Challenge Yourself
Author: Linda
Novelist, freelance writer and composer in LA.
Robin Lim
Almost 8 years ago, this woman, Ibu Robin Lim, CNN Hero of the year, delivered our Jazz in a bathtub in Bali filled with frangipani flowers. If you take a look at this video she’s walking through the construction site of her new Yayasan Bumi Sehat clinic, where any woman can go for prenatal care and to safely deliver her baby. For free. Robin, who goes to the poorest, war-torn countries to help women safely give birth, is known as the Mother Teresa of babies. I will be visiting her and the half-done new clinic when I go to Bali. And I will be asking her in the next few days what supplies I can bring from here. I, Elizabeth Gilbert and many others have helped support Robin’s work and they welcome donations to finish the clinic. Please let me know if you’d like to help. With eternal gratitude for our Ibu (‘mother’ in Balinese) Robin Lim.
As I begin to write my next novel
As I begin to write my next novel I find myself exquisitely sensitive to the merest hint of criticism when I talk about what I’m writing. I’ve done an about-face recently and decided to finish an unfinished novel I started in 2001. Yes, I put aside The Goldsmith’s Daughter. Again. The scope of that story daunted me. And I found I was not happy to be back in that world as I was writing it. The title of my next novel is mbird and I’ve secretly delighted in and loved this magical world for 15 years. I am blissfully happy when I disappear back into it. Giddy, actually. Yet I find myself plagued with self-doubt when I think about the viability of this book and the potential criticism I might face even as I mentor/cheerlead all my writing students to just keep writing. No matter what. The fearless honesty of the article below made me realize, once again, how sensitive we are as writers, so easily wounded when we’re in the early stages of a book. Thank you, Irene Allison, for your timely words. You just gave me a large drink of courage this morning. I’m putting this out there as a first step towards silencing that loud, dominant voice of self-doubt.
Here is a link to Irene Allison’s blog post.
Thank you
Thank you from the top to the bottom of my heart, dear Kristine Van Raden for this beauty. Love love love these birds on a wire! I will treasure them. Always.
Excited
I’m starting to get excited about #grandkidsfriday. These two. Hand in hand. Last Friday. Every Friday. Cousins. Growing up together. grandkidsfriday=best day of the week
Daughter of Two Artists
When you have a granddaughter in Bali, you know her life is different than if she were raised here. And when I saw this photo, 3 years ago, I realized just how different her life is. Because this is Jazz, age 5, ‘piecing with a krink mop’ according to her dad, my son Evan, outside their house in Bali, free to be as abstract as her inner muse takes her. #daughteroftwoartists #baligirl#grandkidsarethebest #truelove
Reflecting on a Wonderful Interview
I had the immense privilege to interview Elaine Mansfield- we talked about the many things we have in common- grief, living in the country, spiritual paths, the power of ritual after the death of a loved one, and more.
Elaine Mansfield is an author and hospice bereavement workshop leader. Her memoir, Leaning Into Love: A Spiritual Journey Through Grief, captures the heart–from the extraordinary closeness of Elaine’s marriage to how she and her husband Vic transform their struggle with cancer and despair into a conscious relationship with mortality. After Vic’s death, Elaine leans into her ongoing love as grief leads her through emotional and spiritual depths on a journey into her new life.
For more information and to listen to this wonderful interview, click here.
Slipper Camp Love 2.0
On March 4, 2016, LOVE will be the subject of the online Writing Slipper Camp of 2016. These will be ALL NEW prompts :).
I hope you will be 1 of 10 writers who will receive 3 illustrated prompts about LOVE every OTHER morning for 20 days, along with daily writing tips and coaching suggestions. You will be writing 1,000 words (2 pages) on 1 of the 3 daily prompts and sending it to me by midnight every OTHER day.
Starts March 4, Ends March 23. Over 250 writers/non-writers have taken this structured online writing class since 2011.
Let’s focus our energies on a healthy dose of LOVE in 2016! xoxo
To register email me here or on Facebook here.
Thinking About Last Week
The Fourth Annual February Writing Retreat (this year in Cambria) was the most terrific of all. Out of respect for the Cambria 6, some of whom are Facebook-averse writers, here they are, backs to me, watching the sun go down. Bonded by stories and laughter and tears, great meals, writing sessions, shopping! and a final caper that sent us all home with a huge grin. Thank you, my writers. You know who you are. What a glorious time we had together.
One Year Ago
Our Bali granddaughter, our beloved Jazz came to Brentwood with me where I taught a writing class as she read and drew and thoroughly enchanted the class. Afterwards, we went out for ice cream. And here she is, almost 7, pure sweetness and beauty, sharing a moment of love with me. In six weeks, I leave for Bali to celebrate her 8th birthday in her home, where she was born in a bathtub of frangipani flowers, delivered into the loving hands of midwife Ibu Robin Lim. I was the first to hold her, after her mama and papa. When they handed her to me I was overcome with love. I’m still overcome with love for Jazz. I haven’t been with her since August and she says she’s waiting until I arrive to cut her hair. I’m waiting, too, Jazz. For the moment you’re in my arms again, always deeply familiar despite the months and the miles. That’s what love does. Keeps us heart to heart. Keeps us deeply connected. Always. Our beloved Jazz..
Linda Schreyer 