After Page One: Role Model

A guest post to motivate, encourage, and inspire

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Writing Myself Real

As the dust settled on my divorce, one thing was clear. I was determined to come out of this period of my life better, not bitter. So, because I’m a writer and I can do this sort of thing, I wrote myself a do-over.

I consider myself one of the lucky ones. With three years of alimony ahead of me, an obligation crept in to honor the person inside of me I’d been pushing aside and burying for so long. Asking when it was in my life that I felt most myself, the answer came easily. Before I was married, I worked for a time as a photojournalist in South Africa.
Despite being way out of my comfort zone, there was nowhere else I wanted to be and nothing else I’d rather be doing.

I questioned why I admired her, the person I used to be and took it to another level. I found women today, who are working at the top of their game as photojournalists and wrote them into my life. I could no longer be the one flying across the globe documenting the lives of the disadvantaged, but I could connect with those who are in the process and emphasize the importance of the work they do.

Over the past year, I’ve met with fifteen women who share with me one woman in particular whom they’ve photographed; who’s had an impact on them the most. Through stories of loss, neglect, and silence, what’s being communicated says as much about the women photographed as it does about the photojournalists themselves. Through their work an exquisitely feminine statement emerges, as does a wonderful approach to the world. It speaks of refraining from judging a woman by her surroundings or by her condition and lends respect for the person there, in the world being recognized for all she is.

Have I been living vicariously, making up for lost time? Perhaps. Reclaiming a sense of what I’d let slip away? Most definitely.

I’m a mother whose been raising her kids for the last fourteen years so there are no regrets. However, precisely because I am a mother, I have to keep pulling that thread. It’s for them I’m writing this book. Primarily, it’s to set an example and to show them a mother who is being true to herself. It’s also a way to show them the world so they will come to know it in a broader sense, beyond their own doorstep. Admittedly, this is also my way of educating them as girls in the world, to be wise and strong without giving too much power to the ones choosing to wreak havoc.

If anyone asks why I did this book, quite simply, I reply, “I feel I didn’t have a choice.”

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Join our After Page One series.  We’re looking for 300 to 500-word guest posts that motivate, inspire, and encourage other mama-writers, and we’d love to feature YOUR thoughts about getting started, getting back to a writing project, integrating writing with motherhood, reading, or having a positive attitude.   The list is endless, but here are some questions that might help you get started. We’ll publish a short bio at the bottom of your post so readers can learn more about you and your projects.