Using a Quilt Motif for my Marriage Memoir
Blog Posts as Inspiration
You’ve heard many metaphors for life, images that suggest how daily happenings can throw one into a tailspin:
Life is like a roller coaster with lots of ups and downs
Life is like a washing machine, churning round and round
Life is like bumper cars, hitting one obstacle after another
Perhaps life is also like a quilt, odd scraps pieced together to form a whole, especially if it has a crazy quilt design.
Mom’s Crazy Quilt
Since 2013, I have been “quilting” on my blog, “Plain and Fancy,” assembling pieces of my family heritage, my own life events, along with literary interests and promoting other authors.
In the beginning, I assembled blog posts, nilly-willy, following my fancy. My memory of family history or the passage of seasons sometimes prompted my choice of themes. Often, like a quilter, I too let instinct guide me.
In 2015, I noticed that my readers responded well to stories of my early life, especially those involving Mother and Daddy Longenecker along with Aunt Ruthie and Grandma Fannie. Several readers encouraged me to assemble these stories into a book. As it happened, many of those blog posts became scenes (or chapters) in my memoir, Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl.
Since then, I’ve scooped up some of stories for, My Checkered Life: A Marriage Memoir, the cover including a “checkered” quilt pattern like the one here.
These stories include a panorama of themes: Ruthie Longenecker’s diary entries, Longenecker artifacts, life of the Spirit, and recipes. In another section, I reveal some moments of high emotion: Conehead confession, Lunatic in London, Flash in the pan, a Sunday morning argument.
Excerpt from the Prologue
Quilts tell stories. In order to begin, you don’t have to know how your story will end. Sometimes your narrative can come together without consciously thinking about it. Taking a walk, soaking in a tub, or chatting with friends often summons the next, best step.
I have gotten better results when I “Go with the flow” rather than straining to make my characters or plot sequence work in a prescribed way. Above all, trust that in the end, your story, whatever genre, will lead to a satisfying conclusion.
Do you have a favorite motif for your stories?
For the novel I'm working on now, the motif seems to be the Green Mountains, although I didn't plan it that way. They were just always there!
I love your quilt motif, Marian - I've sometimes described my relationship with the church as a patchwork quilt with my nonchurch, Lutheran, Anglican, nondenominational, Baptist, and Mennonite experiences coming together.