The Writer's Table
Almost three years ago my friend Barbara set up our writing group. She recognized her need to be with other writers to help in bringing her book to life. We named our group the Writer’s Table, after the beautiful gleaming mahogany table in Barbara’s dining room. When our busy schedules allow, we meet on Monday evenings. We sit around our Writer’s Table to share a meal and our lives. We write on anything and everything, some event happening in all our lives, or to just one of us. We unearth our past and rebuild our futures. We share memories, history, spouses, hopes, dreams and friendship.
Everything we write begins with a prompt we all agree on. Our July 6 prompt was, "Only The Strongest Women Become Writers," which was adopted from the verse on Cathy’s thermal cup. I felt this was an appropriate prompt for us on so many levels. Cathy is easing towards retirement with more time for her passion of researching, enlarging her history and writing about her familial roots. She thinks of her writing plans while tweaking her delicious Spanish menus. Her words are splashed with family and history from her life, just as her meals are splashed with wine and herbs. Barbara writes of her astonishing childhood, a young globe trotter, tossed by the best of times and the worst of times in her Army family with four siblings. She’s seen the world through a child’s and an adult’s eyes. Around our Writer’s Table she works to bring the child and the woman in her together.
I’ve witnessed the stories erupting and evolving from Cathy and Barbara. Their writing fills me with humility. I am in awe of their stories and how they weave their words and memories together. Their observations are beautiful and sometimes painful. Tears have been shed, laughter shared. Cathy and Barbara’s confidences take my breath away in their honesty. We have all become more confident as wordsmiths. This prompt was no exception.
I later worried about the prompt, "Only The Strongest Women Become Writers." It’s true, and yet it isn’t. It is the weakest women among us, the most hurt and fearful who muster up the courage to overcome their fears to write. And that is how weak women become strong women writers.
Both Barbara and Cathy have given me permission to share their “Only The Strongest Women Become Writers.” prompt. Here are their stories, unedited, fresh from the Writer’s Table.
Only The Strongest Women Become Writers
Barbara Kennedy 7.6.2026
Who said I was strong? Who said I was a writer? I’m just making this up. Sometimes I feel like what I have accomplished has been a good rehearsal, but is anything going to come out of it?
My mom’s gone now so I’m not afraid she’ll read the stories. It feels like a bunch of bitching at moments. I really know it’s not. History, my history, is important, the good, the bad and the ugly. I’m never reliving it so what’s the point of writing it down? I guess this is where I’m at right now, in the middle of what’s next for my writing journey.
Do I need coaching, a ghost writer to help put it all together? So many spider arms all dangling in different directions. I’m reinventing my writing. First, I’ll give myself permission to be just where I’m at. Next I’ll just move in the direction I’m going in, the right direction and see where it goes. I thought about doing pieces on both my parents. Not so much the dramatic scenes but the history.
The history helps us today to understand where we are, what we’ve been through, who my parents were in raising me, my brothers and sister. Our history is different. My siblings' experience was different from mine.
Writing brings out the rawness of the truth, makes it real. Yeah, it’s a story and it happened. Writing is healing. You’re sharing your soul with the reader. How do you just do it without self-doubt? Doubt that what you write has absolutely no importance to anyone. What’s the answer? Who says? I guess it’s just the fact that it could turn out cool. It could speak to someone. Your story is important. It could change someone’s life. It could be just that you have completed what you said you were going to do. Who knows?
But if you don’t write you’ll never know the ending. You might miss the greatest opportunity to discover the strong woman who became a writer.
Only The Strongest Women Become Writers
Cathy Varon 7.6.2026
Only the strongest women become writers. Well, I’m feeling pretty weak right now, contemplating everything that I won’t be able to do for the two months of recovery if/when I have surgery on my foot. Aside from weakness, I won’t be able to put any weight on my foot for two months. No cooking or cleaning, no yardwork or gardening. No escape from “you know who.”
As I write this I’m starting to think of opportunities. My niece just asked for cooking lessons this weekend, so I can enlist her help during the holidays. She can learn how to cook the holiday feast. My brother may be willing to help, also. The last few times he has come over he has commented how much he enjoys having our traditional foods homemade.
Then, there is also the idea of no cooking or cleaning or yardwork for two months. What are the things that have gotten in the way of my writing? This may be the kick in the pants from the universe necessary to make me sit still and focus.
As I recover I will become stronger and stronger until not only can I walk again but I’ll also be a writer. In addition to installing a ramp I will need a bell or chime to call the house boy for my tea or to help me to the bathroom.
In the end I’ll be one of the strongest women, inside and out, mentally and physically.
Only The Strongest Women Become Writers
Jayne Lisbeth 7.6.2026
Honest writers, we three women are. We are tough broads. We filet our hearts and souls, season them with anecdotes of life and experiences and serve them up on platters of honesty. Then we sit back and watch. We pay attention to our diner’s reactions. Was this story too salty? Too sweet? Too dull? We gather the reviews and start all over again with a fresh recipe.
Writers have to be strong. We face rejection and criticism at every turn. The worst criticisms are our own. We attack each sentence, word and thought. Is this right? What if I wrote what I’m trying to say in a different tone of voice? What exactly am I trying to say? Do I even know? The bitter taste of ever familiar self-doubt creeps in. “I’m not good enough. My writing is garbage. What makes me think I could ever be a writer?”
I’ve come to realize that perhaps editing has made me a stronger writer, as well as the comments of writers Cathy and Barbara. When I look back at my earliest writing I grimace. My mental red pen comes out, slashing, editing my old thoughts and words. Yet, there is always a nugget of gold somewhere in whatever we writers have to say. Editing helps us to find that nugget and enlarge it. Then we edit again until that final piece becomes a feast.
It is our strength that pushes us forward. Not only our own strength but the buoying force of our fellow writers. They matter. Their opinions, suggestions and criticisms are our strength. I believe all writers suffer from the same disease of self-doubt. Perhaps that is also our strength. Our doubts push us forward, to pursue new avenues, and new thoughts. Through other writer’s strength I find my own. The words of my fellow writers are the waves I surf to shore on.
That filet we sliced from our heart and soul becomes a delicacy, a well-seasoned meal with just the right amount of salt and sweetness to serve to our dinner party of fellow writers and readers. With any luck, they’ll enjoy the meal, if we are strong enough to serve it.
Love all the insights and encouragement to "Do what you Love" !
Good stuff, as usual. Just write for the love of writing. They're your stories!
I think everyone has self-doubt creeping in draining their confidence about their ability to do whatever it is they are passionate about. Just keep swimming (like Dory). Put the blinders on, block out your insecurities and do what you love. Don't worry about what people think. Do it for you.