I was introduced to writer, Kiesa Kay through my divorce attorney who also happened to be hers. I knew from my attorney that Kiesa had had a difficult divorce – hers has become part of Colorado case law and there will be women, and men, who will thank her in the future. However, that’s not what Kiesa counts among her significant accomplishments. Those would be the play she’s writing about Camille Claudel and a children’s book, Princess Gilanee.
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My best friend, Robin Carrington, was dying of melanoma. She’d typed up about 25 pages of a book – it was called Princess Gilanee and it was stories she had collected. She said ‘I wanted my children and grandchildren to have these stories. Will you finish this book for me?’ And she handed me the book. I was devastated. It was literally her dying wish.
So I had this book and her notes and I carried it around with me not knowing what to do. Then I started working with a group of children in a program called the Forest Children. It’s a group of rural Appalachian children in North Carolina. I thought, wait, I’m working with children – who better to know what would go to a child’s heart than a child?
I sat down with the children and I asked them to each take over one of the roles Robin hadn’t finished – the earth people, the air people, the water people, the fire people – and to write up details of who these people were. To draw for me. When there were group interactions, like the earth people interacting with the air people, I had the kids stand up and act out what was going to happen. I wrote down everything they said and compiled it into this book, Princess Gilanee.
The children absolutely loved it. They had such a good time with it. They enjoyed the role-playing and drawing. For me, it meant so much more than just sitting and writing it myself. It made it come more to life. And the proof is in the pudding. When I gave the book to Robin’s daughters, they felt that it was true.
At first it was difficult for me to do because of the emotional impact – realizing that Robin wasn’t physically there to tell me how to do it. I really wished she could have done it herself.
She was a very forceful woman with a lot of strong beliefs about empowering other people. She was a writer but she never had time to write. And it was one of her unmet wishes to finish this book. Knowing that, I founded a writer’s retreat – Oleander Cottage – it’s in France about 20 miles from Toulouse.
I remember when she was dying and I went to France for a short visit. I came back and she was much more ill than she had been. While my friends would say ‘let me get you caught up on this and that,’ Robin would say, ‘tell me what you’ve done. I want to live vicariously.’ And I told her where I’d been and the different places I’d seen and which one would be best for the cottage.
It’s a place where people who want to write can go and finish their books. To have time. I had a project I’d worked on for 10 years and I finished there in a month. It really is in a place where a peaceful feeling descends on us all and excellent writing happens. I truly believe if Robin had had two months with nothing else to do, she would have finished her book herself.
The Divorce Coach Says
What Kiesa’s story tells me, is what we regard as a significiant accomplishment, doesn’t always mean something we’ve never done before. Kiesa is a writer – she’s written all her life so Princess Gilanee wasn’t about a new skill. And Princess Gilanee may have been a project for Kiesa whether she was divorced or not. What’s important is that it is a milestone to Kiesa and it’s important that each of us take a few moments and give ourselves credit for those miletones…. Come back and visit tomorrow to hear about Kiesa and Camille Claudel.
Kiesa has written several books on high IQ children and is also a Kansas distinguished poet. She recently shared two of her poems in a guest post here. Copies of Princess Gilanee are available by sending a $10 donation to Forest Children Program, c/o Kiesa Kay, P.O. Box 545, Micaville, NC 28755.
You can find out more about Oleander Cottage at Kiesa’s website.