For the next several Sundays, I’d like to introduce you to writers new and seasoned as they share what inspires them to put #PenToPaper. This week, meet Marjorie Pagel, a poet and writer of essays and stories. She’s been on the blog before, and I’m thrilled to have her back again.
I’m a great believer in freewriting. Just leave the nagging editor outside the door and write whatever is on your mind – mundane things like what happened yesterday, the goings on planned for today, ruminations of life’s many possibilities. And, of course, creative writing. One of my favorite characters, Lisa Mullarkey, was born during a freewriting session, and many other fictional folks are lurking in my files waiting to be fleshed out.
Judy Bridges of Redbird Studio (author of Shut Up and Write) may remember when I entertained her roundtable groups with MP’s MPs (Marjorie Pagel’s Morning Pages); these were edited pieces which originally came to life in my morning freewriting sessions.
Oftentimes I discover what I want to say when I let the words tumble out. Reading it over later, I’m sometimes amazed at my own thoughts, my own words. I’ve learned to trust this inner self who has important stuff to say. And, in the process, I’ve discovered my voice. My writer friends recognize it. I originally fell in love with freewriting when I read Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones. Although I occasionally write longhand, as she advised, it’s difficult to decipher my handwriting and too much “good stuff” gets lost. Yes, I love my keyboard! An earlier draft of the poem below was written shortly after the miracle of word-wrap on my very first computer.
freedom in lower case
whenever i want to feel creative i simply start writing
the way i’m doing now without depressing any shift levers
so that everything comes out lower case
like e e cummings
abandoning the routine of shift/capital/release
takes a little concentration at first but once i’m in the groove
i feel recklessly free defying tradition
spelled out like god’s holy law by my english teacher
imagine her reaction to that uncapitalized e
which defines her profession
when i think of e e cummings i remember
whatifamuchofawhichofawind and
how his mountains kept dancing and dancing
the carefree images of childhood return
and i know what it is to sail through the sky
with or without my keyboard
Marjorie Pagel learned to type as a sophomore in Norbert Kaczmarek’s class at Westfield High School, where Mr. Kaczmarek was known to drape a cloth over the hands of any student who tried to sneak a peek at the keys. This was back in the day when you had to reach up your left hand to return the carriage at the end of each line of typing. With all that manual whacking, it was a noisy class. To this day Marjorie prefers writing without looking at the monitor until after she’s completed her first draft efforts.
Although she herself was an English teacher for much of her life, beholden to strict rules of grammar and punctuation, the act of snubbing her nose to such restrictions is a bit like shedding one’s clothes to go skinny dipping.
Some of Marjorie’s freewriting was shaped and refined over the years in workshops and writing groups, such as Kim Suhr’s Red Oak Writing in West Allis, Wisconsin; Christi Craig’s online classes in Flash Nonfiction; and Margaret Rozga’s poetry workshops. She has published two collections: The Romance of Anna Smith and other stories and Where I’m From: poems and stories. Both are available on Amazon. You can find Marjorie at “Meet Me at the Corner” and on Facebook. Or write to her at Marjorie.Pagel@gmail.com.
*Photo of typewriter and mac by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
Happy to “meet” another writer today! Marjorie – I love your poem and also see the great merits of freewriting sessions. (I enjoyed your bio, too…especially – “…snubbing her nose to such restrictions is a bit like shedding one’s clothes to go skinny dipping.”) You definitely have a way with words!
Marjorie is a master at freewriting. I love reading what unfolds in a quick 10 minutes of her time.
Wonderful to feel “recklessly free defying tradition.” Thanks Marjorie.
I enjoyed this blog so much. Your wit and way with words delights.
Loved the poem and your bio–especially the line about “snubbing your nose, with that hilarious comparison. Just wonderful, Marjorie.
Congratulations.
Jo
Marjorie always makes me smile. She has a voice, an eye and a quick wit. Any fan of e e is a fan of mine.
I agree, Kathy! 🙂
I love your writing and proud to call you my sister. However, NEVER try to call the pigs saying “POOEY”! It is correctly called “Sooey”!