The True Spirit of Community at Squaw

Friday, September 9th, 2011

Jessica O’Dwyer was one of the first women I met when I joined the Writing Mamas. She introduced herself, asked me about my family and my writing and helped me feel I was in the right place. Her insecurities around the quality of her writing were weirdly reassuring to me.

We both applied for admission to the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley in 2006. Jessica was accepted. I was not. She had a tough and wonderful week and came back so overwhelmed she could not write for a short period. But Jessica had a story to tell, the story of adopting her beautiful daughter Olivia from Guatemala, and she got back to work, returning to Squaw in 2007 as a stronger writer who had found her voice.

Jessica kept moving forward, improving her writing through classes and workshops. She wrote and rewrote, searching for the story arc that would grab and hold readers. She had two young children and a husband with a demanding job. Sometimes she could only write at night in cafes or at the library after her husband got home at night and dinner had been cooked. It would have been easy to put off the book, to wait until the children got older, until there was more time to write.

But we all know the time never appears.

Her book, Mamalita: An Adoption Memoir, is a story of adoption and adventure. Jessica’s work did not stop with publication. She put together a national book tour for herself this year, selling most books one by one, directly to her readers.

I was finally accepted to the Squaw Valley conference this year. Jessica was invited to participate in a reading from Squaw alumni. I sat in the crowd, hanging on every word as she spoke of her journey to publication. She held the audience rapt as she read the first few pages of her book. I was absolutely thrilled to have been accepted at Squaw the same year that Jessica returned as a respected and successful alumnus.

A treasure of a moment.

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ABOUT THIS AUTHOR

Marianne Lonsdale

Marianne Lonsdale lives with her husband, Michael, and son, Nicholas, in Oakland, California. She's had a variety of jobs as a Human Resources professional. She writes personal essays and short stories. Her writing teacher and mentor is Charlotte Cook, an Oakland teacher, writer and publisher.

  1. Claire Hennessy
    September 11, 2011 at 8:20 am

    What a great piece. Jessica is amazing and her book is spectacular. I loved it. She deserves all her success and more. But how did YOU get on? How was it at Squaw?

  2. Dorothy O'Donnell
    September 11, 2011 at 4:31 pm

    What a lovely tribute to a lovely, talented and generous Writing Mama. You captured many of the same emotions I felt being at Squaw and listening to Jessica–who I give a lot of credit for helping me get there–read from her book.

  3. Jessica
    September 12, 2011 at 8:22 am

    Tears, Marianne. So happy for you and the other Writing Mamas who attended Squaw this year. Truly, the workshop changed my writing life, as I know it has changed yours, and that of anyone lucky enough to attend.

  4. Laura-Lynne Powell Laura-Lynne
    September 12, 2011 at 10:08 am

    thank for you this, marianne. and i’m so glad you too got to go to squaw. i was also rejected the same year jessica went and harbor dreams of still attending one day. thanks for reminding me and for sharing jessica’s great and inspiring story! miss you guys!

  5. Janine Kovac Janine Kovac
    September 14, 2011 at 10:34 pm

    I am still reeling from my Squaw experience. From advice I got to keeping in touch with friends I made. Like a secret shared treasure.

    And all because of Jessica!

    She posted the Squaw link on her Facebook page and encourage us to submit.

    “What do you get out of going to Squaw?” I emailed.

    “Trust me,” she said. (among other things)

    I wrote, I went, I left a different person. (I think there’s a Latin phrase in there someplace.)

    Thank you Jessica, for the inspiration and encouragement.

    Thank you, Marianne, for eloquently voicing the gratitude we all feel.

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