Last June, after a day at the beach with my four daughters, I was inspired to write about part of my life. In less than an hour, I had the first draft of my story. However, it took months and countless hours revising to get the story right. The women in my writer’s group helped me develop the courage to share my story last summer. There is something about sharing part of myself through the written word that made it seem easier to grocery shop in my bathing suit than to share my story. So I began the process of submitting my piece to magazines and websites. After months of waiting to hear if my story was accepted, I began to receive several rejections. At the time, I could not see the rejections as anything other than the universe telling me I should not be a writer. Thankfully, I have worked through this irrational thought; although as a writer, negative thinking about one’s writing is part of the process of writing. Through the support of my husband, family and the women in my writer’s group, I developed the courage to persevere. I remember several of the women in my writer’s group telling me to believe in my story, and one day, it would find a home. I could not see at the time the numerous rejections of my story was bringing me one step closer to my story finding its home.
I am thrilled to announce I have been chosen as one of the cast members for Listen To Your Mother Show-Providence 2014 where I will be reading the story I wrote last June. Listen To Your Mother (LTYM) is an organization giving motherhood a microphone, through staged, live readings on all things related to motherhood. This year, Listen To Your Mother Show will be in 32 cities across the country, where stories about motherhood will be presented in readings, throughout the weeks leading up to and during the weekend of Mother’s Day.
Last Friday night, the cast of LTYM-Providence 2014 (you can see cast members here), met for the first time with producer, Carla Molina. After a brief introduction, we had our first rehearsal where each of the cast members read aloud their story. I have to say, the stories each person shared was amazing! I laughed, cried and related to each story. By the end of the night, I was inspired by the stories and the women I met. The stories are thoughtful, clever, entertaining and most important-real emotional expressions of motherhood. If you are local and would like to check out the show on May 10th at 6pm at the RISD Auditorium, you can do so by purchasing tickets here. For those of you interested in finding a show near you, or needing some heartfelt inspiration on motherhood, please go here to read about Listen To Your Mother and view previously recorded readings. Finally, just a thought, if you have a story you want to share, please consider writing it and sharing it. If not through LTYM next year, for yourself. The power of the written word is not only therapeutic, it is cathartic and transforming.
If you would like some inspiration on writing your story, please check out a post from on Kerry Sheeran, author of The Marathon.
© Copyright Dr. Claire Nicogossian 2014