Song of the Plains: A Memoir of Family, Secrets, and Silence

Description

Ever since she was a child, Linda Joy Myers felt the power of the past. As the third daughter in her family to be abandoned or estranged by a mother, she observed the consequences of that heritage on the women she loved as well as herself. But thanks to the stories told to her by her great-grandmother, Myers received a gift that proved crucial in her life: the idea that everyone is a walking storybook, and that we all have within us the key to a deeper understanding of life-the secret stories that make themselves known even without words. is a weaving of family history that starts in the Oklahoma plains and spans over forty years as Myers combs through dusty archives, family stories, and genealogy online. She discovers the secrets that help to explain the fractures in her family, and the ways in which her mother and grandmother found a way not only to survive the great challenges of their eras, but to thrive despite mental illness and abuse. She discovers how decisions made long ago broke her family apart-and she makes it her life's work to change her family story from one of abuse and loss to one of finding and creating a new story of hope, forgiveness, healing, and love.

Linda Joy Myers is president and founder of the National Association of Memoir Writers. Her memoir Don't Call Me Mother-A Daughter's Journey from Abandonment to Forgiveness was a finalist in the ForeWord Book of the Year Award, a finalist in the IndieExcellence Awards, the winner of the BAIPA Gold Medal award. She's the author of three books on memoir writing: The Power of Memoir-How to Write Your Healing Story, Journey of Memoir, and Becoming Whole. She's a coauthor with Brooke Warner of two books: Breaking Ground on Your Memoir and Magic of Memoir. Myers writes for the Huffington Post and co-teaches the program Write Your Memoir in Six Months with Brooke Warner. A therapist for thirty-six years, Myers also speaks about memoir, healing, and the power of writing the truth.

2017 USA Best Book Awards Finalist in Women's Issues 2018 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist in Relationships (Non-Fiction) "Linda Joy Myers has written a remarkable, heartbreaking, and hopeful story. Song of the Plains is a memoir of fierce longing and a quest to understand the fragile bonds of family. Myers stitches together her past, finding solace in the landscape of the Great Plains and weaving in elements of story like a poet, detective, artist, therapist, mother, daughter, and historian. The fascinating and fractured women in this memoir will continue to whisper their songs for generations to come." -Melissa Cistaro, Author of Pieces of My Mother "Linda Joy Myers, already an established thought leader in the memoir genre, solidifies her legacy with this meditation on ancestry, place, generational pain, healing, and redemption. The author's consistently braided themes of memoir as art, craft, and psychological process are enhanced by her longstanding career as a marriage and family therapist. The writing is cohesive and evocative, the research impeccable, and the ultimate triumph over both nature and nurture compelling." -Kathleen Adams LPC, Director, Center for Journal Therapy, Inc., author of Journal to the Self, and editor of Expressive Writing: Foundations of Practice "Linda Joy Myers's search for continuity in her family history brings to mind E. M. Forster's quote, 'Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted." Her search for connection deeply resonates in a time when social media makes connections that are broad but shallow. Rooted in place and personal stories, Song of the Plains is an antidote to the superficial and the faux. Myers's writing plumbs the depths of real experience. This important narrative is crafted to last." -Sue William Silverman, author of The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo-Saxon Jew "Intelligent, heartfelt, and tenderly observed, Song of the Plains is a memoir about identity, storytelling, and the healing power of telling the truth. Raised in a family haunted by secrets, Linda Joy Myers set out on a journey to discover what the women in her clan were hiding-and why-as a way to untangle the legacy of inherited-but-hidden trauma. As Myers writes, 'If we hide or don't tell our stories, part of who we are goes missing.' If you've ever puzzled over your own missing pieces or questioned who you might be without your own secrets, this beautiful book will help light your way." -Mark Matousek, author of Sex Death Enlightenment and The Boy He Left Behind "Song of the Plains is an emotional and captivating read. From the very first page, Linda Myers leads the reader on a journey into the inner landscape of a complex family dynamic that invites curiosity and empathy. Myers is a brilliant storyteller, weaving together well-researched details with answers to plaguing life questions that reveal the reality of 'home'-turning a preconceived definition on its head. This story touches readers in a way that stirs compassion for the complexity of people and their role in a larger framework known as 'family.' It makes one wonder about their own sense of home and what they've come to believe about it." -Tina M. Games, author of Journaling by the Moonlight: A Mother's Path to Self Discovery "The descriptions in Song of the Plains are downright elegiac. I felt I was standing on the red earth in Oklahoma, feeling the wind in my face. This next volume of Myers's quest for understanding and forgiveness of her foremothers and family will inspire anyone seeking to understand their roots." -Sharon Lippincott, author of The Heart and Craft of Lifestory Writing "We all have stories that change our lives. Sometimes we remain silent, but the silence only gives the story more power. In Song of the Plains, memoir expert Linda Joy Myers goes deeply into her own life story and reveals how she transformed it into a new one that helped her move forward with hope and love. Another moving healing journey related to family relationships from Myers, this book is a must-read for anyone who wants to explore-and heal-the past." -Nina Amir, best-selling author of Creative Visualization for Writers, The Author Training Manual, and How to Blog a Book "For years, as I considered the mystery of my childhood, I wondered, 'Who were these people who molded me?' Song of the Plains asks that question and explores the decades-long saga of the author's search for answers. Like an ancestral detective, Myers peers into the evidence and follows historical bread crumbs, attempting to make sense of her family's earlier lives." -Jerry Waxler, author of The Memoir Revolution