WHAT AM I DOING HERE?

I never intended to write a biography of my mother, songwriter Malvina Reynolds. I thought the job was safely in the hands of Ellen Stekert, a folk singer turned folklore professor. She did a mountain of research on my mom, then ran into various health problems and could not continue the work.
I looked for another writer. I wanted someone who knew what the performing and touring life was like, as Ellen did. I was afraid my father’s part of the story would be ignored; Ellen had known my mother and met my father. I knew some writers would want to capture my mother for their particular political interest; I wanted her many interests represented. I’d also prefer someone who grew up among political radicals, as my mother--and Ellen--did. Nobody else seemed just right. Finally, Ellen suggested that I do it. I realized that I fit all my own criteria, but I had never written a biography before, nor anything longer than a fifty-four page book on storytelling. On the other hand, I am a storyteller. And Ellen thought I could do it. So OK.
In March I flew to Ellen’s, we rough-sorted and shipped seventeen boxes of files and tapes to my office in Berkeley and since then I have been sorting and reading, listening to a few of the 150-odd audio cassettes of interviews, and writing bits and pieces. I have been in a memoir writing group for about two years, and some of the pieces I’ve written included my parents; a few featured them. As I sorted, I was reminded of other events in my life I wanted to write about, and I found new information on topics I had already written about. Eventually I will have to pick out what in those pieces is pertinent to the book; in the meantime, I thought I would start a blog where I could use those pieces as they are, and also write about the process of writing the book.
My daughter, Nancy Ibsen, had helped me set up a Malvina website in 2000, and just this year a Malvina lyrics website went online, thanks to Charles Smith, librarian at Western Kentucky University. So hello to all you folks who found this blog through those sites, or through googling Malvina. Hello also to the people at the St. Gregory’s Writers’ and Artists’ Weekend at St. Dorothy’s Rest, where I am writing this, and the women in my memoir group, BarbSalon.

© 2006 by Nancy Schimmel

Those are my mother’s arms holding me, and my father’s hand holding a can of worms. Seems appropriate now, as I try to figure out what I’m getting into...

Friday, November 3, 2006