Books Magazine

Drawn to Their Faces, Their Stories, Their Lives & Their Words: Loving Literary Women

By Juliejordanscott @juliejordanscot
Kate Chopin, author of The Awakening, with her children. Before the Government provided help, widows needed to figure out means to support their children after their husband's died. Kate Chopin wrote and wrote well. Her book, The Awakening, is one of my favorites. I am taken with their faces Lucy Larcom Lucy Larcom: Lowell Mill Girl & Writer Their courage

And her granddaughter says

“She was only taking care of her children.”

Before there was welfare for widows

there was writing. There were people, interested.

There was engagement, wonder and word~love.

I wonder if I could learn to trace her face?

I wonder if I could learn to paint by tracing her eyes

By learning the shadows and light in her hair’s curls?

I am drawn to the women of the literary past and present. I am drawn to my literary Grandmothers, my great Aunties, my

Elinor Wylie in Silhouette
Elinor Wylie: Misunderstood Poet, Mother & Literary Outsider neighbors,  my sisters, the artists who went before me. I want to know them, I want to spend time with them. I want them to know that we know and notice and appreciate.

I want to share their stories, their wisdom, their humor. I want to dive into their connections and friendships with other creative women. I want to learn how they Mothered, if they had children. I want to read their letters and diaries, I want to thumb through the photos from their lives.

I want to know how they dealt with loss, how they wrote their grief onto the page or into the paint.

I crave visits to archives to touch the papers and pages they also touched.

Family records from National Archive
The US National Archive keeps treasures like this. There are also archives at Libraries, Colleges and Universities. If you are interested in a particular author, search Archives - Author's Name or look in bibliographies about your favored writer.

I am beyond words drawn to the women of the literary past and present.

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© 2013 by Julie Jordan Scott

    Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since 1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director, Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield. She leads Writing Camp with JJS & this Summer will be traveling throughout the US to bring this unique, fun filled creative experience to the people wherever she finds the passion & the interest.

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