MY ROAD TO WRITING

by Baidha Fercoq

Please welcome Baidha to the Writers Journey Blog this week with her road on the way to her writing goals!

My Road to Writing

My writing journey I would have to say is still in its infancy. I’m still stretching my fingers after dabbling with writing poems, creating poetry videos, and now writing short stories. I’m excited about its potential, but unsure of its ultimate form. I’m still experimenting really, but I can speak more fully about how I came to need to write.

I don’t think I can attribute my writing journey to one primary experience, it rather developed through a series of three events spanning several decades. The first noteworthy influence that shaped my writing proclivity resulted from our frequent moving during childhood. My father served in the military, so we were moving almost every three years. I was fortunate we spent the majority of my early years abroad in Europe. Those formative years exposed me to cultures and norms our family of modest means would never have experienced had we remained in the United States.

The place I like to credit for ‘awakening my inner dialogue and imagination’ would have to be Athens, Greece. We lived in a villa, complete with marble floors, tall windows, and ample balconies overlooking an orchard. Astir Beach (a renowned resort these days) was a few blocks away. Before you get the wrong idea, let me provide some context here - my father was an enlisted man. Had we remained in America, we would have lived above a grocery store with the shopkeeper giving my mother old fruit and produce because we couldn’t afford to buy much food. We lived like that for many years, early on.

But here in Athens, we were visiting houses of Greek Gods! Greek mythology wasn’t something dead, we interacted with it daily. We were standing on cliffs looking out into the Aegean Sea, bartering with gypsies at the local market, and swimming in waters so clear you could see with such clarity at least 30 feet below. Leaving Athens was one of the saddest moments in my life.

The next event that was instrumental to my writing journey occurred when my father was transferred to a base located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It felt like such a remote place but we were surrounded by forests and wetlands that stretched into the distant horizon until your vision would get hazy. While there, my brother and I explored the forest, spending hours discovering trails, lakes, and plenty of wildlife. During that time, something profound shifted internally – nature became my teacher, my friend. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a deeper sense of peace or understanding of my place in this world in my lifetime. I carry that connection with me and relate to my world through that lens even to this day. In fact, in much of my writing, there will always be references that frame scenes through interactions with nature.

And finally, my writing trajectory culminated while taking High School Freshman English class. Every week we were given a list of 20 words to learn. I didn’t know it at the time, but that’s where the seeds for my future writing would emerge. As my vocabulary began to expand, I learned a deep appreciation for the power of words and how they could shape one’s view of the world – shape other people’s views. Imagine beginning to understand the slight nuances of communication and how precisely each word conveyed a tone, an atmosphere. In short, I would have to say I gained the necessary tools to adequately express my life experiences as a result of that one class.

Why do I write? Hmm, I think I write because I hope to awaken dulled perceptions. As I wrote in the Preface of my first book, Sipping Tea Bull Frog Songs ... & Other Sightings of the Wind Rose, I believe this dullness is an inevitable consequence of today’s modern manic drive towards consumptive distraction. We’re inordinately preoccupied with consumption that we effectively have muted our internal voice. Most of us don’t even know who we are as a person, or as a collective society. I write because words have power. I want the reader to feel, even if it’s a fleeting poignant moment of epiphany in watching a leaf fall – when suddenly one remembers their connection to themselves, to others, and the world as a whole. I want the reader to feel, feel deeply.

In closing, I think many events lead one to write. There’s a history that creates the fuel, the passion for writing. And when that fuse is lit, all a writer can do is allow the flame to burn – that’s where I find myself now. I’m not sure how my future writing will manifest, I’m simply allowing the moment to express itself as needed.... hoping to tell a good story or write a moving poem.

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Biography: Baidha Fercoq is a poet, writer, and artist. She was nominated in 2018 for the Pushcart Prize in Poetry, 2021 Who’s Who Among Emerging Writers, and the 2021 William Shakespeare Poetry Award. Recently, she shared the top prize for a short story contest hosted by Sweetcat Press that included over 400 entrants, receiving her first compensated award. In addition, Baidha currently collaborates with musicians and photographers in creating poetry videos. Her videos can be found on her YouTube Channel: Baidha Fercoq.

She has had multiple poems and short stories published in numerous anthologies including Cyberwit, Sweetycat Press, Creative Talents Unleashed, Beyond Words, All Poetry, Spillwords, and Scarlett Leaf Review among others. Topics for her writing center mainly on self-discovery and personal growth through the lens of nature, spectrums of human emotions, and social issues. Fascinated in the stories behind a poet’s poem, Baidha began including prose vignettes to contextually frame and enrich the experience of each poem. Cyberwit published Baidha’s first poetry book, Sipping Tea & Bull Frog Songs ... and other sightings of the Wind Rose, in August 2021. Her book is also available on Amazon.com

Baidha currently lives with her husband in the Pacific Northwest with her 2 dogs, curious owls, and hungry deer.