Power of Email to Remember a Life Story

Marion Green has passed away.  She was my friend. In fact, I owe so much to Marion's passion and energy for writing. Marion was a strong voice in getting me back to full-time writing again.

After her passing, I went through my email archive to read her messages to me.  Every single message encouraged me to write.  Every single message was positive.  Every single message held her voice that I could no longer hear.  And I was reminded why I got back to writing.

Many years ago, Marion called me and said, "You have to start writing again.  I was published in the LA Daily News! They have half a million readers!"

Sure enough, she discovered a program where community journalists could post stories online and a portion of those chosen stories would be published in the print edition of the newspaper.  It was called Valley News.  I jumped at the chance.  I researched stories, I interviewed people, I became a better photographer and I was rewarded.  Over the course of the program, hundreds of my stories and photographs were published.

After a feature article was written about my submissions along with a photograph of me, newspaper readers randomly stopped me in the grocery store to say they enjoyed my articles and to keep writing. I was offered a position ghostwriting for a high-profile man with thousands of followers.  I was offered a PR job for a high-profile business leader in downtown Los Angeles.  I was offered an opportunity to write feature stories about businesses in Los Angeles County in exchange for a high-profile membership.  I wrote a story about a pothole and a cracked street and it was paved by the city soon afterwards. I wrote a story about a left hand turn/red light problem and the city responded. Story after story got action because each one was published in the print edition.  It was really crazy.  But that is the power of publishing; that is the power of the media.

After a couple of years of amazing work, the program was dismantled.  The rumblings of what happened revolved around the inches of publishing space.  As I was told the story, the regular paid union newspaper writers were upset because the articles written by community writers were taking up a big percentage of publishing space.  If that was true, I could see their point.  We were taking up the space and our feature articles about real people in the community were being given priority publishing space.  It was good for the community, it was great exposure for the community writers, but not so good for the staff writers.  When the community program went away, some people lost their jobs as the newspaper downsized.  As unpaid writers, we also lost our opportunities.  And our community lost its voice.

Marion continued to take creative writing classes.  She was still writing and publishing articles in her local retirement community, too.  She was also writing stories about her life or reviewing special books she read.  During this same time, I started writing books and Marion was so supportive.  She loved books.  She definitely had a book in her, but she ran out of time.

With the help of her children, we wrote her memorial tribute and her service was beautiful.  After the service, her children tossed flowers into the ocean in honor of their mother.

After the service, her children gave me one of Marion's books entitled, "A Natural History of the Senses," by Diane Ackerman.  It is one of the nicest gifts anyone has ever given to me.  It is a book that Marion owned and it was a part of her library.  That book reminds me to keep going, keep writing, keep contributing, and help people to tell their stories.

Marion remains a strong voice and an inspiration. Anytime I'm stuck, all I have to do is re-read her emails and get to work.  Our relationship and part of her life story is all there in writing for me to revisit at any moment of the day.

Everyone has a story and every story should be shared...  If Marion were here, she would tell you to start planning, start writing, and get your book published before it's too late.

For her exceptional encouragement to all writers:
Thank you, Marion Green.