In the mid-eighties, after a thirty-year’s skirmish writing advertising copy in Chicago and New York, it was time for an exit strategy. I’d work five more years and stash a buffer of cash for the future.
My innards, having had all the fiesta they could metabolize, however, had their own timetable. Two-and-a-half years into the plan, I began cleaning out my desk. The day after the Agency lost two major accounts (not my fault, I swear, but it was a sign), with a mystical hand at my back urging me forward, I walked into the corner office and tearfully resigned.
The creative chief issued a memo saying I was retiring to write “articles, fiction, maybe poetry.” Poetry? It was news to me. Looking back though, perhaps decades of writing columns of TV copy were an apprenticeship.
I declined a Bon Voyage party; I was too spooked to celebrate. Who would I be if not who I had been? What would I do all day? What would I wear? What about lunch? What about the paycheck?
Cicero answered the last one. “Man does not realize what an income thrift is.” And from me to me: S.O.O.S. (Stay Out Of Stores.)
Day One at home. You have to confront the silence, a friend warned. But this was awful. (See my poem, April 2010 Elderchicks.com: This Is Not Working by Lucia Blinn). I got my head out of the fridge long enough to answer the phone. From serendipity herself, my first freelance client. Advertising without committees and competition, yea!
A poetry weekend with two Santa Fe writers led to workshops with writing guru, Natalie Goldberg, a hands-on session with novelist, Dorothy Allison, three aborted writing classes, and a women’s group who met weekly for cinnamon rolls and timed writing.
The freelance business evaporated just as my husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer; and the next two years’ focus was caretaking, dealing with the shrouded one and capturing the journey on paper. Much of that appears in Leaving Marty, the Story of a Marriage. Unpublished as yet.
There is a goddess. Publisher Lorelei Bendinger heard me read my poems at a party, told her partner, Bruce, about them, and the result was my first volume of poems and stories — Passing for Normal and a sequel, Lucia, Navigating the Night has just been published.
In what has become a surprising and gratifying career-after-the-career, I have shared my work at public and private gatherings in Chicago, Boulder, and Dallas and continue to do so in Longboat Key and Sarasota.
As before on ElderChicks, Lucia, your writing resonates and makes me think. Isn’t it a good thing that we don’t know just where each fork leads? If we knew, and thought we had a choice, we probably we wouldn’t take them and would never know what opportunities for growth lie ahead.
I’ve read your poetry and find that I’m so able to connect with it! When I read your poems, I often feel I’m reading about myself. They’re funny, playful, wistful, poignant –and have that wonderful quality of poking serious fun at yourself. Please let ElderChicks.com know when the next collection is published.
Lucia, you continue to amaze me. I feel so blessed to have been on this side of your “fork” in life. It has been my pleasure to spend our weekly writing sessions (no talking, no sharing, just stay focused) together. You are an inspiration to all, that life can take many twists and turns, yet be “smooth sailing ahead” even over some rough waters. See you Thursday mornings at 10!