Phyllis Schieber's Blog, page 3

Aging Defiantly

I always took sex for granted. I was always curious, always interested, and an eager and willing student. In my fifties, little has changed, except I no longer take sex for granted.  The changes in my sexuality surprised me as much as my first period, my first orgasms,  the loss of my virginity, and childbirth. My reaction to all these events was consistently the same: did my body just do that?"  I was eleven when I got my first period. It was hot. Probably the end of June. I was wearing sky ...

My Women Friends

Yoga has been an extraordinary journey for me. I leave every class with something new, something I did not have or know before. Mindfulness. It is such a powerful word. When I am mindful of my breath, when I focus on integrating my breath with my movement, I can always deepen my pose. Mindfulness. It is what I take out of the studio and into my life that makes me appreciate yoga even more. The physical and spiritual strength I hone in yoga is carried into my writing. Like my writing and like ...

Men and Love, Or Not

I knew from the start that Marva was unique.  She took care of my mother for several years and was, as my mother always said in Yiddish,a Gutte neshumah (goot-teh nesh-uh- mah): a good soul. A decent person with a good heart.  I had a phone call from Marva this week. Marva is at least ten years younger than I. She is also the mother of five, a grandmother, and the person who taught me more about patience, kindness, and good humor than anyone else I ever knew. One day, in the early months of m...

The Literary Life… Answering the Call

Writer's Digest (May/June 2010) published an interview with Anne Lamott (Bird by Bird). She said, "…I really believe people are called to a literary life like others are called to a theological life or a religious life, but [publishing is:] a business that is really hard. Hard on your heart. Hard on your soul. Hard on your everything."

My first reaction to Anne Lamott's words was that if she's having a hard time, what does that mean for the rest of us? Once I got past that, I realized that not ...

Another Child of the Holocaust

I am a child of Holocaust survivors. It is a unique legacy that has informed my life in some extraordinary ways, yet I have never really written about how it feels to shoulder the responsibilities, the burdens, and even the surprising joys of all that has shaped my consciousness. I've skirted the edges of my history, but I've never actually taken it head on and allowed myself to explore the truths of what it means to grow up as a child of survivors. Both my parents are gone now, and in some w...

The Journey

I apologize for my obsession with everything yoga, but it is impossible not to let yoga cross over into my writing life. In class today, my teacher said that "every position is a journey."  She encouraged us to move slowly into each position, with concentration and mindfulness. Breathe she reminded us over and over.. encouraging us to move from four breaths in and four breaths out, to five, to six, maybe even to eight, as we made sure the breath was part of the posture. Visualizing the...

Writing to Meet the Market Demand or Not

The other day a good friend told me about her recent experience at a YA conference in Manhattan. She went there to get a better understanding of what the chances are of her agent making a sale. Apparently, unless you can write a novel about  a mother who is a witch and father who is a werewolf and their vampire child, you're screwed. Serious fiction is out. My poor friend was disillusioned. She even suggested, half in jest (or maybe a bit less), that we collaborate on such a novel. We shared ...

Starting Fresh

After months and months of alternating between desperation, resignation, fear, and amazement (often simultaneously), the idea for my new novel unfurled itself as if it had been there all along, and I just had not noticed. Is that possible? It reminded me of the feeling I have when someone introduces me to something I never heard of (like a new piece of music or a writer  even a word), and suddenly wherever I turn, there it is! It now feels as if the thrust of my new project will allow me to i...

Voices From the Past

Facebook is truly a phenomenon for so many reasons. I was a reluctant joiner though I now have over 1600 "friends." Of course, most of these friends are strangers to me though we are bound by similar interests, mutual connections and a desire to jump on the bandwagon and reap the benefits of free publicity. Still, I have my doubts about Facebook as it relates to how it functions as an opening to voices from the past. Through Facebook, I have connected with people I have not heard from or...

Writing With Patience

I know it's unrealistic to think that the muse will always sit on my shoulder and help me write. After all, the writing process is hard and often tedious work. But what is one to do when the muse seems to have entirely vacated the premises? I've felt abandoned by my muse for some time now. I wouldn't say that I'm panicked by her absence, but I do feel somewhat disoriented. It's happened before, but never for this length of time. Nevertheless, I've made a discovery: patience and endurance are ...