6/4/1935
I began to write a short story and found I could do it — and enjoy doing it. I felt like a prisoner released. It was such a weight off my mind — I had been haunted for months by the fear that I could never write again. “Why try to write — everything has been written already,” seemed to be my attitude of mind. But that vanished when I had the first paragraph written.
10/23/1936
A compliment from my old friends pleases me more than anything strangers can say. Premier Ferguson once told me I had made the best after dinner speech he had ever heard but his compliment did not please me as did that of the plain Prince Edward Island farmer who was my friend in childhood.
11/29/1936
I finished Gone With the Wind today — nearly a thousand pages. I don’t know whether I liked it or not but at any rate I couldn’t do without finishing it. “Scarlett” was abominable but she was real and I wanted to see “what she would do next.” The book is an amazing production.
12/3/1936
I had a good sleep and lost myself for five happy hours in Jane today. I was happy while I was writing it — but nevertheless I felt pretty tired when I stopped. Five hours is a rather steady stretch of creative work.
9/12/1938
On this hot dark muggy day I sat me down and began to write Anne of Ingleside. It is a year and nine months since I wrote a single line of creative work. But I can still write. I wrote a chapter. A burden rolled from my spirit. And I was suddenly back in my own world with all my dear Avonlea and Glen folks again.
9/24/1938
When dreariness and fear threaten to overwhelm me I shall remember this letter and say to myself, “Take heart my child. As long as you can bring a little delight or comfort into the lives of others life is worth living. And there are countless lives waiting for you yet in the years of eternity and in the starts yet unborn.”
10/2/1938
There are some people whose deaths do not surprise you. They never seemed greatly alive. And there are others whose deaths are simply incredible. They are so full of life and the joy of living that you can never believe death of them.
10/28/1938
In the evening I went to the [Canadian] Authors’ [Association]…I poured tea and so escaped from a few deadly bores who grab me at every meeting and pour forth long winded complaints re editors and publishers.
Interesting to hear her thoughts on GWTW! It’s one of my favorites, but certainly not because Scarlett is a likeable character! Mitchel always said Melanie was the actual heroine.
I found her response interesting, too! I adore Gone With the Wind. Scarlett is something, a character who’s hard to forget. I’m surprised MM said that about Melanie. She is certainly more heroic and a more compassionate character (does Scarlett have any compassion, really?), but I have a hard time as seeing her as the heroine…
Maybe heroine is the wrong word–I think MM said that she wrote Melanie and even Scarlett’s mother as the classic genteel southern ladies, characters to be emulated. While we all admire Scarlett’s passion and determination, no one wants to be exactly like her. (Although I’m sure that determination was what helped make her so appealing in the Depression era when it was first published.) Anyway, it’s awfully good reading, regardless! 🙂
Yes, I can see that! And on one level I really love Scarlett, even though I don’t like her, you know? I’ve read GWTW twice, but it’s been a long, long time. As far as character development goes, MM was amazing. Maybe I’m due for a re-read.
Hello, Caroline–
A friend, Lizuca C., lent me your book here in WA; I read it one sitting yesterday and enjoyed it immensely. I loved the format (my husband and I are both writers; he’s a poet and we both appreciate a tight line), and of course, May B.’s character. As a former teacher and friend of dyslexics, I agonized with May as she attempted again and again to read. As I often do with books I’ve enjoyed that I’m unwilling to say goodbye to, I read everything between the covers, including the acknowledgements, and was struck by the last line of your ‘thank yous.’ I grew up overseas believing strongly in the One who binds up the brokenhearted, and I continue to hold onto that now–good stories of all kinds, including L.I. Wilder and L.M. Montgomery, C.S. Lewis and George McDonald–only deepened my understanding of what a vital role Imagination plays in this healing. I’ll definitely be passing May B’s beautiful story onto others.
Thank you!
Kimberly Long Cockroft
Kimberly, what a lovely, lovely message to receive today! Please tell Lizuca and Seph hello from all the Roses. We have sweet memories of our DC days together. May in many ways is more real to me than some people I know. She has taught me immensely about what it means to be brave and challenged my own experiences/assumptions in the classroom. All good stories deal with redemption on some level, I believe, and the verse from Isaiah was key to me as I wrote this book.
All best to you and your writing!