On Being A Writer

I was sixteen years old when my first poem was published in The Commercial Appeal, a newspaper in Memphis. TN. The poem, titled “Souvenir” was about the Vietnam War. The year was 1969 and I was in the eleventh grade. I have been writing ever since. I was blessed to have a high school English teacher who recognized my writing ability and encouraged me, and an English professor in college who did the same. The most meaningful advice I have ever received was from a Cherokee elder. When she complimented me on taking the path of being a writer, I complained about how hard it could be. To which she replied, “MarJo, life is hard anyway, so you might as well do what you love.”

I personally believe the power of creativity is a gift from Creator/Spirit to humans. It is a buffer to help us deal with life on life’s terms. A way to connect to the Spirit of all things – a way to describe experiences that would otherwise be forgotten, or release the memories of experiences painful to remember but more painful to forget. Some of the most important things I have gleaned from being a writer are that learning not to hate, forgiveness of myself and others, and cleaning the soul of depression are all a process. For me, words are a healant in so many ways.

In 1994, I had a premonition to start my own little press. I had been published by another company before then, but trusted my intuition and thus started rENEGADE pLANETS pUBLISHING, and began publishing my books, Crow Quotes being the first. (Just recently I have published Crow Quotes Revisited, so my writing has come full circle, so to speak. ) It has not been easy – marketing being the most difficult- and because I was “self published” a well known book reviewer for the Raleigh News and Observer refused to review my books. Ingram Distribution in Nashville, TN, refused to market my books due to the very same reason. My my, how the publishing arena has changed. I have always been a bit ahead of my time. Regardless, I stuck with it and eventually was approached by some well known publishers to write books
for them.

But I have also published many of my books and anthologies of Indigenous writers, because I didn’t want the words “white washed” so to speak. My most important goal was and remains to get the truth concerning Indigenous peoples into literature – from their own points
of view. There have been hiccups along the way, of course.

One of the anthologies I put together for a large NYC publisher was printed with the wrong captions underneath sacred family photos. This was never corrected. Others have plagiarized my work. I once received a submission to an anthology I was compiling that contained a poem I
had published years ago concerning my Cherokee granddaddy, The woman claimed she had written it and when I confronted her, she backed down. So it goes. I have also had many wonderful experiences.

I was chosen as Minority Business Person in Services for the Year, Western NC, 2007. I was also chosen as Wordcrafter of the Year in 2003-2004 and 2006-2007 by the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers; honored with the prestigious award of North Carolina’s Distinguished Woman of the Year in the Arts in 1998; and chosen by Native Peoples/Indian Artists magazine as one of the top five American Indian writers of the 21st century.

I was also invited to attend the 2004 Library of Congress National Book Festival to present my first novel, The Diamond Doorknob. But I treasure greatly the numerous hand written letters from second and third graders from all over telling me how much they enjoyed reading my children’s book The Cherokee Little People in their classrooms. Just as I treasure the friendships of other Indigneous writers I have met and worked with along the way. When I began writing my first novel there was no internet with which to google information. I actually had to
get out, talk to people, research in libraries to get information concerning the time period, which was the1920s through the 1950s. It took me twenty years to finish the novel.

Even though it was fiction, I wanted factual information to be included so that others could learn as they read. I call this style of writing faction. This is something that has always been dear to me as I read the writings of others. I want to learn as I am inspired by the words.

Through the years I have often been asked from where the ideas for my stories and poems come. I believe they find me.

Every poem, every story, every essay, every newspaper and magazine article has a living spirit that reaches out to me, asking to become manifested. I am not one of those writers who gets up and writes every day. I have always let the words find me. I also do not believe in writer’s block; I believe in incubation. I believe in spiritual timing. I know I am a messenger. This is also true in the fact that I am a seer/medium. A responsibility I inherited from both sides of my ancestral lines. A huge responsibility but a way in which I have been blessed to help others.

And so I continue to write and I continue to discover more about life through my writing. And I remain attentive and grateful.

During the Storm
I climb the lightning
I inhale the rain
I grasp the thunder
And wait for intuitive reminiscences.
I descend the flashes
I breathe out the flood
I unleash the turbulence
and then I create…

MariJo Moore, writer/poet/clairvoyant/medium, is the author of twenty books including Crow Quotes Revisited, Bear Quotes, and A Book of Spiritual Wisdom- for all days.

She is also editor of numerous anthologies including Unraveling the Spreading Cloth of Time: Indigenous Thoughts Concerning the Universe and When Spirits Visit.

She resides in Asheville, NC. She is of Cherokee/Irish descent.

www.marijomoore.com

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Category: Contemporary Women Writers, On Writing