The Creative Flow: Somewhere Down that Crazy River

As mentioned in my last post, I may have given up on music right now, but the creative juices never stopped flowing.

At the same time I was trying to learn the guitar and writing songs, I began dabbling in poetry.  Again, my influences were Pink Floyd and Tears for Fears (The Hurting was their best work).  I have written approximately five volumes of work, two of them published.  The two published are the following:

 

Carlyle was my stage/pen name.

So I thought perhaps I could get myself out there as a poet and then work music into the mix.  That's didn't work.  Poetry is a thing of the past and read by few.  We are an elite club, let me tell ya.  But as with music, writing has always been in my blood.


I'm going to veer off the road a bit, but just trust me I'll get back on the road safe and sound.

I remember watching a news program and they were talking about the ovens at Auschwitz.  I was in the single digit age then - probably eight or nine.  Can't say for sure though.  And I remember how that just stuck in my mind and ever since then I would watch any and everything on the Holocaust and then on the Nazis.  But the weird thing was that I could never watch or read anything of that nature from dusk until night.  I always had to read it during the day or I would have nightmares.  And another weird thing is whenever I read about the Jews in the camps it was like I could feel everything that was going on.  I know that sounds strange and some say its because suffering no matter in what form, if you have heart and compassion for others, you are going to feel their pain.  But no.  Its nothing like that.  I mean I could really describe everything that's going on and how that person is feeling.  But let's move on.

Ladies and Gentleman the car is about to get back on the road.  HOLLA!

Because I had studied the Holocaust so much and basically consumed myself in it for a number of years, I thought I would write a book about it.  I was going to write a history book of sorts on the subject, but then I realized that would take a lot of research, a lot of talking to folks and a lot of time...A LOT OF TIME.  So I decided to do the next best thing and that's write a historical fiction and viola! that's what I did.  I started the novel around 2003 and wanted to have it done by 2004.  Yeah, I was giving myself a year to write the book - that's writing and editing it.  I picked up a few books along the way to help me with my writing and of all the books and articles I read, the only one that really helped me was the following:

He speaks about the process of writing while giving stories on how each of his books came to be.  For instance, The Shinning was about his drinking induced days.  Most of his books were written during bad times in his life.  I need to revisit that book.

Anyhoo.  As mentioned that book really helped me and inspired me to write and the birth of Suitcases in Another Room was born.  I am not in the editing stages.

Why a book on the Holocaust?  Well I mentioned why and the how.  But more importantly it became therapeutic for me.  I was able to draw from within and the feelings and knowledge I knew I had of the experience of being in a camp and put it on paper.  But here's the kicker.  When it comes to conjuring up feelings of being in a camp, the furthest I get is the showers.  When I see pictures of those "showers" or movies that show the people going into the "showers" I can't tell you what goes through me.  I can't explain the fear - nature honest to God fear that comes up in me.  And because of that I had to immerse myself into reading books about the Holocaust but mostly from person experiences. And of all the books I've read, and trust me I've read plenty of them, this is the best one and my all time favorite:

 Unlike many other books by survivors who published immediately after the war, The Theory and Practice of Hell is more than a personal account. It is a horrific examination of life and death inside a Nazi concentration camp, a brutal world of a state within state, and a society without law. But Kogon maintains a dispassionate and critical perspective. He tries to understand how the camp works, to uncover its structure and social organization. He knew that the book would shock some readers and provide others with gruesome fascination. But he firmly believed that he had to show the camp in honest, unflinching detail. (source www.bn.com)

This book really got my creative and accurate juices flowing and allowed me to really delve into it all and after putting the book (unfinished portion) away for almost a year,  I finished it within about three months.  Just the writing part.  Now comes the editing.

The writing was easier than editing, which I didn't realize at the time.  Doing the research was a lot of work and writing was hard at times because I wanted to make sure I the story flowing smoothly and correctly.

I decided to write the book in the first person because I wanted the audience to feel everything I'm, rather, the protagonist (Mariam) feeling.

I began editing the book (again) last year. I put the book away for about a year, start editing it and then put it away again for about another few months.  Again, life happened while I was making plans.

Once I got settled into my new job I wanted to record my third CD and finish editing my book.  The music feel by the waist side, but the book always stated on the front burner (simmering). 

Now I've gotten back into blogging.  That's another talk, rather, blog.   To be continued...

Until Next Time:
"Catch the blue train places never been before, look for me somewhere down that crazy river." Somewhere Down that Crazy River by Robbie Robertson