The Muse
I moved to Bali in the fall of 2010 and began blogging as a way of keeping in touch with friends. Sitting in our bamboo house facing the jungle, I discovered how much I enjoyed typing my reflections. During my first trip back to the US, a friend (it was you, MagsP) said, "I think you have a book here, part memoir, part travelogue, with some recipes thrown in." While I loved the idea, and still do, at the time my sixteen year relationship was ending and I didn't want to write about my own life. I asked myself what I did want to write. That very day, in the fall of 2011, Sirena's story began pouring out.
I was already providing raw food delicacies for the Green School community and writing periodically, marveling at how each time I returned to the story the next section would just show up. In college as a film student, I had written a couple of screenplays and storyboarded numerous short pieces, working from a general outline to specifics. This writing was completely different; organic, fluid, not knowing what would come next, yet trusting the process. I wrote the first 25 pages before becoming so engrossed in business-building (developing Living Food Lab in two locations, LFL Academy and facilitating women's intimacy circles) that I set the writing aside. For four years.
Late one night, having just completed the final day of facilitating a women's retreat in Bali, a wisp of inspiration had me opening the file, at that time entitled Underwater, for the first time in all those years. I liked what I read. And I knew what came next.
From that night forward, I have wrote every day. I continued working in the same fashion, sitting down and letting whatever wanted to come forth make its way onto the pages. The spring flowed every time I sat at the computer until, delightedly, writing this story took over my life. I was late for meetings (not my norm) because I was caught up in the writing and lost track of time. I neglected my business. I wrote the first draft of Book 1 in two months. Of course that was just the beginning, as many (many) revisions followed.
I met my editor, Hayley Hogan, an Australian expat, in an exercise class called Wild Fitness, hurling coconuts and lifting bamboo poles outdoors in a Balinese village. It was inevitable that we meet: I had already encountered most of her family members and her partner in synchronistic ways. She showed up at class just when I was ready for an editor and I liked what she had to say when we spoke. I wondered if this was too easy, having an editor drop in my lap. Did I need to make the hunt more of a research project, be thorough, compare and contrast? I went with what was easy, and sure am glad I did. Things can unfold simply, without exhaustive effort. It turns out, although Hayley mostly edits memoirs, her personal passion is romance writing. She didn't coddle me; each round of her insightful feedback sent me into a period of inner chiropractic adjustment, stretching me as a writer and as a person. My books have been strengthened by her input.
The life-force of the creative process fascinates me. As Sirena's world took over mine, I enjoyed every moment, including her difficult ones. Lines of dialogue came to me while I was cooking or driving my motorbike, during yoga classes, even waking me up in the middle of the night. The sense of mystery, awe even, continued growing, as synchronicities unfolded daily. Small ones: I wrote a scene about a manta ray and later met a friend for lunch. At the next table sat someone with a manta tattoo. Huge ones: I needed a scene to elongate the period between Sirena and Ricardo meeting and consummating their relationship. The second yoga class scene in Book 1 actually happened to me, almost verbatim, during that period, with an angel in the form of a yoga teacher unknowingly giving me that scene on a silver platter while I laughed to myself on the inside.
"How will I know when this thing is finished," I asked my editor.
"You'll be tweaking until you go to print," was her wise counsel.
Surging Tides: Book 1 is now available and eager to have its audience. I know I have written this story in order to engender a conversation about the book's themes. The world needs a frank discussion about sexuality.
The Girl Submerged muse continues to pour her inspiration through me. Melting Snow: Book 2 is in the final polishing and tweaking stage. I believe readers will find it as provocative as Book 1, perhaps with some surprising ins and outs. Book 2 will emerge by the fall, or the end of the year at the latest.
Then there is Singing Leaves: Book 3. I had the good fortune to travel through Jamaica last September, researching the third novel which is, admittedly, still a notebook of jottings. My fantasy is spending a few months in Jamaica writing the first draft. The island of Jamaica is one of the great loves of my life, particularly the Blue Mountains, and I hope that love will stream through every page.