Writing: A Labor of Love

My mother, Winnie

Having been a journalist at one point in my life, it seems that I am cursed with writing in a journalistic style - short, informative bursts reeking of research and bursting with non-biased data - but what I really want to do is to write from my heart and soul, which I have been able, on occasion, to do, expressing my personal thoughts and feelings to make them more readable.

But now, trying to write my mother's story, I find it almost impossible to tap into my emotions about someone I loved so dearly and capture them in words. I can feel my grief and my anger, but can't quite find the right way to write about them.

My mother, Winnie

Should I be writing a memoir? Or a novel? Or a combination of the two? Writing a memoir requires that I pull from my own life, and there are many memories that include my mother that I could write about. But I also want to tell her story, based upon her own words (journal entries and a few pages of her life story that she had been trying to write) and on my recollections of all the stories about herself that she shared with my brother and me.

My mother, Winnie, with my brother and me

Telling one's own story is risky, tedious, and liberating.
Telling someone else's story is a big responsibility, an honor, and a labor of love. I will keep trying to find my voice and, when that happens, I will try to do Mom's story justice.