Delve Writing
  • Home
    • About Us
    • Recordings
  • Prior Bootcamps
    • Write and Sell for Magazines
    • I Got a Send It Bootcamp
    • Say It Like a Pro Bootcamp
    • Scrivener with Patrick Hester
  • Contact Us

AT THE BORDER WITHOUT A PASSPORT

8/22/2013

9 Comments

 
Picture
You may think "at the border without a passport" is a cute new way of saying "up the creek without a paddle" or "all dressed up and no place to go," but you'd be wrong. 

Last week I was actually at the Canadian border, trying to cross without a valid passport. 

Now that I think of it, that is the same thing as being up the creek without a paddle and all dressed up with no place to go.

"How could you have gotten yourself into that unfortunate situation, and what does it have to do with writing?" you may be asking.  Or you may be pointing at me and laughing while screeching, "You idiot!" (in which case you would not be alone).

Given those two scenarios, I'm going to choose to believe you are not ridiculing me and calling me names, and I'll tell you the story of how this unfortunate situation came to be.  And how it relates to writing.  Which it does.  I promise.

Picture
Once upon a time there was a writer who was also a very busy mom with two children preparing to go to school abroad.  In recent weeks this writer-mom spent very little time writing and a whole lot of time ushering her children through the red tape of preparing to live in foreign countries, namely procuring the necessary legal travel documents.

"Make sure you have your passport!  You'd better apply for your student visa right now!  Has that residence permit come through yet?" she could be heard yelling far and wide.  (It was easy to hear her since there was absolutely no sound of tap, tap, tapping of fingers on keyboard to mask her voice.)

She managed to get one son safely off to Sweden, complete with a nearly-impossible-to-obtain residence permit, and was on her way to deposit her second son at his university of choice in Canada, when the unthinkable occurred.  While idling in the one-way, there's-no-way-to-exit line at the Peace Arch border crossing, she took out her own passport only to find it had expired.  Three months ago.  And there's no grace period. 

Back in the pre-9/11 days, this wouldn't have been a problem.  But now?  Problem.  Big problem.

In a little aside I'll tell you that this writer-mom is known to her friends and relatives as "the prepared one" (or behind her back: "the over-prepared one").  She's always got a safety pin handy, magically produces an aspirin just when you need it, and can provide a resource, reference, map or guide to anything at the drop of a hat.  Her critique group calls her "Kanga" because it's like she always has a big pouch full of all the things you might need in any given circumstance, no matter how unexpected said circumstance might be.

Picture
So how, you may be wondering, could Miss Kanga have gotten herself in such a fix at the border?  It's not like the trip was unexpected.  It's not like she hadn't spent the last two months up to her neck in red tape of the entering-a-foreign-country variety. 

The how is actually very simple:
It happened because I was so focused on what everyone else needed, I neglected to make sure I had what I needed. 
I mean She.  Kanga.  The writer-mom.

The how of how this relates to writing is three-fold:

1.  I neglect my writing because I'm so focused on taking care of other people and obligations.  (Too obvious?)

2.  Similarly I focus on developing my secondary characters to the neglect of my protagonist.  And like me, my protagonist and my writing suffer as a result.  (Not as obvious?)

3.  I need to scrap the idea I had for a short story about an American citizen getting turned away at the Canadian border due to an expired passport.  Because it wouldn't be credible. 
(Did you see that one coming?)

Picture
Yes, I crossed that border with the well-wishes of not one but two Canadian border patrol officers who either didn't notice or didn't care that my passport had expired.  No one was more surprised than me.  I'm soooo glad I did not attempt to sneak across by hiding in the back of the car amidst my son's luggage.  I think having to face my sons with an expired passport --after having berated them loudly and endlessly about their travel documents-- is humiliation enough, thank you.

Although a mom smuggling herself across the border in her son's dorm-bound luggage might make a better short story....

9 Comments
Donna Kunkel
8/22/2013 12:52:26 am

always the little things that bite you in the ass

Reply
Aaron Brown
8/22/2013 01:37:47 am

Wow, Kanga, that is a truly shocking confession, but the lessons learned seem very worthwhile. I look forward to seeing what happens as you place you (and your protagonist) a little more front-and-center. :)

Reply
Martha Lancaster link
8/22/2013 02:32:48 am

That's a great story and so like you. I know how organized you are, since we worked together for so many years at PPW/C. I am readying myself for overseas travel, too. I will check and triple check my passport to be sure I'm ready. But I'm still editing, so I won't let my preparations get in the way of my writing.

Reply
MB Partlow link
8/25/2013 11:19:59 pm

There would have to be a #4 for me. I grew up on the Canadian border of NY, and I grew up crossing into Canada without needing any passport. In fact, Canada was the closest place to us to get Chinese food, strange as that sounds. But over the years, I've come to realize that most of the border crossing guards are very, very nice people, as long as you're not a male with long hair driving a cargo van. :)

Reply
Julia and PJ- The Canuck Pup
8/26/2013 12:55:52 am

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

If it helps at all, when I went to pick up PJ after over preparing by getting my passport almost a year in advance- I didn't think I'd have to wait 16 months for him to show up- I got Grilled at the border and was almost turned away. The border guard didn't believe that I had driven from DC to Toronto to pick up a puppy mutt during a blizzard and found my brand new passport suspicious!

Next time, I'm going to do it your way.

Reply
Chris Mandeville
8/26/2013 01:28:50 am

Thanks for all the supportive comments! This experience was truly humiliating to share, but I'm glad I did. I'm definitely going to take the lessons to heart and adjust my focus. This intention is written on a notecard in bright red Sharpie and tucked front-and-center in my pouch.

Reply
Jason P. Henry link
8/26/2013 02:48:43 am

Okay.... you got there! (To the writing relevance as well as Canada!)
Completely relate to putting off writing due to others needs. I spent many years ignoring my own dreams to do for others. Biggest mistake a person can make is neglecting themselves for any reason.

Reply
Jennifer Lovett Herbranson link
9/7/2013 08:38:12 am

It's hard as a momma and wife to do something that doesn't pay, at least for me it is since I've always been a co-breadwinner. Now, it's mom guilt because I'm not helping out at school as much or whatever. It's been an interesting two years of carousel emotions, and I realize that the only way to truly make money writing is to finish the darn project and probably lower expectations. Still tough though.

Reply
Eugene link
5/8/2019 04:45:12 pm

Easy solution is to bring the passport ;)

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Chris Mandeville is the president of Delve Writing and a writer of "new adult" novels and a non-fiction project for writers. 

    This is the chronicle of her journey to define and achieve her writing goals.

    Archives

    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

  • Home
    • About Us
    • Recordings
  • Prior Bootcamps
    • Write and Sell for Magazines
    • I Got a Send It Bootcamp
    • Say It Like a Pro Bootcamp
    • Scrivener with Patrick Hester
  • Contact Us