims of Violent Crime, B.J. Horn, Executive Director of The Pittsburgh Action Against Rape, and the Child Welfare Journal. Articles by Linda and about her book appeared in national magazines including America’s Family Resource, Seventeen, and Teen Voices. Linda has appeared on local, national, and international radio and television including The Montel Williams Show. Additionally, she has traveled the country advocating for children. With her second book, Entrenched: Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go, Linda will advocate for and educate women and young women everywhere.