By Leslie Lindsay (image source: www.alphabetart.com 9.4.13)
How do we define home? Is is an actual building? The people we surround ourselves with, or is it tangible pieces of things that bring to mind the comfort and stability of home? Today, we hear from author Amy Sue Nathan on just that:
“For me, home means things I can see and touch. Photos on shelves, pre-school artwork next to high school graduation pictures, a china platter that belonged to my grandmother that sits on the middle of the dining room table. Home is being surrounded by sights and sounds and also, by textures. I often sit with a crocheted blanket on my lap as I write. It’s made up of squares, and baby-size. My grandmother made it when my son was born almost twenty-two years ago. 
Let’s face it, crocheted blankets can itch! I never put it on him as a baby, but it has follow us through five homes in five states. It hung over the back of the rocking chair in the nursery when my daughter was born too. And while it’s not the softest blanket in the world, it’s the best one I have. And I think as long as I have it with me, I’ll be home.”
For the sake of extending Amy’s concept of home, here’s an exercise to help you hone in on the things that remind you of home:
- Close your eyes and drum up some of the items from your past that signifiy “home” to you. For you me, it’s the water-logged Baby Beth doll I carried everywhere–even the bathtub. There was also my imaginary friend, Jenn-Jenn, but also the antique dining room table, the old sewing machine, and the slanty part of my closet where I used to hide out and read.
- Now go a little deeper. What were some to the items you held onto into your adolescence and college years? Was there a particular item that went with you to your first apartment? Was there an item that stayed with you for a season, only to let it go once you felt more comfortable, confident?
- How about your characters in your work-in-progress? What do they hold onto? An old key? A diary? A person? A memory? A book? A photo? Make a list for each of your characters, but especially your protagonist and antagonist. It can be very telling what these “people” hold onto in various parts of their life. Go ahead…what did your protagonist value when she was a child? A teenager? Young adult? Adult? Now, in your story? Can you see a pattern
[Exercise created by Leslie Lindsay]
Special thanks to Amy Sue Nathan for sharing her lovely words about her son’s blanket. For more information on Amy and her books, please see:
- Amy Sue Nathan, Author The Glass Wives – A Novel (Published by St. Martin’s Griffin, May 2013)
- Women’s Fiction Writers Blog – The Authors, Books, and Craft of Women’s Fiction No heroes. No zombies. No high heels. Well, maybe high heels.
Up Next Week on Write on, Wednesday: Mem
oirist Tanya Chernov talks about her place of home…at summer camp.
oirist Tanya Chernov talks about her place of home…at summer camp.Till then, Write on, Wednesday! (image source: www.amazon.com 9.4.13)
Leslie A. Lindsay| Writer & Creative 