Hadiyah Joan Carlyle grew up in a Jewish immigrant
neighborhood in New Jersey, became active in the Civil Right movement of the
sixties and migrated to San Francisco’s colorful Haight-Ashbury to be part of
the counter-culture there. In the seventies, she was the first and only female
shipyard welder in Bellingham, Washington, north of Seattle.
In the eighties, Hadiyah returned to the East coast to earn
her MSW at Rutgers University. In 2003, she completed the certificate program
in Memoir Writing through the University of Washington Extension. She is an
active member of Seattle’s thriving community of writers.
Today Hadiyah lives in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood
close to her son, Washington State 36th district Legislator Reuven
Carlyle, his wife Dr. Wendy Carlyle and their four children. Activist, hiker,
devoted grandmother, Hadiyah delights in the wild beauty of the Northwest while
remaining connected to her gritty urban East Coast roots.
Though welding is no longer a part of her life, she
continues to carry the torch for the empowerment of the oppressed.
VS: What do you do to help balance your writing life with other
activities in your life?
Hadiyah: I have activities that I do every day like yoga and
hiking around the city. Having this
routine is very important to keeping the kind of balance I want in my
life. Spending time with my
grandchildren is also part of that balance.
Much of my writing is done in writing practice groups with other
writers. The sharing that takes place
among the writers in those groups is way of seeing other perspectives and
having a balanced life.
VS: How long have you been writing?
Hadiyah: I first became interested in writing my memoir in the
late ’70s. I audited a memoir writing
class at Western Washington University while I was living in Bellingham,
Washington. After I moved back to
Brooklyn the ’80s, I took a class at the Y with Patty Dann and then took workshops
with Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing
Down the Bones, and Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way. I
completed the certificate program for memoir writing at the University of
Washington Extension in 2003 and worked steadily on writing my memoir Torch in the Dark up to the time of its
publication last year.
VS: As a grandparent, how does your interaction with your
grandchildren relate to your life as a writer?
Hadiyah: I learn so much about myself from being with my
grandchildren. Experiencing the world
from their viewpoint helps me to grow as a person and gives me material for
writing.
VS: What inspired you to write your book (if this is a personal
story about you, please share about the decision to open up about your life)?
Hadiyah: I felt compelled to tell my
story. I came through a process of
healing from events that happened in my childhood but were buried in my
unconscious mind. I didn’t follow the
accepted path. I didn’t buy into the
mental health system. Coming of age in
the sixties when everything was being questioned—that was part of the
story. I found my own way, and I wanted
to share that story. Telling the story
was also part of the healing process.
VS: What is a typical writing
day like for you?
Hadiyah: My day begins with yoga
and often includes hiking for a few hours in the city. I belong to several
writing groups, one of which meets afternoons at the East Louisa Bakery Café
and uses Natalie Goldberg’s approach to writing practice. While I was writing
my memoir, I consulted on a weekly basis with two other writers who were in the
memoir class with me at the University of Washington Extension. We met regularly every week for nine years
and gave each other feedback on the progress of our work.
VS: Is your family supportive of your writing?
Hadiyah: When I first started writing my memoir and thinking
about publishing it, my son had some concerns because I was writing about
experiences that were part of his life too.
But the process of writing the book has been a healing experience for
both of us and has enabled us to have a better perspective of each other’s
viewpoints.
VS: If this isn’t your first publication, what was the first
thing you ever had published?
Hadiyah: Some of my earliest writing was poetry. My poems and essay
have been published in The Journey of Healing: Wisdom from Survivors of
Sexual Abuse, a Literary Anthology; Shine the Light: Sexual Abuse and Healing
in the Jewish Community by Rachel Lev and Escaping the Yellow Wallpaper
by Elayne Clift.
VS: Can you share with us a
little about your current book(s)?
Hadiyah: My memoir Torch in the Dark is the story of how I
raised my son as a single mother while struggling with issues of early
childhood abuse and pioneering as a journeyman welder in a world surrounded by
men who told me I didn’t belong there.
VS: What did you find to be
the most challenging part of writing your book(s)?
Hadiyah: The most challenging part
of telling my story was finding a way to communicate about a very traumatic
experience that happened in my early childhood and has influenced me on a
subconscious level throughout my life. I
had to find ways to subtly refer to this experience in the early part of the
book and then describe how reliving that experience in a therapeutic setting
enabled me to begin to heal.
VS: What part of your book do you feel really stands out to you
personally?
Hadiyah: For me personally, the part that stands out for me
most is the description of the experience of my son’s birth. I think this is probably true for many
readers as well. Other parts that stand
out for me are my early experiences in the shipyard at Bellingham when I am
finally given the opportunity to work as a welder.
VS: If this is a nonfiction book/inspirational book, what event
do you feel was the turning point to your story?
Hadiyah: There are several important turning points in the
book. The book is divided into six
sections, and there is an important turning point at the end of each of the
first five sections. In each case, there
was a discovery or a decision that was critical in my journey to self-reliance.
VS: Do you have any other works in progress? Can you share a
little about them?
Hadiyah: Recently I have written more about other members of my
family, my grandmother, my grandchildren.
I don’t know what I will write about in the future. Life is full of changes.
VS: What tips can you give new writers to help them see
publication?
Hadiyah:
I would give the same advice that is given by my mentor Pricilla Long, which
is, “Writing every day is the key to becoming a writer.” Sit down with your notebook and keep your
hand moving. Everything you write
contributes to your development as a writer.
With regard to publishing, there are so many new opportunities available
to writers today with the availability of print-on-demand technology and
ebooks. It’s important for writers to
carefully consider what audience they want to reach and how to reach that
audience most effectively.
VS: What do you think are the basic ingredients
of a good book?
Hadiyah: For me, the most important qualities I look
for in a book are a sense of the author’s honesty and authenticity, a feeling
that the book was written from the heart.
VS: As a grandparent, what do you feel is the
best way adults can help the children in our lives see success?
Hadiyah: I think that the best way for adults to help
children is to be as real and as honest as possible with them and to validate
the kids in whatever areas are most important to them.
VS: Where can the readers of The Writing Mama find out more
about and your writing?
Hadiyah: More information about my book is available at www.torchinthedark.com. My book is available in print at Elliott Bay
Books, Secret Garden Books, Queen Anne Book Company and Couth Buzzard Bookstore
in Seattle, Bluestocking Books in New York and Village Books in Bellingham,
Washington. It can also be ordered from
Amazon and Barns & Noble. As an
ebook, it is available from Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook,
Ebookstore. sony, Ebookpie and Kobobooks.
VS: Is there anything else you would like to share with us
about being a “Writing Mama or Dad”?
Hadiyah: I think that, for anyone—a mama, a dad, a grandma—writing
is a way of being in the world, a way of making sense of life.
You can find out more about Hadiyah Joan Carlyle, Torch in the Dark and her World of Ink
Author/Book Tour at http://tinyurl.com/chrfo3t
Follow Hadiyah Joan Carlyle at
Author Website http://www.torchinthedark.com
Twitter @CarlyleHadiyah
Facebook https://facebook.com/hadiyahcarlyle
Publisher Website http://www.bookpublishernetwork.com