What is stopping you? The world is patiently waiting for you to write!
I have been looking forward to writing this entry all month
long. April 2013 and the A to Z challenge is almost over. I will miss it, as I
did last year, yet I know I have learned a lot and I know (since you have told
me) many of you have learned a lot as well.
If this is your first visit or your forty first visit, you
are here at exactly the right time.
Today’s post, after all, is about you.
Fifty years from now, a young writer takes a moment and googles
(or its future equivalent) your name to research more about you. Perhaps she is
writing a research paper or writing a blog article or maybe a 21st
century style encyclopedia.
You have become a literary granny. Yes, YOU!
Maybe until this moment you never gave it any thought.
How will your words be influential to another generation of
readers?
Some of you haven’t even given thought to whether or not
your words are influencing anyone. Some of you don’t write for others, only for
yourself. Some of you have tried over and over to find your niche, or to write
a novel someone will buy or perhaps you are so frightened you have yet to share
your first poem with anyone outside of your personal notebook.
Maybe there is a young woman in your life who wants to write
but hasn’t started putting words on the page. Perhaps it is your turn to be the
encourager of a future literary granny. Time and time again I find writers who
knew each other, who came alongside one another to insure the words to continue
to be written.
The world is waiting for your words.
This generation and the next and the next are hopeful you
will become their literary granny of tomorrow.
All it takes is for you to be willing to write.
Just write.
Just love the world and your words enough to bring your
words to life in a form for the future to enjoy and perhaps, just perhaps,
learn from as well.
The future world waits, patiently, for you to write your
words today.
Julie Jordan Scott is available to speak to your group
(or in your teleconference) about the creative process, writing and will
create a session individually according to your wants and needs.
Contact her at 661.444.2735 for more information.
I would like to thank Elizabeth Anne Mitchell whose
knowledge of Christine de Pizan helped me to mold my research into a much
simpler to understand profile. Hopefully after you read this brief biography
you will want to learn more about today's Literary Granny. I have linked to Elizabeth’s blog below where she
goes into far more detail and with more interesting tidbits than I have room to
do here.
Bear with me a moment: I can’t remember when I first heard
the term widow’s succession, but I remember as a little girl in the 60’s at
Linden Avenue School in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, we heard about the rare woman
who held elected office – well, more like she saved the seat until the next
election, never expecting any sort of political clout to come as a result.
In my adulthood, I remember when Sonny Bono (perhaps you
only know of hearing about the long ago ‘Sonny and Cher’ died suddenly while a
Senator and his wife took over his office when he died. She managed to build
quite a career which ended only in the last election. Her “Widow’s Succession”
became more than a body to keep the seat warm on behalf of a political party.
She leveraged herself into a career from 1998 to 2013.
Christine de Pizan, (born around 1364- died around 1431) our
Literary Granny of the Day, had a unique life from her early childhood. Her
father, an Italian astrologer who was called to France to serve in the court of
Charles V, raised his daughter not as a subservient girl, but as an
intellectual as well. He insisted on the stretching of her intellect as well as
the cultural norm of womanly arts.
I wonder if her father
saw in the stars how the world was going to change for women – but not for
centuries?.
I must remind you, this is not in our world today, this was
Europe – Italy and France – of the late 14th and early 15th
century – before “Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” started out as a poet who
wrote poetry on demand for the wealthy patrons within the court. Her husband
died leaving her responsible financially not only for her children, but also
for her mother and her home because she was also a widow. She more than likely took over his position as
court secretary. She had experience as a court copyist seems a natural to take
over as secretary, thus doing the “widow’s succession” like Mary Bono Mack did
in our lifetime.
It is hazy what exactly happened, but we do know she wrote poetry
and then prose for patrons until she amassed enough money to write what she
wanted to write: words critical of the court and championing some rather
radical ideas of the day such as the education of women, as well as criticism.
She actually had the poise and gumption to debate the great
intellectuals of the day. They were all men, naturally, who thought Christine
couldn’t possibly think critically or write as she did simply because she was a
woman. Nonetheless, she did think and she could write and she had gained financial
success so… she did exactly that: she debated and critiqued and supported
herself, her mother and her children as well as had a very fulfilling career. Her work, The City of Ladies,
is still published in several versions today.
I am also sad that I didn’t even know the name
Christine de Pizan until I started choosing names for the 2013 A-to-Z Literary
Grannies project. That is why it is so important you are reading here today,
discovering this granny and realizing there are more women writers out there like her. As writers, we can look back into our lineage as writers in the days when
some of our ancestors believed the world was flat and the other ancestors had no
concept of life beyond their villages and family homes.
Somewhere in us the spark from Christine de Pizan
continues.
This Literary Granny is one I claim with my heart, my
pencils, my pens and all my notebooks.
Thank you so much for reading here today. Happy April and
A-t0-Zing!
Buffalo Bird Women Tended Squash with the tools (in this case, a bone hoe)her Grandmother & the Women before her used...
Her name was actually Maxi'diwiac of the Hidatsa people, but
we (as in the English Speaking, non Hidatsa people usually refer to her as
Buffalo Bird Woman.
I couldn’t help but remember literary Granny Sojourner Truth’s words
which continue to inspire people today.
Buffalo Bird Woman was also a woman who took pride in her heritage to the
point of refusing to go with the flow as others were: she intended, instead, to
keep the traditions – and her language – alive. She was a story teller
extraordinaire and for her stories to continue as they have today, they were
written, and translated, and shared with many.
Her book, Buffalo Bird Women’s Garden, continues
telling the traditions and will, hopefully, continue to be popular to girls and
women of today. I loved her almost “post
script” about squash:
Squash Dolls
There is one other thing I will tell before we forsake the subject of
squashes. Little girls of ten or eleven years of age used to make dolls of
squashes.
When the squashes were brought in from the field, the little girls would go
to the pile and pick out squashes that were proper for dolls. I have done so,
myself. We used to pick out the long ones that were parti-colored; squashes
whose tops were white or yellow and the bottoms of some other color. We put no
decorations on these squashes that we had for dolls. Each little girl carried
her squash about in her arms and sang for it as for a babe. Often she carried
it on her back, in her calf skin robe.
Her words are an important part of American Literary History we simply must keep alive. Honoring her words and
her person is integral to this mission of spreading love, knowledge and
curiosity about our Literary Grannies.
Some might say I was a preschool visionary or others might
have said I was stubborn to the highest level. Perhaps I am a combination of
both even today.
My first attempt with
the A to Z blog challenge was 2011. I jumped in last minute with no plan at
all and as often happens, with no plan in place, everything falls apart. I
loved the concept and decided I would try it again, fail or no fail.
2012 came with a
plan: because I love women’s history and I love 19th century
literature, I decided to marry the two together and came up with Women in
Literary History. I didn’t solely cover the 19th century, but those
women were featured regularly because they are so often pushed aside in favor
of the massive quantity of men who wrote and published more frequently. Our
literary canon is very heavily weighted toward men.
So because I enjoyed the heck out of the 2012 series as well
as engaged people in some great discussion about these authors, I wanted to
take it for another ride now in 2013 with a new, catchier name "Literary Grannies from A to Z".
Am I a man basher or “hater”?
I am not at all. I love men. I have a whole volume of poetry on this topic
because so often I have talked to people who think “feminist” = “militant man
hater” or “anyone who is stuck on women this and women that is being so
exclusive, let me turn her volume down.”
Do you have a mother, sister, daughter, cousin, neighbor,
close friend who is a woman?
Perhaps in honor of them, read the very short biographies I
will be sharing along with images and fun facts about these women. You may
discover someone very cool that until now you didn’t even know existed.
Why do I choose to use first names as my A to Z?
Our "Z" feature will be award winning Zoe Akins
They are the names given to the woman, usually – sometimes
the woman has adopted the name or it is the name she is known best as and I
wanted to feature her with both names, like Naturalist Buffalo Bird Woman who
is also named and known as Maxi'diwiac by her Hidatsa people. I am also
featuring a Japanese Poet Ono No Komachi
from the 11th Century and I was never able to determine which
was her given name and which was her family name. I apologize in advance if I
mixed up her name. I am thrilled to have found her in my poetry reading and so
happy to share her legacy here.
Family names are usually not something thought about, we are
just passed the name from one of our ancestors. I love my family name, Jordan,
and continue to use it after marriage as well, partnered with the name my
children bear, “Scott”. I wouldn’t want to be like Cher or Madonna or even
French Writer/Performer Colette who was featured in last year’s series: Julie
isn’t a name that stands on its own very well.
I love my other names, but I am most frequently referred to
as “Julie,” except, possibly, “Mommy” which is a name I claim with a special
pride.
Please write a brief comment, if you are comfortable, after
my entries so that I know you were here. Your presence is appreciated more than
you may know.
You still have time to register for the A to Z Blogging Challenge.
Check it out here - and join the fun. You don't have to prepare but you even still have time for that as well.
Literary Grannies are Waiting for Me to Tell You Their Stories
Thank goodness I somehow wandered into this Hop Before the
Hop so I can unveil my favorite theme ever… well, actually, it is similar to
last year’s theme but that was sooo successful I am running with a similar
theme:
Literary Grannies from A to Z.
I will have a subtitle declaring it isn’t just Grannies, we
are also talking about literary aunties, tias, sisters, Godmothers and yes, Mothers – but I will be
focusing on women writers in literary history. Literary Grannies just makes a
beautiful image in my head.
I have 25 of the 26 chosen: I am still looking for a Literary Grandma whose first name starts with Q!
I am starting my actual writing tomorrow – I am going to be
traveling for eight days in April so getting a lot of pre-writing done will be
exceptionally helpful.
Are you doing April's A to Z Blogging Challenge? It is a blast and believe me, you will stretch as a result.
I can’t WAIT to see your themes! THANK YOU for visiting!
This morning I made a light proclamation to my daughter,
Emma when I said, “Your Great Great Grandpa was Canadian.”
She didn’t find that very funny.
Emma is taking AP World History this year and one of her
first assignments is to research where her family roots began. We’re thinking
nineteenth century here. Most of her classmates have roots in Europe or Central
or South American during that time, but my little Emma’s roots stretch across
the United States in that time.
My family of choice goes beyond blood. My family of choice
flows words and images as blood. My literary Grandma’s and Aunties, My Artist
Cousins and Sisters, these women so many people haven’t heard of yet.
In honor of the spirit of “FLASH” today, I am going to leave
you with images of these women and request you visit the links I will leave
from my “Women in Literary History from A to Z” series from last Spring.
Lucy Larcom, Mill Girl & Writer
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Social Reformer & Writer
Ina Coolbrith, First Poet Laureate of California
Kate Chopin: Novelist, Short Story Writer (with her Children)
Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity
Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since
1999. She is
Julie Jordan Scott writing at Ina Coolbrith Park in San Francisco
also an award winning Actor, Director,
Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the
StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield.
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you enjoy this essay? Receive emails directly to your
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Because I constantly talked about Word Love in my original A to Z Challenge posts, I figured I would start the A to Z Roadtrip with a Word-love post. I am so glad I discovered the roadtrip! I have missed all of you!
I have refilled my coffee. I have grabbed an extra oreo. I have taken my butt and seated myself squarely in my chair to be sure I write, write, write without stopping as I share with you straight off the top of my head why my mission, to spread word love throughout the world is so important.
I am also going to offer to you the option of catching word-love fever.
I sat in a café in the unlikely location of Pierpoint Springs last week with a new friend from Austria. She was a couchsurfer and my family and home were the couchsurfees.
I have a compulsion to make each visit from each couchsurfer as memorable as possible. This is why we found ourselves at such a locale: we were on our way to Sequoia National Monument taking a different road than usual. I wanted to visit Miss Julie’s Bar which is back behind this gem of a diner in Pierpoint Springs, right on the edge of Camp Nelson, right on the edge of Sequoia National Monument’s Trail of 100 Giants.
The trail was our (supposed) destination after all.
We nibbled and chatted and I knew Chrissi, like myself, wasn’t one for idle chatter, so I pulled out my phone and started taking notes. Mostly I was transposing the words of a guy seated in the booth behind me. He was a sheriff’s officer, who was calling in a report on not his phone, but the diner’s phone. Once I heard “357 Magnum” I knew I needed to write this down.
No one would believe this was actually happening. It all seems too cliché and too “America has the craziest and most lovable wacky cast of characters imagineable.”
Chrissi asked me when I looked up, “Have you always known you were going to be a writer?” she asked.
I smiled and said, “I wrote before I knew how to write. I would dictate to my mother what I wanted to write, she would write my words on paper and I would then copy my words she had written.”
Before I was literate, I was in love with words.
I understood their power to create. I didn’t yet understand their power to destroy.
That would come later.
These days, though, I not only write, I teach writing to some and inspire the writing of others. Sometimes the “teaching” and “inspiring” are synonymous. I do this because I know lives are changed when we express what is inside us, begging for us to communicate it.
Even if the only reader is ourselves as we write in a journal which we may later burn, the words are given space outside our overfilled head. This is a huge blessing and this is where the word-romance begins.
Two words come together. They meet. They grow into more words, perhaps with a question mark attached.
I promised myself not to stretch these words out beyond my timer’s song. It just went off.
I love words.
I hope you love words OR if your romance is idle or dull or hasn’t begun yet, take a moment to write a sentence. “Writing and words serve me when they……” and just write a sentence. Be aware of how words show their love to you and you show your love to them.
And then spread the word-love, starting now.
I always have been a matchmaker, after all, a romantic seeking a world of surprising relationships.
Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since 1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director, Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield. She leads Writing Camp with JJS & this Summer will be traveling throughout the US to bring this unique, fun filled creative experience to the people wherever she finds the passion & the interest.
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I became intrigued with Elinor Wylie for two reasons: I was drawn in by the portrait I found (and am using in my E is for Elinor art) and the reality that she became shunned by others due to her consistent seeking after romance, even when it wasn’t always the wisest choice. She was so atypical of the time, I wanted to know more.
She was from a prominent but psychologically unstable family. This quote of hers says more about what she received from her lineage: "I am better able to imagine hell than heaven; it is my inheritance, I suppose."
I am naturally attracted to those who are pushed out of any circle of friends or associates. Perhaps it is because I perpetually think I am the verge of being shoved from my nest-of-loved-ones or maybe it just sends a bell ringing in my intellectual curiosity. “Find out more!” my spirit urges. In this case, I am so thankful I did!
She was a popular poet of her day, known for her beauty as much as her work. She was generous and passionate and wrote novels as well as poetry.
She was also a mother: when her eldest son was three, she left him in the care of his father, her first husband Philip Hichborn. She tried later to have more children. She lost one child who lived for six days due to prematurity and another to stillbirth. There were miscarriages. In 1916, after these losses, she began her life in literary circles in New York.
She was a friend and contemporary of Edna St. Vincent Millay, who won an award but refused to accept it because Elinor was not allowed to be in the group due to her personal affairs. I am not saying personal affairs are good here, it is reality of a double standard that survives even now.
One of my happiest moments of research came when I randomly ordered a copy of her 1928 collection Trivial Breath. The scent of her time met my face in a moment of pure joy. Ah, yes. Elinor Wylie: like her “I love bright words, words up and singing early.”
She died, beloved. She turned to dust and became abhorred and judged. My prayer is she rises again in her words and our hearts.
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