Loved chatting with award-winning poet and memoirist, Polly Atkin about her memoir, Some of Us Just Fall and what it's like living with chronic illness
SO interesting. I loved the parts about finding a line as a key to the whole book, the synaptic connections of poetry, blank spaces expressing the inexpressible and poetry as life writing. And of course the whole discussion of writing the ‘fractures’ of chronic illness and disability. A great conversation
Very interesting conversation. I don’t know what the diagnosis was, the illness and I felt I was trying to decipher sone of the conversation having not read the book but enjoyed it and it resonated with me also as I have CPTSD and a chronic pain condition with the memory loss, foggy brain etc. In that condition, writing my memoir feels like a feat as I chisel away bits of by bit and heating Polly describe the process is a huge encouragement, thank you! I’ve ordered Polly’s memoir and look forward to reading it. Gosh Lily I can’t wait for your book on the craft of memoir to come out. It’s going to be amazing!
Good point about the diagnosis. I thought she had mentioned that in her intro, but maybe she didn’t name it. It is EDS Ehlers-Danlos syndrome Hypermobility, and another condition where she overloads iron. I will put it in the show notes. Yes, the brain fog is an issue as is fatigue. Glad it resonated with you and thank you for watching!
Ah that makes sense now, I know about EDS, mine is fibromyalgia. She mentioned the iron overload but I didn’t understand what that was, thank you for clarifying that Lily.
It’s especially helpful watching the interview as I’m trying to get to the root of my health issues and have considered genetic testing
Great to hear from writers for whom writing is not such a simple matter as I’ve often beaten myself up about it being so challenging in a practical sense (I also have ADHD) but now I’m seeing I’m not alone. Great to talk with writers with disabilities too, thank you so much
Glad that’s clarified. It’s funny as she mentioned the iron overload I was tracking back in my brain asking myself - did we mention the diagnosis?? And I thought she had at the start. Yes, there are similarities aren’t there with fibromyalgia- I’ve wondered at times if my daughter had it … yes these discussions are so important for people with shared experience
It’s a complex condition (Fibromyalgia) and yet has connections to EDS and so many others. I believe many factors play their part and I would love to some day do some real digging into all possibilities. It has felt to me that doctors give these labels as a solution to all the questions, strange symptoms… they don’t know what it is so they give it a name but EDS, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, ME, and others have so many similarities and yet cannot be identified easily, its almost a process of elimination of well known illnesses, a catch-all it seems at times…
What a special conversation this is. Thank you both so much. I actually started watching last week and had to take a pause to process hearing the experience of being a writer in a chronically ill body so generously shared. I watched from the start this evening and was heart struck again by the discussion of time and fragmentary living, and writing. It’s a powerful point of connection to hear someone speak of such a familiar but so often isolating reality 🙏💕
SO interesting. I loved the parts about finding a line as a key to the whole book, the synaptic connections of poetry, blank spaces expressing the inexpressible and poetry as life writing. And of course the whole discussion of writing the ‘fractures’ of chronic illness and disability. A great conversation
Yes i loved that too.
Very interesting conversation. I don’t know what the diagnosis was, the illness and I felt I was trying to decipher sone of the conversation having not read the book but enjoyed it and it resonated with me also as I have CPTSD and a chronic pain condition with the memory loss, foggy brain etc. In that condition, writing my memoir feels like a feat as I chisel away bits of by bit and heating Polly describe the process is a huge encouragement, thank you! I’ve ordered Polly’s memoir and look forward to reading it. Gosh Lily I can’t wait for your book on the craft of memoir to come out. It’s going to be amazing!
Good point about the diagnosis. I thought she had mentioned that in her intro, but maybe she didn’t name it. It is EDS Ehlers-Danlos syndrome Hypermobility, and another condition where she overloads iron. I will put it in the show notes. Yes, the brain fog is an issue as is fatigue. Glad it resonated with you and thank you for watching!
Ah that makes sense now, I know about EDS, mine is fibromyalgia. She mentioned the iron overload but I didn’t understand what that was, thank you for clarifying that Lily.
It’s especially helpful watching the interview as I’m trying to get to the root of my health issues and have considered genetic testing
Great to hear from writers for whom writing is not such a simple matter as I’ve often beaten myself up about it being so challenging in a practical sense (I also have ADHD) but now I’m seeing I’m not alone. Great to talk with writers with disabilities too, thank you so much
Glad that’s clarified. It’s funny as she mentioned the iron overload I was tracking back in my brain asking myself - did we mention the diagnosis?? And I thought she had at the start. Yes, there are similarities aren’t there with fibromyalgia- I’ve wondered at times if my daughter had it … yes these discussions are so important for people with shared experience
It’s a complex condition (Fibromyalgia) and yet has connections to EDS and so many others. I believe many factors play their part and I would love to some day do some real digging into all possibilities. It has felt to me that doctors give these labels as a solution to all the questions, strange symptoms… they don’t know what it is so they give it a name but EDS, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, ME, and others have so many similarities and yet cannot be identified easily, its almost a process of elimination of well known illnesses, a catch-all it seems at times…
Ooh I look forward to listening to this!
It’s simply perfect!
What a special conversation this is. Thank you both so much. I actually started watching last week and had to take a pause to process hearing the experience of being a writer in a chronically ill body so generously shared. I watched from the start this evening and was heart struck again by the discussion of time and fragmentary living, and writing. It’s a powerful point of connection to hear someone speak of such a familiar but so often isolating reality 🙏💕
Thanks for listening Jamie!
Apologies for all the typos, it won’t let me edit my comment to correct them 😬😩🤣
You ask just the right questions Lilly.
Thank you Cathy