Of Blogging, “Motherwit Four,” and Generosity…

Of the mother wit and wisdom in her writing Angelia Menchan says, “My mother was 30 years old before she decided to have children. I had these old women around me. My grandmother and then godmother lived to be 102. I was one of those old souls at a very young age. You know that story about the girl born with the veil over her face that would be me. And I just kind of tossed that over my shoulder. On August 9, 2010 I’m publishing an anthology of stories called, “Motherwit Four,” in honor of my mother.”

Author, Angelia Menchan, discusses “Ramblings,” “Schae’s Story,” “Is No Not Clear Enough for You?” and her recent novel, “Mrs. Black“.

She has also published an anthology, Women’s Writes, co-authored with Jennifer Coissiere, Darnetta Frazier, and Shaneika Ferguson.

Visit Angelia’s blogs, Angelia Vernon Menchan, Write or Die Woman, and Angel08.We’ve all heard of old wives’ tales, the wisdom of the ages, Dr. Mom, but author, Angelia Menchan, exemplifies these descriptions, if not titles, given to those of us who have lived long enough to have gathered enough insight into life and living that others seek to hear, or as in Angelia’s case, read her words.

Despite being close to her in age, I hesitate to include myself in Angelia’s group. She holds much more knowledge than I.

It is women, author/pioneers in writing like her that encourage and sustain me in my efforts to make my work perfect.

“If I [stopped blogging] there would probably be a contract on my life. [When] I don’t blog for a few days readers are actually e-mailing and asking, ‘Where are you Mama Deep?…What’s wrong? Are you everything okay? We really need to hear from you. This is how I start my morning.’  My blogging is therapy [for me] a kind of ministry [for others].”

Mama Deep is a name given Angelia by her  readers due to the though provoking messages and themes held in the words of her posts.

Her various blogs evidence her generosity from which she receives much more than she anticipated. But oh, how much she gives.

Among so much we discussed during my interview of her on Saturday’s broadcast of Book Talk, Creativity and Family Matters, here is some of what she shared:

“At the end of the day, integrity is all that’s left.”

With regards to writing for commercial publishers Angelia says, “Characters have to be a certain age, a certain demographic. A certain amount of bling …Someone else’s truth. …”

Of the complacency that has gripped American culture, she states, “We must own our madness. When we buy into something simply because that is what is there…well that is what we get. …Fast food would not exist if people didn’t want fast food.”

The list goes on.

The more I listened the more I found myself being drawn back to that time in my childhood when I, not unlike Angelia described herself during childhood, “…that quiet, bookish girl who just sat next to the elders and listening to everything.”

During the Saturday broadcast I was the child, Angelia the elder dispensing the axioms rising out of the intersection of her experience as a wife of 32 years, mother of two adults and the knowledge she gained from these and other roles vita to her family and others.

So much of writing is about incubation, not simply of our stories, but of us. Our development as people and individuals with some to say and that others values takes time.

To those who ask Angelia Menchan, “…why did you wait until your fifties to do most this [writing stories and novels], she says, “…you have to wait your turn sometime. There were a lot of things I had to do, educate myself, get married, raise my kids…”

I too chose that path, or rather it chose me. In the end it’s made me a better writer.

And a happier one, too.

What has been your path to writing?

How has it shaped not simply what you write about, but how you approach it, what you bring to the subject matter, the way you process it–and how others perceive your message?