Writing Memoir Became My Heroine Journey by Maria Warner

Like a typical heroine, what I thought I wanted and what I needed to expose themselves in the process of writing. When I became an empty nester, I knew that I needed something to fulfil my life. Sitting on my meditation mat one morning I asked the universe for direction. Write about Family camp smacked me in the head. Tears in my eyes and butterflies in my stomach told me to act on this idea. Even though this topic surprised me!

Over the years of attending camp, I had started to focus more on the gnats, hard mattresses, and bland meals. I begged my family to consider taking a break from our yearly trek to the woods and try something new. Against my wishes, I was vetoed every summer.

All those summer trips to the woods created a lengthy list of memories to draw from for my essays. In each story I dug deep to discover what was important to me? Why was it important for the reader?

I struggled. It wasn’t easy for me to admit that the universal truths were flaws in my character. I bent to peer pressure, looked to others for acceptance, tried to control people and situations, and had an ego. This act of putting pen to paper was enlightening.

The writer that I would become had to navigate the heroine’s journey like the version of me in my memoir. I didn’t want to be an empty nester (mundane world). The universe called to me to learn about myself through writing (call to adventure). I had to learn to trust my writing mentor and beta readers (crossing the threshold). Along the way, I learned new skills of being vulnerable (path of trials).

In the end, both heroines rise to the occasion. First by the act of sitting down and authoring a book and secondly by recognizing that without those years at camp I would not have the family or memories that led to Family Camp S’more than a Vacation. (Master of two worlds).

Maria

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