An Interview with NAMW Featured Member of the Month for January 2011, Marjorie Webb.

NAMW: Tell us what you want to write about, or what you are working on.

Marjorie: I am currently working on writing my life story. For the past couple of years, I have been attending Linda Joy Myers’ on-line classes. She has been a tremendous help to me in sorting through some of the major turning points in my life while making my story interesting to others. Ever since I divorced my first husband in 1989, I have had the desire to tell my story of surviving an abusive marriage and finding love again after the loss.

NAMW: If you could imagine the title of your story—what would it be?

Marjorie: “There is Only Love”

NAMW:  What helps you to get your writing done—for instance—a writing schedule, taking a class, reading?

Marjorie: The best thing for me in getting my writing done is by taking a class. I not only enjoy receiving feedback from others, but the discipline of having an assignment due each week keeps me focused and on target.

NAMW: What are your five favorite books—okay, you can make it a little longer if you need to.

Marjorie: Five of my all-time favorite books would have to include: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, and more recently The Glass Castle by Jeanette Wall, A New Theology: Turning to Poetry in a Time of Grief by Sheila Bender, Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.

NAMW: Is there anyone who does not want you to write your memoir? Why not?

Marjorie: If anyone would not want me to write my memoir, I should think it would be my first husband since he is one of the main characters in my story, and he may not want anyone learning the truth.

NAMW: Talk about who the audience is for your memoir. Be brief and concise.

Marjorie: Right now I think mostly of my children and grandchildren as I write down my story, because I’d like them to know me on a deeper level. I also think it would be great to have my book published. I think of other women who may feel trapped in an abusive marriage experiencing the pain and sorrow that goes along with it as well as the feelings of low self worth and hopelessness. I want to share with them what I’ve been through and learned from my own experience.

NAMW: What is the most significant turning point in your life?

Marjorie: I’d have to say that it was when I lost my beloved grandmother just before my thirteenth birthday. The first time I met her at the age of six when she moved from her native county of Australia to join our family in America, she became my hero. When she was so tragically and suddenly taken from us, I believe that it changed me and quite possibly changed the direction my life took even though I was such a young girl.

About Marjorie:

I am retired and live with my husband, Jim, in a rural area about 40 miles south of Denver, Colorado. Together we enjoy travelling and scuba diving all over the world. My interests include writing, photography and scrapbooking, but my favorite of all pastimes is reading. Our blended family includes my two married daughters and eight grandchildren, all of whom live within twenty miles, as well as Jim’s stepson and his wife and daughter who live in Tennessee. I have been truly blessed.