To My Astonishment…

/ moragnoffke

‘Have you started my story,’ I heard my mother ask.

She was phoning from heaven. I was astonished because I didn’t think she could phone me from heaven. I paused. I didn’t know what to say. I had been planning to start her story.

‘I haven’t …but I am planning to…’ my voice trailed off.

Then I asked a cheeky question: ‘Will it make a difference to you?’ I was thinking: how would I writing her story make a difference now that she is on the other side?

I awoke and realised I had been dreaming but it was a relevant question ‘have you started my story?’ and it was then that I knew that if there was one last thing I wanted to do it would be to write it.

Last Sunday I asked what is sprouting in my life or yours. This is what has been sprouting in my life for the last three or four months: I am writing her story. Normally I would be frightened off by such a vast project. My projects normally grow bigger and bigger as I go; and then I throw my hands in the air and give up. This time I have started with nurturing. Part of nurturing has been

  1. to create a plan
  2. start at the beginning
  3. do the research
  4. collate the research
  5. decide on the message of the story
  6. decide on a genre etc. etc.

For sure, there’s a part of me that says I don’t know enough about… this .. or .. that; and a whole lot of other sabotaging thoughts but I now think to myself ‘if I don’t try I will never know if I can do it.’ Up till now I have been researching my mother’s side of the family tree and getting acquainted with her and my ancestry. It was going to serve as a backdrop to her story but I don’t think she or I knew how much of the history matters to her story. The story really matters to me, more than I think she could ever know.

I have been working on it consistently every week, along with my daily chores, gardening, blogging and art. The process has been refreshing, exciting, challenging, astonishing and very rewarding. It’s going to be Narrative non-fiction. I have been tempted to share more, I’m almost excited to introduce you to my ancestors but I think less is best for now.

I hope you have a blessed and peaceful week

~Morag Noffke~

29 thoughts on “To My Astonishment…”

  4. Hurrah for this dream-reinforced creative and herstorical undertaking! I am glad you have a voice telling yourself ‘if I don’t try I will never know if I can do it.’ Sometimes, as I am sure you are well aware, life is about the process as much as the product. I am also a fan of the idea that “slow and steady wins the race.”

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  6. Thank You so much Morag!

    This is very exciting and I know you can do it beautifully!

    You write so well and this is a great post!

    xxxx

    Yours sincerely,

    Su Crowsen BAS (UCT) 1992, CIA 066 388 1284 ________________________________

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  7. Oh, Morag! I know just how you feel but in my case, the resistance to doing it is enormous! I’ve done a lot of research on my father’s side but not my mother’s family. It’s something that really needs my attention. It’s not necessarily for publication here but I must keep her memory within the family.

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    • Ashley thank you so much. I am glad you have started. Just take bite size pieces and chip away… That’s what I keep telling myself. It is so important to keep the memories alive. It will be worth it for your children. 🌺💟

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  8. That’s fantastic, Morag! Inspiring, as well. I’ve been neglecting my fiction writing over the past few months to focus on painting and gardening, but the stories are still calling to me.

    It’s also interesting to learn the process of other writers. I’m more of a ‘seat of the pants’ type, usually going in without much of a plan, maybe the seed of a plot and a character in mind. From there, I let the story lead me where it will. Sometimes it’s to a satisfying finish. Other times, it’s off a cliff! 🙂

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    • Thank you Richard for your inspiring comment. It’s nice to know I am not alone in the process. I write most of my short stories by ‘the seat of my pants ‘ … I get an idea and launch myself in and I am always surprised how the story almost writes itself. I even started a novella like that, I have 17 chapters and I have stalled because I don’t have a powerful ending to the plot 🫢🫣.

      I hope when I have completed this current story I will go back to my novella. This story is difficult because it is based on facts. On the other hand the ongoing discovery of facts is feeding into a rich diversity I could never have come up with on my own. The plan is more like an action plan to keep me from procrastinating. I think I am going to have a field day with the short stories of all the ancestral characters.
      I wish you well with your story writing. 👋

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