The Story Behind the Story with author Raymonde Savoie of Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.

 

Let’s welcome Raymonde to the Scribbler.

It is her first visit as our guest and we  are happy to share the SBTS of her novel.

Read on my friends.

 

 

Raymonde Stella Savoie was born in July of 1952 and grew up on the family farm in Saint-Maurice, New Brunswick. Surrounded by forests and streams, she learned the language of trees and wildflowers as a teenager, the skills of which were put to good use when she obtained her Plant Scientist Diploma later on in life.

An avid reader and journal keeper since the age of sixteen, Raymonde escaped into the written word whenever she could. This led to a fascination with her night dreams, which she also recorded faithfully. Growing an extensive repository of inner stories became second nature, initiating a search for self-knowledge. Thus, she found her own unique writing voice to provide an outlet for her discoveries.

Her first book Dreaming The Child Self Whole is the result of several years of those discoveries, both exhilarating and devastating, but all necessary for the growth Raymonde’s unconscious demanded through her dreams. She lives in Moncton, NB, and is now working on her second memoir, along with creating abstract art pieces and art journals to contain more recent dreams. 

 

 

Title: Dreaming the Child Self Whole

 

Synopsis: I’m not usually radical, so I guess writing this book has been the most radical action of my whole life. This memoir speaks for me because I couldn’t speak up whilst, at the age of six and seven, I was being sexually abused. Since then, my dreams have guided me on a sometimes crooked, sometimes straight, path toward finding peace and healing I could not have imagined at the time. This book is the culmination of years of journaling and dreams that kept me from unravelling at the seams.  

This memoir may speak for others who have undergone the same suffering and never told anyone about it, as I delayed telling for lack of courage, support and opportunity. May it be different for the reader!

May the girl and woman who reads this have the courage to reach out and seek help when she needs it. For she must realise and truly believe: she is not alone.

 

The Story Behind the Story: When I researched “healing from childhood abuse,” I found a number of brave souls who had written their story on how they had dealt with the devastating after-effects commonly suffered by abuse survivors. My journey thus far had been full of denial and addictions, but when it came down to my book’s subject, I knew from the start that it had to be about dreams, first and foremost, or else the whole project would be for naught.

My journey from being a hard, aggressive person to an empathic artist took eleven long years of alternatively fighting and accepting my dreams, labouriously journaling my childhood pain and transforming it all into the written words to which I hoped my readers would relate.  Judging from the multiple responses to my book, many women do relate, even if they have not gone through this exact experience. 

Dreams have always fascinated me and though I knew they were important when I started writing my story, I didn’t realise just how much until an earth-shattering revelation came from being able to understand the recurring dream that had haunted me all my life. This dream informed me of a psychological condition – a complex – that had been with me since the abuse, but of which I had been until then, totally unaware.  This momentous event catapulted me into deep research, deciphering my dreams, studying analytical and archetypal psychology, art therapy, and doing divination with feminine-based cards. With all my energy concentrated into one sphere of occupation, I endeavoured to write a book about my experience and understanding dreams as symbols of deep transformation. The book, and my dreams, changed my life, and healed me in profound, unconscious and positive ways, for which I am truly thankful.   

 

Website: Please go HERE.

 

 

A question before you go, Raymonde:

 

Scribbler: What is the ideal spot for you when you write your stories? Music in the background or quiet. Coffee or tequila? Messy or neat?

Raymonde: When I’m writing in my studio, I have the choice between a computer table, an art table or a journal table. I can sit at all three in one day to compose a story, work on a painting, or jot nots for a chapter. I find that moving around my studio gives me inspiration and helps change perspective on whatever I’m writing or working on at the time. It has to be early morning and quiet, with only the wild birds in my backyard for vocal company. No caffeine, just rooibos tea, and I have piles of books, notes and scribblers everywhere. So yes, my studio’s a bit messy. This is my world, my writing, art world.


An Excerpt from Dreaming the Child Self Whole, from Chapter 17.

I can put on a brave front when I want to. I’ve gotten good at the art of duplicity, being and feeling one thing on the inside while exhibiting a totally false façade on the outside. This is how I survive now. My unconscious twins thrive in this environment of make-believe and wishing and hoping, but their nefarious influence is slowly gnawing at my insincerity as a Ground Hog does at spring roots.

Unbeknownst to me consciously, I am going through a psychic shift as I sit every morning to write. Most of the time, I’m in a frenzy to get my message out. Words and sentences surge up from the depths, only slightly hinting at the still-unresolved anger buried there, but which I ignore steadfastly. I can’t afford to unleash anything volatile lest it come between Peter and I. My old friend denial holds back the flood, protecting my ego from the knowledge of not living my authentic self’s desires, and it sits there like a hardened cap on an old volcano. Then, at times, I find I can’t write a single word. Little by little, the purpose for my book – to tell my story – which originally got me started at this project in the first place has morphed into an obligation to fund our dream of building an earth house. The story I’m writing has taken on too many generalities, inclusive of others’ stories, which act as a blanket to suffocate my own. Or is it to obliterate it altogether?

Thank you, Raymonde, for being our guest this week. We wish you continued success with your writing.

And thanks to all out readers and visitors.

Please feel free to leave a comment and if you do – note that sometimes you may have to post your comment Anonymous and if so, please add your name in the comment box, after the comment so we will know who did it.