A Good Yarn

Mazzy Adams

The notes of the Westminster chimes echoed down the hallway, subtly weaving their way into my sleep-sodden psyche, insisting I relinquish my cherished nana-nap. Before dozing off, I'd been researching the etymology of the word yarn. Though I'd discovered a miscellany of interesting facts, the art of spinning the various threads of thought into the fabric of an etymology essay had proved frustratingly elusive. 

During my sleep, the various notions had entwined their fibres with the cords of my subconscious and I dreamed about my grandmother. I was only six when she passed away at the age of eighty-eight so my memories of this elegant, elderly white-haired lady are tender but fleeting. From what the family have told me, she could be quite a mimic and story teller when she had a mind to do so. Her life experiences growing up as the youngest daughter in a pioneering railway family provided rich pickings for a teller of tales and she could spin a good yarn. With sheer joy, she recalled ‘playing with the piccaninnies' as a child, her way of describing her indigenous playmates who lived in the bush surrounding the railway camps. As her body aged, her mind returned to the happy days of her childhood and stayed there. 

Some of my happiest memories of her revolve around the parcels she regularly sent to us by mail, each one a brown-paper package filled with a dozen or more crocheted woollen doilies. Each doily was about the size of a child’s palm and made from a variety of mismatched knitting yarns. As age progressively deconstructed the coherent threads of her life, Grandma painstakingly constructed these gifts of love for us. Most people would have smiled at the collected offerings, while thinking sadly to themselves, ‘These are quaint; pretty, but useless.’ My mother saw these gifts as an opportunity. She set me the task of deconstructing the doilies to recover the essential yarn. Then she patiently taught me how to knit and crochet with that same yarn.

Poets and creative writers are prone to explore the art of effective written expression by deconstructing the work of others. We observe the methods used by those who effectively weave threads of information into picturesque literary tapestries. We dissect a piece of literature into the strong warp yarns which provide continuity and cohesion, and the colourful variety of weft threads, the interwoven literary devices which convert themes into stories. The metaphoric imagery of spinners and weavers converting fibres and threads into fabric coalesces so well with the work of writers that it has become part of our language and our literary terminology. The poetic trochee comes from a Greek word which means ‘a running, spinning foot’.  If I say, ‘That’s a good yarn’, my listener is more likely to assume I’m talking about a good story than a thread for constructing quality fabric.  

Writers and story-tellers spin their yarns with an added twist; a funny story might leave you in stitches. Forum posts follow threads. Philosophers speculate that language forms the fabric of culture and society.  

Dictionaries expand the word yarn into 

1. a thread made of natural or synthetic fibres and used for knitting and weaving; 

2. a continuous strand made from glass, metal or plastic; 

3. a loosely twisted aggregate of fibres, as of hemp, of which rope is made; 

4. a tale, especially a long story of adventure or incredible happenings.

The word yarn comes from the Old English word, gearn and the German word garn. Both mean ‘a spun fibre’. It also reflects the Old Norse word gorn, meaning gut, Lithuania’s zarna, meaning entrails, and the Greek khorde which refers to the intestine or gut-string. Clichés and colloquialisms have stitched this spurious connection into our everyday language, spinning us along, pulling the wool, fleecing the innocent, weaving a tangled web of intrigue and deceit.  Bound by a guilty conscience? Got a knot in your stomach? The spin doctors say, ‘Talk it through. Tell your story. Spill your guts!’ 

To understand how the word yarn became synonymous with a good story, we must look to the days of tall-masted sailing ships and the strong ropes needed to rig and unfurl the sails. Rooms called yarn lofts were set up near boat harbours. There, groups of men would work together, day after day, twisting yarns of hemp into rope. The work was tedious and time-consuming. The men passed the time by telling tall tales; tales of the sea, tales of adventure, tales of life and of love lost and found. The yarn spinners became the story tellers.

My grandmother’s parents sailed from England to Australia in the 1860s on a ship called the Melmerby. Their first child, a daughter, was born at sea and, in an interesting twist, was christened Melbebe (pronounced mel-baby) after the ship. The family of three disembarked with all their worldly goods onto the banks of the Bremmer River in Ipswich, Queensland. While my great-grandfather sought out a wagon to transport his family and chattels inland to the Great Dividing Range, someone stole their belongings. Stripped of everything except the clothes they wore, their plans for a smooth transition to pioneering life rapidly unravelled. Undaunted, they rolled up their sleeves, established a pattern for survival from the patchwork of opportunity Australia presented, and raised a large family together. That is until, at the age of five, their youngest child—my grandmother—found her mother ‘asleep’ in front of the fireplace. Grandma remembered patting her mother's hand, saying, ‘Wake up, Mummy. Wake up.’ Her mummy never did wake up. Grandma’s sister, Melbebe, became mother to the motherless siblings, all ten of them. Their consolation came from knowing that, because of their shared Christian faith, death was merely a temporary break in the thread of life.

(Images of newspaper articles retrieved from https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1278723)

As a child and an adult, I listened to and reminisced over family stories like these—happy and humorous, poignant and sad, like dye to cloth or embroidery for embellishment, they coloured, enlightened, and enlivened my collective understanding of who I am. Their stories helped to connect me with the rest of humanity, past and present. I’m grateful for the storytellers. And for the scribes! While preparing this blog, I was delighted to find a Brisbane Courier Mail newspaper report on Trove about the Melmerby’s voyage from Liverpool to Moreton Bay in 1965. It revealed that, despite life-threatening events that occurred during the voyage, (including a whirlwind that destroyed masts and rigging), ‘a weekly newspaper, called the Melmerby Gazette, was published every Saturday night, which was a source of much amusement and interest’. Fancy that! The storytellers had been busy aboard ship.

I also learned, with sadness, that the Melmerby was shipwrecked some twenty-five years later on a journey from Canada to Scotland; having recently read the opening Nova Scotian shipwreck scene from Nola Lorraine’s debut novel, Scattered, I felt an eerie sense of connectedness to the terror described in both accounts. There is no doubt that written words can be invaluable and powerful. 

(Image retrieved from http://novastory.ca/novastories/greenhill/collection/melmerby.html)

2020 has certainly shaken our degree of comfort and security as the normal patterns of life and community have been torn and shredded by a global pandemic. Rising confusion and violence, political controversy, heartache and death are rife. While news and views about these abound, truth has been harder to discern. I’ve been tempted to plug my ears with my fingers and sing la-la-la. Loudly. In the midst of such momentous and catastrophic times, when Earth itself seems to be unravelling, is it still appropriate to pause and enjoy the finer pleasures of good conversation, story-telling, poetry, prose, literature? Can we justify our desire for … a good yarn?

I say, yes. A thousand times, yes. Perhaps more than at any time in history, the power of positive words and stories is exactly what we need to help us navigate the stormy seas and isolating hardships of these challenging days.

Perhaps, if our ancient forebears had been content with the sheer joy of conversing with their Divine Creator as he walked with them in the Garden of Eden, if they’d listened to his stories, clung to his every word, ignored the persuasive web of deceit spun by that crafty serpent, there would have been no blood shed, no need for a word to describe the entrails of animals, no need for the spinning and weaving of yarn into fabric … no death to rule over us with such a tragic end.

How grateful I am that the Apostle Paul recorded the following good report: 

“But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true: Death swallowed by triumphant Life! Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now? It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!” (From 1 Corinthians 15:53-57, The Message)

That’s a future I anticipate with delight. When that time comes, I wonder if I’ll find Grandma still working with yarn? At least in that place of no more trouble and no more tears, I know it will be a good yarn.

What about you? What good yarns have you read, or heard, or told lately?  

  

Mazzy Adams, a published author of poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction, has a passion for words, pictures, and the positive potential in people.

Website: www.mazzyadams.com

Email: maz@mazzyadams.com

Writing life stories by Ruth Bonetti

What more precious gift to relatives and future generations than to write a family history or memoir? Do it now, before stories and insights are lost to dementia and coffins.

But first consider: for whom do you write?            
                                                                                    Photo 1890: Ruth's grandfather stands front left.

• Will you circulate amongst family some copies produced at the local print shop? 
• Or might your stories resonate with Everyman and Everywoman? 

That challenging option, with good marketing and distribution, can reach more readers.

• Will you present facts as a historical document, with diligent footnotes and bibliography? 
• Or through creative nonfiction put flesh on bones, words in mouths, and look under the surface to the motivations that drove actions?                                                           

If so, one writes with relatives peering over the shoulder, while wondering what flak the finished book might draw. They caution: “Change the names, write a novel, and avoid offence.”
Kate Grenville took this path with The Secret River.

My attempts to novelise felt stilted. Why waste my treasure trove of archival letters and diminish a great story? Let the characters speak for themselves. Narrative nonfiction morphed into memoir as I discovered and interpreted stories. Accepting my role as storyteller unlocked the cage to write more freely.

Others might write different books, equally valid.

Dare to share?

Fact checking early drafts might elicit useful information–or invite criticism. Steel yourself for unsolicited advice: “Don't include aspects that dishonour ancestors…”

Memorise a short but gracious mantra:
"Thank you. I hear what you say. I’ll choose appropriate content with care and prayer."

Clamp your mouth on justifications.

Black versus white sheep?

Some families draft ancestors into pens of white and black sheep, with little variegation between. What demons drove the reprobate to that more interesting story? Avoiding all conflict makes for dull reading and robs readers of the opportunities to learn from generational patterns.

Shame on the family!

What family tree doesn’t sprout illegitimate twigs? Recent generations shrug but Great Aunt Flossie concealed scandals with hushed euphemisms for 90 years. She threatens legal action if her family name is besmirched. Living relatives cannot sue on behalf of “defamed” deceased. The defamation twins are libel (written words) and slander (spoken) false or malicious statements that damage someone’s reputation. Avoid pitfalls with nonjudgmental, factual reporting. Australian Society of Authors membership includes legal aid if needed.

If you choose narrative nonfiction, cover yourself with upfront disclaimers:  “This is my interpretation...” and intersperse “I imagine that…” and “perhaps...” throughout. Endnotes can delineate fact from elaboration and acknowledge sources.

What is truth?

Contradictions are inevitable when sifting truths from myths of oral history.

Relatives view my many-faceted Grandfather from varied kaleidoscope angles to mine. This is the paradox of history; the events of World War 1 written by people from Germany, France, England or Australia would differ, even contradict in some details.

Relatives who share letters, documents, information and memories may envisage the book they would write and recoil if your version departs from their preconceptions.

My preferred style is life writing, to look under the surface of dates, events and facts and find the persons beneath. What drove two brothers to flee their native Finland to settle at the far end of the earth? Did they struggle, away from the security of the nest? 

After a decade of research, countless drafts and edits, Burn My Letters: Midnight Sun to Southern Cross I'm exploring publication options. I hope it fulfils the calling of Psalm 102:18.

Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet unborn may praise the LORD. (RSV)

Trailer and Q & A

Want to hear when it’s published? Email

Ruth Bonetti co-founded Omega Writers in 1991. She is author/editor of 12 publications through Oxford University Press and her imprint Words and Music. These and her presentations seek to empower those who present through Words and Music.

http://www.ruthbonetti.com

Ruth's books: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00ISFNMG8

A tribute to Stealth Authors and Artists

 A geocache we discovered. A perfect example of anonymous generosity, in the spirit of stealth gardeners, writers and artists. 

I visited Great Britain when I was a University student. It was a holiday with my parents, and we visited a countless number of breathtaking churches and cathedrals. The abundance of stone craft and marble work amazed us. There were Biblical heroes with finely-honed facial expressions, and anatomical details, such as veins and Adam's apples, which we would never have imagined could be chipped into stone. A little creepier were the models on top of tombs and crypts of the people who lay beneath; kings, queens and statesmen staring up at us. What intrigued me most was the incredibly high quality of these works of art.

We all associate the Statue of David with its creator, Michelangelo, to the extent that both names are paired together instantly all around the world. But these long ago British craftsmen, whose work had just as much of a Wow factor for me, remain anonymous. If we looked closely enough, we might have seen tiny initials etched into the clay or stone, but just as often we couldn't. It would seem the artists were working solely for love of it, and to bring God glory. It was simply their calling. Being unacknowledged didn't seem to enter their heads or detract from the standard of their work.

I wondered whether writers would be equally happy to remain unnoticed, for even the most self-effacing author knows that his name will appear on the cover of his book, along with the title. Since I asked myself that question, excellent modern authors, who don't mind reminding anonymous, have been drawn to my attention everywhere.

My husband is a musician trying to build a repertoire of old songs, as he plays for senior citizens in nursing homes. He and I have been listening to the free Pandora radio station on our Ipad, especially interested to read the histories of the bands and solo artists who are being highlighted. There are pages and pages of well-written information, including great descriptions, fantastic imagery and impeccable research. Yet the authors don't sign their names. They make me think of the thousands of people who spend painstaking hours editing information on Wikipedia, not to earn a name for themselves but because they are passionate about the topics.

You might have heard about Stealth Gardeners. Their hobby is also known as Guerilla gardening. They creep out at night and beautify ugly patches of land and other eyesores, at the risk of being arrested for trespassing. Personally, I'd welcome them anytime they wanted to visit my place. I guess the Wiki editors and other people who write content for websites may consider themselves Stealth Writers. 

I find these people such an encouraging example. When we're working at fulfilling our calling, there is no rule that says we always need our name connected to it? If that's necessary, we may be working in the wrong spirit. Those of us who have written books and articles may consider their anonymous examples. Some of our work, although not completely secret, may be more hidden, such as blog posts that disappear into cyberspace and book reviews which join hundreds of others. If we're tempted to skimp and not put as much TLC into these things as we do for our more visible work, perhaps we should consider our motivations. Even our smaller bursts of writing may be little geocaches, which may be discovered by anyone at any time.


I take my hat off to big-hearted people everywhere, who are simply committed to making the world a more beautiful place through their passions, even if it's anonymously. Just below is a photo taken last week at the beach. The work of art sitting beside me is a good example of what I'm talking about. Although the plaque is there near my feet, who bothers to stop and read plaques? Not me apparently, for I cannot tell you the name of the fun artist, but I enjoyed his (or her) input.

Paula Vince is a South Australian author of contemporary, inspirational fiction. She lives in the beautiful Adelaide Hills, with its four distinct seasons, and loves to use her environment as settings for her stories. Her novel, 'Picking up the Pieces' won the religious fiction section of the International Book Awards in 2011, and 'Best Forgotten' was winner of the CALEB prize the same year. She is also one of the four authors of 'The Greenfield Legacy', Australia's first and only collaborated Christian novel. Her most recent novel, 'Imogen's Chance' was published April 2014. For more of Paula's reflections, please visit her blog, It Just Occurred to Me. You may also like to visit her book review blog, The Vince Review where she also interviews other authors.

Writing as therapy

After the Writer’s Getaway this year my husband and I did some travelling around the areas in New South Wales where the ancestors I want to write about next, came from. I sat with some relatives I’ve never met, but had arranged to meet up with. I heard their stories and memories. I got a sense of their personalities.

Some of the small towns we visited; Lawrence, Brushgrove, Mororo, Midginbil, are places I’ve never been to before, and are probably smaller communities now than they were 150 years ago. It’s a strange and inspiring experience to wander in these places, to imagine the lives of  those who once lived there, and from whom I’ve descended.  

It occurred to me that researching for a novel is a fascinating journey, and also a very therapeutic one. Whether searching for facts about people, or historical events, or choosing an environment or particular era for a story, I’m sure we all, as writers, go on a very evocative journey, before we even start to write. 

We reflect on the ways people interact, how they change and grow, how they fall in love and develop relationships, how they cope with trauma and loss, how they achieve great things, and how God works in and through the lives of people. We try to step inside other people’s worlds; people who once lived or who are complete works of fiction, and we draw on our knowledge about how human beings function; what makes them do the things they do and respond to their world the way they do. We imagine ourselves in places and situations and relationships we may never have been, or we go back in our minds to what we have experienced and learn from it. Some may project forward to how things will be in the future, or imagine other kinds of worlds where love or hope or goodness may better be experienced.

Surely we can’t help but be changed ourselves by this process. These exercises of the mind and heart are not unlike those I would use in therapy with people who are stuck emotionally or relationally. Remember, imagine, re-construe. These can lead people to find release from the past, to find closure, to discover hope, and to make real behavioural changes in their lives.

This is surely what we offer our readers as well; an opportunity, not only to escape for a little while, but to imagine other lives, to discover new things about themselves, and hopefully to re-construe some parts of their own lives, and then to make real and positive changes; emotionally, relationally and spiritually.

So I think the writing experience from beginning to end, for writer and reader, is not only enjoyable, but also very therapeutic, a wonderful tool in God’s hands. One more reason to keep writing – as if I needed another reason to do what I love. 

There are three books available in my Turning the Tide series, for which I am doing this research; Mary’s Guardian, Charlotte’s Angel and Tangled Secrets. The fourth in the series, Truly Free, will be released in 2013

Forgiving Michael, an earlier novel, is available to read on blog http://www.carolpreston.blogspot.com

Suzannah’s Gold, my first novel, is available on e-book http://www.amazon.com/author/carolpreston

http://www.carolpreston.com.au   

Who is your super hero?

            Recently my husband went to speak at a conference run by University students. The young woman who was to introduce him asked him a couple of interesting questions beforehand, in preparation for her introduction. The first was ‘Who is your super hero?’  The second was ‘If you had magic powers what would you like to do with them?’

            My husband was stumped! With a lifetime of experience behind him as an engineer, business manager and CEO, he found the questions bemusing at best. Aspiring to live life like Spider Man, or having Harry Potter powers are very far from his mind set.

            ‘Whatever happened to the values of ‘down to earth responsibility, hard work and commitment’? he later asked me. ‘Why does the younger generation long to escape into fantasy?’

            He introduced his talk to them by challenging them to face the realities of life and to strive to bring about productive, practical changes in their world.

            I must say I agreed with him. As a writer of historical fiction, I am focused on understanding the mistakes and the achievements of those who have gone before, and trying to inspire readers to learn lessons that will help them make the best decisions for their lives. I love to imagine the personal experiences, conversations and interactions of my characters and to pour into them qualities and insight that I believe will inspire and challenge my readers. But my stories are all very down to earth, and based on real people who faced great challenges and struggles.

            This does not negate my desire to present readers with the love of God and the amazing changes He can bring into a person’s life. I believe fully in the power of God to bring about the miraculous, but I believe that the work of God is grounded in our daily walk on this earth and our interactions with the people around us.

            I am often disturbed by the tendency of many young people these days to escape into fantasy, to live half their lives (or more) in some virtual reality they can create digitally, or to interact for the most part through their computers, phones, I-pads etc rather than spending time with real people in real conversations about real issues.

            Am I just old fashioned? I know there are have always been beautiful nursery rhymes, fairy tales and fables, with great lessons for the young, and also great newer stories set in fantasy, which for some readers provide wonderful challenges and inspiration to live the best kind of life. However last week I saw a preview of a new kid's movie where four mythical characters team up; the sandman, tooth fairy - and I think Santa Claus and the Easter bunny were the other two - to help children make the most of their lives. Are we crossing a line into fantasy which is dangerously misleading?
           Perhaps it’s a stage of life thing? Do young people learn better through fantasy and older people through real life experiences? Or perhaps there are many roads to learning, and potential for getting lost along any of them?     

            Recently I read “Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power.”  Of course that appealed to me, but may be that's just my age. Or have I lost the child in me too soon? What do you think?  

Carol has written seven novels based on her family history in Australia.

The Oakes Family Saga includes Suzannah's Gold, Rebecca's Dream and The Price of Peace.

The Turning the Tide series includes Mary's Guardian, Charlotte's Angel

and Tangled Secrets with Truly Free to be released in 2013.

The Face of Forgiveness, Carol's fourth novel, can now be read in serial form

under the title Forgiving Michael  http://www.carolpreston.blogspot.com

You can read more about Carol's other novels on her website  

http://www.carolpreston.com.au or find them on http://www.amazon.com/author/carolpreston

Or you can contact her on http://www.facebook.com/writingtoreach

Through the Ages

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I love historical novels ... and movies ... and anything else besides. So what is it that I, and many others like me, find so attractive about the old days?

I could say it's the costumes - from doublets and wimples of medieval times to crinolines and bustles in the 1800s - they alone are enough to hook me in.

Or perhaps it's the language when flying one's colours meant nothing to do with flags, and pinchpenny and doddypoll were serious insults.

It could be the simplicity of living (not saying I would survive happily without the mod-cons of computers and air-conditioning), where the cow had to be milked and the butter had to be churned, but no-one had to jump in their car and sit in peak hour traffice just to get to their workplace for the day. Or the fact that marriage meant marriage - in the Biblical sense, because there was a Scripture reference next to the dictionary meaning of the word in those days. And evolution hadn't been invented yet, so most people had a belief in creation and God.

But then again, maybe it is just the absolutely amazing things men and women accomplished without the tools we now have, and often gave God the credit for it. Some of our own explorers, for instance, survived miraculously in an impossible desert environment, just to open up the land to further exploration and settlement.

Some days I simply stand in awe of our heritage, and writing about it is like entering a whole other world. Now that I've surfaced to tell you all this, I'm getting back in my time machine and heading back to 1855. Lucky me!

Amanda Deed resides in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne where she fills her time with work, raising a family, church activities and writing historical romance novels. Her new novel, Ellenvale Gold was released at the beginning of November, 2011. For more information, see:
http://www.amandadeed.com.au/
http://amanderings.wordpress.com/