Alison Gresik

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Excerpt

Lying in bed on my thirty-eighth birthday, listening to Shawn and the kids make breakfast for me, I am hit with full-force sadness at the loss of my old life.
Back in Ottawa, our birthday tradition was to get fresh scones and Devon cream from a nearby bakery and make lattes with our milk frother. I’d get a tray delivered to my bedroom, where I sat cozy on my pillow-top mattress under the silk quilt we bought in Beijing. I can taste the cold clotted cream on my lips, imagine slurping the sweet latte and ending up with a foamy moustache that makes the kids laugh. I can remember Shawn and I buying the deluxe mattress at a discount price and Lily helping me choose my quilt at the silk market.

We had such a comfortable life with such nice things. Why did I give it all away in exchange for this lumpy pillow, these cheap synthetic sheets that are bleeding dye onto my pyjamas, this sad approximation of a breakfast with its chicken sausage and unfrothed coffee?
What kind of birthday is this? None of my friends are here to take me out for a drink. My parents can’t visit to go for walks and order in Chinese food. I’m still bloody sick, and I hate the haircut I got in Grosse Pointe, and I’m tired of my own Pollyanna optimism that says everything is okay. Maybe this whole trip has been a wild goose chase after an idea of freedom that is just another form of deprivation. Maybe I’ve made a horrible mistake.

Bio

I'm a Canadian fiction writer who started in literary short stories and migrated to children's novels and memoir. I also coach writers and artists who are prone to depression and want to make their art a priority. My husband and I have two young kids and we recently moved to Vancouver, BC after a year of travel.

Publications

Read sample chapters from my memoir Pilgrimage of Desire here.
My short story "Broken Water" is published here.


Writing Goals

I am finishing my memoir, Pilgrimage of Desire.


Website

http://www.gresik.ca


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