Synopsis: The Promise, a memoir of the imagination
THE PROMISE begins with an unexpected journey. Fueled by strange coincidences and a spiritual encounter of the most unusual type, I set off on a pilgrimage with no destination. I crossed continents, I hiked high above the clouds, and I let myself fall deep into the most intimate of moments between two strangers. Traveling with no cash, I traded my skills for food, beer and a bed. In between my adventures, I explored a lifetime of memories. ‘The Promise’ is a travel memoir full of true stories, it is also a gathering of memories that are laced together with figments of my imagination. I take the liberty to imagine what other people might be thinking or might have said when I wasn’t there to hear. I reenact conversations word for word, as if they are happening in the moment and not in a long ago past. I like to play with time with words, mimicking the way memories work. The manuscript is 53 thousand words and is the first part of a Trilogy.
A short bio: As a young woman, I was a fisherman on salmon tollers on the West Coast, and then a writer and director in Fringe theatres across Canada. While raising my kids, I went to school and wrote my Phd. thesis, Ordering Chaos, the Canadian Fringe Theatre. And then I became a traveller. I traversed North and Central America by bus and train, and once by motorcycle. I have lived and worked in 6 different countries. In 2005, the University of British Columbia (UBC) hired me to teach in the English department. I also teach for a U.S. program called Semester at Sea. I’ve sailed around the world three times and 900 miles up the Amazon River. To celebrate my 50th year, I walked for 50 days across Northern Spain on an ancient Pilgrimage. And that is when I began to write my memoir. Now, I live part of the time on a tiny Caribbean island off the coast of Belize where I run a modest guest house, and the other part of the time I teach courses in Writing and Canadian Studies for the English Dept. at U.B.C. ‘The Promise’ is my first memoire and the first of a Trilogy.
