HOW I BECAME INSPIRED TO WRITE THE NOVEL ISADORA & LUCIA

When I decided in my retirement to offer MMM classes they did not go well. It was hard to attract participants to something that was not understood. There was much competition in the small town where I now live. Many activities were offered to the public that are well known. By the time I arrived at summer school in 2010 at Chichester I felt defeated. That was my state when I came across a book on Lucia Joyce, daughter of James Joyce. It was a hard cover book with wonderful pictures including some lovely ones of Margaret Morris. I learned she had taught Lucia Joyce at one point in her thwarted career. That’s what I discovered reading the book. Instead of pursuing her muse she was compromised for the sake of her father’s writing career. My heart went out to her. I felt great empathy. I emailed the professor who had written the book saying I thought if Lucia had been allowed to continue with Margaret Morris, who served as a den mother to the young woman, she would not have ended up in an asylum for most of her adult life. Lucia could have been successful as a teacher of little children. My imagination filled in an alternative life for her.

So being a writer as well as an amateur dancer, I started to construct a novel. For years I wrote and had my work edited but failed to find a publisher. Then I learned that the professor whose book had inspired me had been sued by the grandson of James Joyce because he didn’t like how she had portrayed his family. Yikes! Had I wasted my time? I felt like that young woman with a thwarted career in dance and writing. Fortunately things have changed. The estate can no longer sue because the works are now in the public domain.

My decision to publish my novel as an ebook was based on my thwarted career as a dance teacher and novelist. We are all products of our time. Ebook publication is a cheaper route than print. It is available worldwide so can reach dancers who are also readers everywhere.