MOUNTAIN MAGIC with Ann Hite

MOUNTAIN MAGIC with Ann Hite

Writing Your Truth About Simple Things

Do you believe in magic? I never gave it much thought until I wrote my memoir, Roll The Stone Away. Taking on writing one’s story, dips the author deep into memoires that were forgotten, or so it was for me. Mine were so stuffed away, I questioned each one as they surfaced. Writing this book was unlike any project I had ever undertaken. I fought telling my truths anywhere except in fiction which was my secret place—so secret I didn’t know I was using fiction this way. In a novel, I expressed repressed emotions without understanding they belonged to me. 

When my first book, Ghost On Black Mountain, came out, I went to speak to a book club. As authors we need to listen closely to comments readers make. Sometimes there lies a depth of wisdom that can only benefit us. A woman attending the book club meeting made a comment that has remained with me going on fourteen years. 

“The ghosts in this book are metaphors for the emotions running through the story.” 

Wow. This stopped me. As tempting as it was to look “smart” by saying “Thank you. That is what I intended.” I didn’t do that. I couldn’t do that. Instead I thanked her for the insight, explained I might never have seen this about the work. 

When we sit down at the page, we don’t always know where we will end up. I never do. Memoirs have an outline of sorts. It’s called one’s life. But where do we start? What really matters? Because my story was full of trauma and grief, I was warned by a wise teacher/author, Jessica Handler, to take the writing slow. I’ve never been a good listener when it comes to directions.  I plowed ahead and wrote 13,000 words in one week. Then, I promptly became sick and was in bed for days. Something I never did or do now. Choosing to write my truth knocked me for a loop, as Granny would say. I know she was shaking her head up there in Heaven. 

This episode helped me see I had to come at the project in a new way. I decided to take a very slow approach. Mountain magic guided me. The least of my worries was writing in chronological order. I went with the images that came to me in dreams or my thoughts. Sometimes it was an old photo of Granny or Mother or both that sat on my desk during the writing process to inspire me. 

The image of the window at the head of my bed, where I spent many nights as a child gazing at the sky, turned into my first stab at slowing down. Here is the result from Roll The Stone Away. 

“The white twin sheet stuck to my skinny nine-year-old body as I lay on my back and pushed my head against the screen of the open window at the head of the bed. The steamy Georgia night air sat heavy in the trees. Almost visible. The stars winked in the vast, inky sky. Heat bugs hummed and chirped a song, a beat in my imagination. A magic carpet, on the horizon, out of sight, flew my way so I could escape this house, escape this life. Go while you can. Leave when the chance comes.”

The view of the night sky through the giant oak on that hot night brought my writing to life. I was able to tell the story of Mother taking her pills, of my desperate need to escape that life. 

The memories stored from long ago in our minds are our conjured spells. They give us permission to tell our stories that molded us into who we became. When I finished writing Roll The Stone Away, I was gutted. I was sure I would never write another book. One night I dreamed of my second great grandmother, whom I found while researching the memoir and who was full-blooded Cherokee. In the dream was a fictional story waiting for me to write, a story she wanted to tell. The next morning, I went straight to my desk and wrote a short story about Polly Murphy. Before the year was finished, I had written a whole collection entitled, Haints On Black Mountain: A Haunted Short Story Collection. Polly was featured as the matriarch that linked the stories of the collection together. The book went on to win several awards. 

Many writers talk about having a muse that connects them to inspiration and talent that spins words into gold. My muse is mountain magic that Granny passed on to me when I was a young girl, struggling with turmoil at home. She gave me a magical storytelling gene. 

What’s your truth? What’s your mountain magic? I promise both are right inside of you waiting to come forth. Get to the desk and create!