I agree with Sue. This reads like a mystery and I couldn't put it down though I should be starting my busy day. Thank you for a great morning read to kick off what I hope will be a productive day.
Wow...a mystery indeed! While I am sorry you were lied to, I hope this incident fuels even more of your writing.
Back in my youth, I was lied to by 2 different women about who they were and their families. I lost a great deal due to their lies, and I've not forgotten them.
Sometimes, people suck. It's up to us as writers to make something useful from that suckiness.
Ugh, I'm sorry your experiences turned out that way. This didn't change anything for me, other than driving me mad with wondering. But, yes, writing about these things not only helps to clarify but gives us fodder for new stories.
I love when the 'fact is stranger than fiction' thing is actually true. I enjoyed reading this and I'm gonna choose to think that there was no malice or pain and that she was just playing!
This feels like one of those Netflix documentaries that just keeps unfolding with crazier and crazier twists every episode! Loved this, and I'm so curious to know the answers! 🌿
It's those real life mysteries with no solutions that tend to drive us batty. When you live a long life there are so many of them--people in your life who just disappear or turn out to be people you never dreamed would turn out the way they did-- that all you can do is move on. But that doesn't mean those unsolved mysteries won't come back to gnaw at you.
I can't tell you how much my mystery-solving, google-sleuthing little heart wants to run down a few roads on your behalf. Ha! Delightfully intriguing story. Did you ever finish that novel?
I know! But I hope you won't. I really want my old friend to RIP.
As for the novel, I never finished it. It was to be a novel based on real events near the turn of the 20th Century, tragic to so many, that involved members of my own family whose lives were affected, and after a couple of years of researching to get the dates and facts right and building characters I loved, I found I couldn't do it.
I know the story from start to finish but the effort was beyond me. At least half the book is written, and I like what's there, but I know now I'll never finish it.
Strangely, I'm not sad about it. If anything, it made me a better writer, and I realized as I sweated over it that I'm better at writing non-fiction than I am at building a whole world of fiction.
I've been trying to remember how she reacted to things, but remember, this was 40 years ago. She must have written something that attracted the judges or she wouldn't have been there, but I don't remember her sharing any of her work.
She was quite needy compared to the other writers who were there. We were there to work in an environment on projects we'd come there to do, so, other than dinner time or an occasional after dinner gathering in the great room, we kept to ourselves. I remember that she was always wanting to get away from the colony, walking into town, etc., and I often had to turn her down.
She seemed quirky, but not necessarily 'off'. More in a kind of delightful way, but now I might interpret that as a performance by someone who needed attention.
She might possibly have felt she was in over her head there, among writers who were farther along, some of whom knew each other, had MFAs or were working on them, and had traveled to colonies all over the US and sometimes in Europe. I know I did!
Ya caught me!! Here is another possibility - was she trying to reveal something without saying it? Like she was sexually abused and pointing the finger at the abuser without naming him. There also seems something incestuous with the names - over attachments somehow. Seems like her whole life was a performance.
It's a possibility. Anything is. I just found the unraveling of the story fascinating and I wanted to share it. As I said, we laughed a lot. That's how I'll remember her best.
This really reads like a mystery story. I started and didn't stop. Sometimes life writes the best stories.
Oh, I love the enigma of this.
What a great fiction it would make!
A secret family, half siblings? Anything could be true.
Ooh, juicy! The plot thickens!
Beautifully written piece, btw, I could vividly see your younger selves in my mind.
This proves it: real life truly is crazier than fiction!
I agree with Sue. This reads like a mystery and I couldn't put it down though I should be starting my busy day. Thank you for a great morning read to kick off what I hope will be a productive day.
Glad to be of help!
I really enjoyed this, Ramona. Fascinating mystery. (BTW, I also go down those Google search holes all the time.)
Thank you, Glenn. By the way, I love your stories and your photos. Always something to think about.
Oh this is so fascinating! I almost want you to write it into a book 😀
Who knows? It could happen!
This is fantastic.
This definitely tickles the curious! Now I'm dying to know, but I suppose I'll have to accept they mystery. ☺️
I'm afraid so. I think this is as far as it goes. Tickling the curious is a bonus!
Another great story.
❤️️❤️️❤️️
Wow...a mystery indeed! While I am sorry you were lied to, I hope this incident fuels even more of your writing.
Back in my youth, I was lied to by 2 different women about who they were and their families. I lost a great deal due to their lies, and I've not forgotten them.
Sometimes, people suck. It's up to us as writers to make something useful from that suckiness.
Ugh, I'm sorry your experiences turned out that way. This didn't change anything for me, other than driving me mad with wondering. But, yes, writing about these things not only helps to clarify but gives us fodder for new stories.
So all is not lost.
I love when the 'fact is stranger than fiction' thing is actually true. I enjoyed reading this and I'm gonna choose to think that there was no malice or pain and that she was just playing!
Yes, me too!
This feels like one of those Netflix documentaries that just keeps unfolding with crazier and crazier twists every episode! Loved this, and I'm so curious to know the answers! 🌿
It's those real life mysteries with no solutions that tend to drive us batty. When you live a long life there are so many of them--people in your life who just disappear or turn out to be people you never dreamed would turn out the way they did-- that all you can do is move on. But that doesn't mean those unsolved mysteries won't come back to gnaw at you.
Life is so damned interesting that way.
I can't tell you how much my mystery-solving, google-sleuthing little heart wants to run down a few roads on your behalf. Ha! Delightfully intriguing story. Did you ever finish that novel?
I know! But I hope you won't. I really want my old friend to RIP.
As for the novel, I never finished it. It was to be a novel based on real events near the turn of the 20th Century, tragic to so many, that involved members of my own family whose lives were affected, and after a couple of years of researching to get the dates and facts right and building characters I loved, I found I couldn't do it.
I know the story from start to finish but the effort was beyond me. At least half the book is written, and I like what's there, but I know now I'll never finish it.
Strangely, I'm not sad about it. If anything, it made me a better writer, and I realized as I sweated over it that I'm better at writing non-fiction than I am at building a whole world of fiction.
Understood and appreciated - on all counts.
Your story certainly leaves me with a lot of questions.
Yes, me too. What are yours?
I guess my questions - for starters - would be -
1. was she trying to create the life she wanted rather than the life she had?
2. was there a mental health issue involved like a split personality or dissociative identity disorder?
3. did she think she wasn't good enough to be who she was?
4. What was she hiding and why?
I've been trying to remember how she reacted to things, but remember, this was 40 years ago. She must have written something that attracted the judges or she wouldn't have been there, but I don't remember her sharing any of her work.
She was quite needy compared to the other writers who were there. We were there to work in an environment on projects we'd come there to do, so, other than dinner time or an occasional after dinner gathering in the great room, we kept to ourselves. I remember that she was always wanting to get away from the colony, walking into town, etc., and I often had to turn her down.
She seemed quirky, but not necessarily 'off'. More in a kind of delightful way, but now I might interpret that as a performance by someone who needed attention.
She might possibly have felt she was in over her head there, among writers who were farther along, some of whom knew each other, had MFAs or were working on them, and had traveled to colonies all over the US and sometimes in Europe. I know I did!
Ya caught me!! Here is another possibility - was she trying to reveal something without saying it? Like she was sexually abused and pointing the finger at the abuser without naming him. There also seems something incestuous with the names - over attachments somehow. Seems like her whole life was a performance.
It's a possibility. Anything is. I just found the unraveling of the story fascinating and I wanted to share it. As I said, we laughed a lot. That's how I'll remember her best.