Julie Unplugged

Inspired by Literary Grannies: Z is for Zoe Akins

 

Zoe Akins, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright who was also a revered poet and screen writer. She influenced many and is remembered by few

I first came to know Zoe Akins simply because her name started with the letter “Z”. Even today, years later after I first read of her I am barely scratching the surface of a woman who is a remarkable literary granny.

She is one of those women whose work has been woefully underappreciated.

 Listen to these credentials:

 She wrote forty plays, 17 of which were produced on Broadway. One won her a Pulitzer Prize. Astonishing to me is none of her plays have been revived on Broadway.

 She was a Pulitzer Prize winner for her play. The Old Maid, and adaptation of the novel by fellow Literary Granny Edith Wharton. It went on to become a movie starring Bette Davis. In watching the preview for the movie, one might be distracted by the vintage quality of performance, props and costumes, but the words Zoe wrote are timeless.

 

 Katharine Hepburn’s first Academy Award was won in a film written by Zoe Akins, Morning Glory in 1933.

 I would like to offer you inspiration today from one of her most famous poems,

I Am the Wind

I am the wind that wavers,
You are the certain land;
I am the shadow that passes
Over the sand.

I am the leaf that quivers,
You, the unshaken tree;
You are the stars that are steadfast,
I am the sea.

You are the light eternal-
Like a torch I shall die.
You are the surge of deep music,
I but a cry!

Questions for Contemplation:

 Would you consider yourself to be more like the wind or the certain land? What makes you make that assertion?

 Read the poem aloud and then make a list of examples from your life that fit the various lines. For example, when has your life been like a torch? When has it been like a light eternal? Jot your discoveries on a sheet of paper.

 Sentence starters:

 

I am the sea, the wind, the shadow - and I….

 You are…..

 Prompts for the end of the day and integration throughout the week:

 

Today I was the wind when I….

Today I was a surge of deep music when I….

Today I was steadfast when…

The quality I would most like to be in this poem is…..

 Tomorrow I would like to exemplify the quality of….

 

= = = =

 

This blog post is a part of April's Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Visit here daily in April to be inspired by literary grannies across time.

 

 

 

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 Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world.  She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and

 

Julie Jordan Scott is at the Microphone writing a collaborative poem during a poetry performance

 

mixed-media artist  whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people's creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in Spring, 2015 and beyond. 

 

 

 

 To contact Julie to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session, call or text her at 661.444.2735.

 

     Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

 

 

 

   Please stay in touch: Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot    

 

     Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook. (Thank you!)

 

     Follow on Instagram

 

     And naturally, on Pinterest, too!

 

    © 2015

 

 

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Stuck No More: Inspiration for Your Blogging, Writing & Creativity - "Hope is the thing with....

Each day, a quote, an image, several questions and a writing prompt are offered to you to use for  Your Blogging, Writing & Creative Inspiration in order to increase your creative thinking as well as your personal and soulful  development.

Quote

“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.”
― Emily Dickinson

I remember the first time I came across these words. I read them and something clicked.

“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul…….”

Hope doesn’t need language or word explanations, she simply sings and sings and sings, unceasingly.

Today is one of those days where I need to be reminded of this.

What about you?

Questions:

What bird would you imagine being your symbol of hope and why is that? In your personal life, your business life, your family life, whatever fits – tell us about your hope feathers.

What do you feel, physically, when you allow hope to overtake your body?

Lists:

List 5 to 10 things you are hopeful for right now –

List 5 to 10 things you were hopeful for in the last ten years. Pick one and write the “what happened.”

Bonus: Use the top list to ask questions and play with intention.

Traditional Writing Prompts:

When I think of hope, I think…..

Somehow, the thought of birds and feathers and hope and soul and singing singing singing makes me…..

 >> ---<<

One helpful strategy is to read the quote, questions, prompt and list and not to "take them on" all at once, but to allow them to simmer in the back of your mind throughout the day. Sure, you may "write" one immediately, but don't call it "done" until you have allowed your powerful subconscious mind to bring up some unexpected responses for your conscious mind to create within.

Remember, though - there are no rights and wrongs, there is only showing up for your life and your creativity. Brava for being here!!

This Blog Series was created to increase your creative thinking process as well as inspire writing and ideas to take form that may not have taken form without these specific quotes, questions and prompts. If you find them helpful, I hope you will pass them along to friends as well.

I’m so glad you are here, reading and creating.

Julie Jordan Scott is a writer, performance poet, Mommy and mixed-media artist. Her word-love themed art will be for sale at First Friday each month in Downtown Bakersfield. Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot

 Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook. (Thank you!)

 Follow on Instagram 

And naturally, on Pinterest, too!

 © 2013 - Julie Jordan Scott - all rights reserved.

 

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Happiness is Finding that Just Right Technique

 

This is how I've wanted my photo layering to look for eons!

Something very exciting happened!!

 

After many attempts to get some of my photos layered in the way I like them to be or inserted into collages or mixed media pieces, I finally found a method that gives me the effect I want. I literally wanted to jump up and down and have a big hug fest with Virginia Woolf, her sisters and TS Elliot but I thought since they are all long dead that wouldn’t work out.

Here is the stalled mixed media piece I’ve been working on, wondering why TS Elliot of all people would be the “star” of one of my works. I started this in July, I believe – it was a long time ago. The layers of paints tell me. The color of the deepest layer is “Oildale building” or something like that. I know it has Oildale in the title.

 

Here is a close up. I love how the words "writing" and "blood" show up clearly. Those are from one of T.S. Elliot's writings.

It was one of the recycled paints I got for free last summer. At last point they were specializing in not such wonderful shades of… primarily beige.

 

Anyway – now that I was able to try the trick of printing on tissue paper and then affixing the tissue paper with mod podge (I’m also going to experience with some other mediums as well) I can’t believe the perfection in the result.

I edited this photo first, I cranked up the contrast which I think will help a lot with black and white photos. I love the crispness and the simultaneously gritty effect it has.

I made progress on several other pieces, but this was by far the most exciting in probably about a week. Today I plan to add a photo of Edna St. Vincent Millay and perhaps a shot of Steepletop, her estate in Upstate New York which I visited last April.

Thank you for reading! I can’t wait to celebrate with you!

<< --->>

You may still join Art Every Day Month - Leah Piken Kolidas has been inspiring many of us for years! Check it out -

 

 

 

 

 

 Julie Jordan Scott is a writer, performance poet, Mommy and mixed-media artist. Her word-love themed art will be for sale at First Friday each month in Downtown Bakersfield. Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

 

 Please stay in touch: Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot     

  Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook. (Thank you!)

  Follow on Instagram

  And naturally, on Pinterest, too!

   © 2013 - Julie Jordan Scott - all rights reserved.

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For Your Writing & Inspiration Daily: Quote + Prompt + Question: Margaret Fuller's Candle

History. Varied, Dynamic, Happening Each and Every Day.

You know those moments when it is difficult to start writing because there is so much flooding your brain there is a standstill that happens - an energetic standstill so that nothing happens until.... you allow a slight deflation to occur.

An exhale is released and favorite periods and faces come into view.

The city of Concord, Massachusetts is one of those memories. The cemeteries, the author's homes, the revolutionary war history. I lust over such places.

Millworkers, young women, taken from their families in Lowell, Massachusetts a utopia turned another cog-in-the-wheel mentality place. Lucy Larcom, she now has a park, perhaps nearby where her mother ran one of the many boarding hose for young mill girls along the narrow streets there.

I think of the Lorton Workhouse, where the "Iron Jawed Angels" lived and were abused and who stood firm. I think of the recent and current history: the art that is made there, the community around it - partially rural partly "we're near the heart of it" city in Northern Virginia. Suffragists, jailed for standing in places and holding signs. Some for up to nine months. We don't learn this history in usual classrooms - at least I didn't hear of the intensity of the struggle for women to be heard.

History. Varied, dynamic, happening each and every day.

>> -- <<

I oftentimes use BlogFlashDaily prompts for writing warm-ups or as a break from the writing I  "have to" do at any given moment. Some days, like today, bring up content I never imagined writing. I try to keep my posts right around one hundred words, but sometimes there is more that needs to be contained. Perhaps you will join us soon at BlogFlashDaily?

= = = = = =

Julie Jordan Scott is a writer, performance poet, Mommy and mixed-media artist. Her word-love themed art will be for sale at First Friday each month in Downtown Bakersfield. Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

Please stay in touch: Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot    

  Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook. (Thank you!)

Follow on Instagram

And naturally, on Pinterest, too!

 

© 2013

For Your Writing & Creative Inspiration: A Quote, Question, Prompt & More

 

Each day, a quote, an image, several questions and a writing prompt are offered to you to use for  Your Writing & Creative Inspiration in order to increase your creative thinking as well as your personal and soulful  development.

The most helpful strategy is to read the quote, questions, prompt and list and not to "take them on" all at once, but to allow them to simmer in the back of your mind throughout the day. Sure, you may "write" one immediately, but don't call it "done" until you have allowed your powerful subconscious mind to bring up some unexpected responses for your conscious mind to create within.

Quote:

"And if many sayings of the wise teach of submission I will not submit, but with a spirit unreconciled flash an unquenched defiance to the stars."

Adelaide Crapsey, inventor of the American Cinquain poetry form

Questions:

When have you flashed unquenched defiance to anyone? What happened?

What are you currently submitting to that you don't want to submit to anymore?

Prompts:

I will keep what the "wise" teach me when....

I will defy what the "wise" teach me when....

List:

Make a list of at least ten teachings you are happy to embrace and pass along.

Make a list of at least ten teachings you will openly defy and pass along your defiance.

Make a list of ways to add constructive energy to the sometimes perceived as negative energy of defiance.

 

>> -- <<

This Blog Series was created to increase your creative thinking process as well as inspire writing and ideas to take form that may not have taken form without these specific quotes, questions and prompts. If you find them helpful, I hope you will pass them along to friends as well.

I’m so glad you are here, reading and creating.

Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot

 Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook. (Thank you!)

 Follow on Instagram 

And naturally, on Pinterest, too!

 Welcome to my elevent post (of 31!) for the October Ultimate Blog Challenge. Watch here for Your Writing & Creative Inspiration! Word-Love to YOU!

© 2013 by Julie Jordan Scott

 

5 Ways to Guarantee a Memorable Vacation or Trip: For the Love of Travel Mishaps

Here I am, Hanging out with Literary Granny Anne Morrow Lindbergh and her husband at the Smithsonian's Air and Science Museum

I love to travel so much more than I ever confessed in the past. The week I spent in the DC area for the past seven days cemented I am heavily addicted to visiting new to me places, especially those with a women’s history, literary history or social justice flavor. In fact, I can go nearly anyplace and discover the women’s history, literary history or social justice flavor that no one else had uncovered yet.

 

I also love scooting around in the ordinary, the mundane “oh, that’s no big deal” places in the neighborhoods where the locals go and the tourists usually don’t.

I have started a top ten list of surprisingly wonderful places to go in the DC area that might be a new spot for you as well as a list of places to visit with children and/or how to approach such places with special needs children.

What surprised and delighted me the most, though, was my own ability to roll with the punches during this trip. I didn’t have a single melt down or need to stand up for myself, most likely because I was primarily on my own. There were several times my plans were thwarted because my primary responsibility was to be the almost invisible support for Emma who was attending a high school leadership forum which was the reason we went at all.

My daughter, Katherine, stayed home to be with Samuel all week.

One of her comments to me has continued to resound through me: “That’s one of the qualities that is so good about you. When things don’t go your way, you just pick another way and manage to enjoy it as much as what you wanted to do in the first place.”

It is a beneficial quality whose origins were not necessarily the best. I became one of the best “lemonade maker from lemons” I know because I never expect things to work out in my favor.

What I was reminded this week that while things may not work out in my favor or according to my plan, when I nestle myself deeply into the moment, the moment was what I wanted in the first place – not the activity that filled the moment.

An example: I tried to get to Baltimore on three separate occasions. I was so excited to go on the afternoon Emma and her group were taking a field trip away from the conference center. I bought a bunch of snacks for them earlier and put them in a purple, polka dot bag for her to share with her friends and within moments realized my rental car keys were on their way to Emma’s field trip in the purple bag.

I could have stomped my feet and shaken my fist at the sky and barked at the

You just don't see this in the desert I live in here in California: seedings growing from the hollow of a fallen tree......

housekeeping staff to just go away instead of waking me from a nice, deep, restorative nap “because I am trapped here at the hotel!” Instead, I thought, “What a gift. A chance to take a break instead of rush, rush, rush.”

 

I did things like nap. I took a bubble bath. I wrote a blog post. I went to the hotel restaurant and had some chicken noodle soup better than I’ve ever had and a seasonal beer. I sat on the patio and wrote the sunset.

When you travel next, please remember this:

• 1.       Make a wild, crazy, absolutely out of this world list of things you would like to do on your vacation or trip.

• 2.       Start doing those items one at a time without concerning yourself with the ‘what’s next’ on your list.

• 3.       Stay alert to the surprising places that call to you. I found my favorite new park and a very intriguing, hidden cemetery this way.

• 4.       Take some time off intentionally in the middle of your trip and treat yourself to a “spa day.” Not with a ridiculous price tag or anything, simply take a day of rest where you can take a bath or drink a glass of wine or simply let the kids play on the lawn at sunset while you sit on a picnic basket and eat fresh fruit, veggies and maybe one sweet craving and call it dinner.

• 5.       Document with images on your camera and bits and pieces of writing on the way without worrying about telling the whole story “now”. It will ripen as you go. It always has and it always will, as long as you are willing to allow it to be so.

# # # # # #

 

Please stay in touch: Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot    

 Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook. (Thank you!)

Follow on Instagram

And naturally, on Pinterest, too!

© 2013

Literary Grannies Go to Washington

Zelda Fitzgerald overlaid with one of the paintings she did she was institutionalized.

I think I just said a prayer to the writing goddesses, even though I am pretty sure they don’t exist except for the in the form of Writing Grannies. Maybe that is where I have gone astray.

You see, I am in the midst of planning a trip to Washington, DC which isn’t really a usual trip because I am accompanying my daughter, Emma, to a program and sort of being there so I don’t worry about her too much being three thousand miles away from Mommy. Helicopter parenting much?

Actually, most people who know me would think I am not a helicopter parent in the conventional sense, I just want my precious children to have as many opportunities as possible and I feel better if I am there with her and meanwhile Katherine can hang with Samuel back here in Bakersfield.

I have a list of literary granny sites, which is a high priority for me and perhaps strange to most people.

One literary granny site – the Phillis Wheatley YMCA has actually been changed into the Thurgood

Pencil sketch of Literary Granny Phillis Wheatley

Marshall YMCA. Why does this bother me? Doesn’t Mr. Marshall have plenty of places named for him? I will go anyway, perhaps do a instagram video lamenting the fall of title for the first African American poet in the United States. In my mind literary granny Anne Bradstreet doesn’t get enough kudos, either.

Maybe an ode to literary grannies is in order?

Not a completely bad idea, is it?

Perhaps one of my most important solid decisions about my trip is which single book will accompany me on the trip. Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s most recent collection of letters and journals, Against the Wind and Tide, holds that honor. I adore her so much. In the first six pages I tumbled into the “she was so ahead of her time!” treasure chest which is a place I imagine I will inhabit for much of my trip.

So for now, dear readers, I am going to promise you to report in from Washington, DC with photos, tweets, videos and hopefully somewhat coherent blog posts. I hope to visit grave sites, cool bookstores, little known former residences and other word-nerd resources along the way.

 # # # # #

Please stay in touch: Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot    

 Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook. (Thank you!)

Follow on Instagram

And naturally, on Pinterest, too!

© 2013

 

Why You Should Love Your Literary Grannies: Meet Harriet Monroe

 

Love Your Literary Grannies: Today, we feature a tiny snippet about Harriet Monroe!

The name “Harriet Monroe” probably means nothing to you.

 

I knew I needed to feature her as a literary granny after reading her name over and over again and then realizing the impact she had on the rising popularity of new poetry, especially new and cutting edge poetry, is unmatched by anyone of either gender.

Harriet Monroe was the founding editor of Poetry Magazine. In a time of slumping subscriptions, her magazine continues to thrive and  recently celebrated its 100^th anniversary.

Miss Monroe worked for two years with no salary and continued to work during those two years as an art critic for the Chicago Tribune. When her work load became too heavy, she spent many years working  for a minimal salary simply because she felt her work – and the importance of sharing poetic voices which might not have been heard without Poetry Magazine was of utmost importance.

I didn’t want to write a profile without reading more in depth of her life.

Harriet Monroe - today's lovely literary granny early in her career.

 

I discovered she wrote an autobiography. I discovered it was out of print. I discovered it on a used book website. I bought a first edition for a very low price and was rarely as excited to get a book in the mail as I was for this one.

I am reading it slowly, many parts aloud, so I can get a feeling for the sound of her voice. There are few activities I enjoy as much as reading aloud and being read to, aloud. I don’t want to wait to introduce her to you, my dear readers. Just know there will be more coming in the future.

She was a poet herself, but her greatest contribution to the literary world was her magazine.

Laura Ingram in the Dictionary of Literary Biography wrote this of Miss Monroe’s legacy: "The abundant richness of this movement might well have been less spectacular without the encouragement and vitality which Poetry offered in those years when young poets were seeking to break the bonds of traditionalism and to create a new poetic voice for the modern age."

Her editorial policy was quoted in the second edition: “"Open Door will be the policy of this magazine—may the great poet we are looking for never find it shut, or half-shut, against his ample genius! To this end the editors . . . desire to print the best English verse which is being written today, regardless of where, by whom, or under what theory of art it is written."

Pages from the First Volume of "Poetry" magazine

 

Without Harriet Monroe, poetry was dwindling in popularity. I am sure it would delight her to see poetry continues to be alive and well and hopefully will become even more alive and even more well known as we get to know our literary grannies, poetic and prosody and all other forms of writing as well.

I’ve barely started her memoir and yesterday I giggled about her correspondence with Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of Treasure Island and others. Usually I am all about literary grannies in April during A to Z, but since I got sidetracked then, I’m writing some additional profiles this July.

It’s important we know who came before us in the writing world – for all creative people, including you!

Enjoy this meandering throughout July – please let me know of any Grannies I should research and build a relationship with as well. I’m grateful, always, for your input.

= = = = =

 

Please stay in touch: Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot    

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Literary Granny Julia Ward Howe: I'm Not Exactly Her Namesake AND I'll Claim Her

It would be very obvious to say I was named for my Aunt Julie, but that is not exactly directly the truth. She was actually named Juliet and my parents almost didn’t name me Julie for fear I would get teased because of the character Julie Jordan in the musical Carousel.  I didn’t get teased as a child, but when I was younger I regularly got sung to by teachers with the opening line of the song.

Historically and literarily speaking, most Julies were Julia or Juliette or Juliet I suppose.

I am glad to claim Julia Ward Howe as a Julie in my literary lineage.

She was known mostly for her song, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, but besides this

Literary Granny Julia Ward Howe

accomplishment she was a poet, abolitionist, and activist. She also wrote plays and creative non-fiction, including a work about Margaret Fuller, another woman I claim in my literary lineage.

The story of Battle Hymn of the Republic goes like this: Mrs. Howe was visiting, along with the Secretary of War for the Union, some of the army camps. The soldiers were busily singing “John Brown’s Body” and that tune must have entered into her poet’s mind because she was awakened with the first stanza of the famous poem written and complete in her mind.

By the time dawn arrived, the entire poem had been written by candlelightand started its life as a song sung to the tune of John Brown’s Body.

Mine eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the lord,
He is trampling out the vintage
where the grapes of wrath are stored,
He hath loosed his fateful lightning
of His terrible swift sword,
His truth is marching on

Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah
Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on

I have seen Him in the watch fires
of a hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar
in the evening dews and damps,
I can read his righteous sentence
in the dim and daring lamps,
His day is marching on

Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah
Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on

I have read a fiery Gospel
writ in burnished rows of steel,
"As ye deal with My contemners
so with you My grace shall deal,"
Let the Hero born of woman
crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on

Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah
Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on

He has sounded forth the trumpet
that shall never call retreat,
He is sitting out the hearts of men
before His judgment seat,
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him!
Be jubilant, my feet,
Our God is marching on

Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah
Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on


The following stanzas are presented
as sung by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir in 1960

In the beauty of the lilies
Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom
that transfigures you and me,
As He died to make men holy
let us live to make men free,
His truth is marching on

Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah
Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on

He is coming like the glory
of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty
He is honor to the brave,
So the world shall be His footstool
and the soul of wrong His slave,
Our God is marching on

Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah
Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on

 # # # # #

  Please stay in touch: Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot    

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© 2013

Which Granny - Writer is on Your Literary Family Tree? Perhaps a World Changer Such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman?

 

Who is on your literary family tree?

This leaf of one family tree is courtesy of Happy Via on Flickr  via Creative Commons License

Are you interested in genealogy?  Do you have a family tree constructed?

Naturally this makes me want to make a literary family tree.

Perhaps now, I will.

Who would I count in my direct line?

I would certainly memoirists, poets, activists and letter writers.

I would count Charlotte Perkins Gilman, writer of the paradigm shifting The Yellow Wallpaper among other things. She was also mother to a Katharine.

I would count Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Diarist, Novelist, early Aviator, Poet and Mother who lived through a lot of her very public life in a very veiled fashion. Her words are absolutely beautiful and she was perpetually standing up for women having the space to write, not unlike another in my direct line: Virginia Woolf.

Somewhere out there is Laura Ingalls Wilder, a childhood favorite and well known Granny, and also Margaret Fuller, whose home I visited not long ago. A couple other Massachusetts literary Aunties: Louisa May Alcott and Emily Dickinson come to mind.

There are many and as this month of Family Roots and Lineage via BlogHer.com continues, I am sure I will uncover and reclaim more.

A Portrait of Charlotte Perkins Gilman in the early 1890's: Is she a member of YOUR Literary Granny Family Tree?

Today, though, I want to recollect Charlotte Perkins Gilman. She is not a stranger to longtime followers of my blog.

She lived in Pasadena during a heat wave in early Summer, 1890. She sat at her desk on the morning of June 6 and started writing what was to become The Yellow Wallpaper, a novella which changed the way women were treated for Post Partum Depression. Gilman willingly entered her own psyche in what some refer to as a “thinly veiled autobiography.”

I have heard other stories about this: that Gilman was attempting to write an Edgar Allen Poe style tale, primarily to attract a decent sum of money so she could support her family. She wrote for money, after all, since she didn’t make much trying to get the plays she had written produced.

She hadn’t written in her diary for three years when she began writing again just five months prior to this warm June morning.

She was due to give a lecture on “Human Nature” at the Pasadena Nationalist club in just a week. She was intrigued by ghost stories and even read several in a group she attended. It was an optimistic time.

Her first draft of The Yellow Wallpaper was completed before the end of the day on June 7 and a draft, ready to be submitted for publication, was ready to be sent on August 24, 1890, less than ten weeks later.

I doubt she knew when she invested those two days how much her story would impact so many women and for so long. Her diary is filled with entries about teaching drawing classes and lecturing, not “changing the world with my fiction”.

In the course of living and mothering and creating and being a friend and creative collaborator, the future world changing happened without much thought. She wanted to write a story.

She wrote a story.

The world changing would continue to come later, even though she suffered from bouts of depression and lots of criticism and condemnation. It was rejected several times before it was published in January 1892.

For the next two days I will be remembering her and dedicating much of my daily work to her.

What a fabulous thought: sharing my writing family tree with Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Perhaps she is on your literary family tree, too?

#####

Please stay in touch: Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot    

 Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook. (Thank you!)

Follow on Instagram

And naturally, on Pinterest, too!

 

© 2013