Life in the Camel Lane: Embrace the Adventure by Doreen M. Cumberford

Category: Adult Non-Fiction (18 +), 288 pages

Genre: Memoir

Publisher: White Heather Press

Release date: April, 2020

Synopsis

Life in the Camel Lane: Embrace the Adventure is what Doreen Cumberford, a Scottish author, calls her learnoire! It is a combination of her story and the stories of other expats learned while living in Saudi Arabia for 15 years as expat employees or spouses. The book takes the reader through the four stages of culture shock: arrival, honeymoon, frustration, and adjustment stages to final acceptance followed by the return journey back to their home country – mostly the USA. From Saudi weddings to falconry, to the inability of women to drive at that time, the book seeks to familiarize us with the Saudi culture, lifestyle, and deep traditions of hospitality, generosity, and tolerance from an insider’s perspective. There are also chapters on the experiences of 9/11 in the terrorists’ home country and the “Terror Years” of internal terror tactics from inside Saudi Arabia designed to drive the expats out of the country and destroy the Saudi government. Full of examples, stories and compelling honesty the author describes their most challenging journey, and many of the lessons learned in the process together. Designed to provide useful insights and inspiration to anyone considering living abroad, Life in the Camel Lane shines the light on the subject of building a new identity and home while abroad, and the difficulties of the journey home.

Interview

Today we are able to sit down and share some insights from Doreen on her writing and other things. I hope you learn a little something about her as I have.

What is your next project?

My next project is “Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy Jig….A Guidebook to Returning Home Well After Living Overseas”

For people who have never moved overseas and then returned home, this book might seem redundant.  After all what is there to be done other than packing, putting your body on an airplane and disembarking at the destination – right? – sorry wrong answer!

In this case reality is so far from the truth that we might as well start by speaking another planetary language.  The subject of Repatriation is wide and deep.  A variety of people are affected by international moves, including, but not limited to, the military, State Department employees, Non-Government Organizations, Charities, Corporations, Peace Corps, Global Nomads and location-independent populations.

Home Again, Home Again will be a combination of stories of people who have moved home and suffered through the challenges of Re-entry, and is designed to give people a coping system by which to manage the process and recreate a new adventure back home.

This book will contain exercises, questions and processes by which Returnees can process their overseas experience and ultimately build happier transitions.  The longing to reverse course and move back overseas to what had become familiar and natural is common.

My purpose in creating this work is to document my stories and the stories of others who have walked this path and unveiled the hidden gems along the way.  It’s also my heart’s strongest desire to support this community during these transitions with love and grace.

What genre do you write and why?

I write non-fiction, through the lens of travel and self-development. I find this intersection very stimulating; it’s firmly affixed within my soul as a result of my life story living in eight countries on four continents for the last four decades.

I like to mix persuasive, descriptive and narrative writings to motivate, educate and inspire people to take action and conquer their struggles.  Fuzzy personal growth concepts can be mixed in with specific and definitive actions which use both sides of the brain and helps deliver balanced ideas and activities.

This field gives me the opportunity to write about living, working and learning across different cultures.  I can cover everything from culture shock to arriving and settling well into a home.

I love the constant variety and possibilities that reside in this seemingly narrow niche!

Do you ever get writer’s block? what helps overcome it?

Oh yes baby!  I have three remedies for writer’s block.

I am a huge believer in movement, both physically and emotionally.   One of the best ways for me to jump-start my thinking and there my writing is to physically go somewhere.   I can be bicycling, walking, hiking, paddle-boarding or playing pickleball and I think much more clearly during and after the activity.

I am obviously a big believer in travel.   Be it by ship, airplane, car, or my personal favorite – train.

Growing up in Scotland I started traveling by train as a little girl.  My Mum would take me on a real steam engine (1960’s) to see my grandma every Monday down in Dumbarton.   I remember the pulsing pure excitement as I held her hand and walked down the Queen Street Station in Glasgow.  The great iron horse of a train would be belching, blasting, and erupting steam.   I would be terrified, until we boarded the train and set off.

A change of environment, an external stimulant or a piece of music, all of these can work to jog our memories and our brains which helps with writing.

On a Friday morning, I am to be found in a speed writing group with women from all over Europe.   I love this group.   The different voices, vocabulary and turns of phrase really help me get in touch with the English language on a differing frequency.  Keeping our vocabulary tuned up and growing really helps us as writers to capture the ideas and concepts we would love to convey.

Finally, running water.   Sitting by a river, lake or stream – in fact any body of water, instantly helps me get into a better gear in life.  I do believe in the concept of flow.   Here’s a recipe, if you are at home, feeling jaded just run some water over some misshapen objects in the sink.  Next, close your eyes and let your mind drift….I bet something will happen, if nothing else you will get to laugh at yourself and laughter is also a terrific energy booster.

Here’s to your success in overcoming writer’s or any other block you might have.

If you could ask one successful author three questions about their writing, writing process, or books, what would they be?

One of my dreams is to sit down and have an afternoon tea party with J. K. Rowling.

Growing up in Scotland I can clearly see the threads of culture, language and imagination that tied together J. K. Rowling’s books.  I have ridden real steam engine trains, spent time in Victorian railway stations, and so many time walked the streets of Edinburgh as she did.  But I have never sat down with a very famous live author to have a conversation, and I believe that Rowling and I would have much to chat about.

I have drunk tea in The Elephant House in Edinburgh, now famous because Rowling wrote there frequently.  The café itself is a bit nondescript from the outside, but inside it’s like being on a scavenger hunt for Rowling and her thought process.

Like thousands of cafes in Scotland, The Elephant House serves the usual fare of sturdy breakfasts, amazing cakes and several authors like Alexander McCall Smith all found solace in this place.   I am a big believer in how place affects writing and, naturally, like the thousands of other authors who have sat in that atmosphere, I wondered if I could possibly channel such brilliance.

Edinburgh can be a “dreich”, meaning dull or dreadfully gloomy and usually associated with rain tipping down.  I imagine that Rowling sat there for many a day tenaciously writing, building images, concepts and even yes, magic into her books for hours.

I would ask her how she held onto her vision for all those years.   She shopped her book around to twelve publishers and suffered dissuasion, discouragement and I am betting some distraction along the way.   Yet, she is the very epitome of a real author who held onto her dream, lived fully into her vision and ultimately triumphed.

How does the writing process work for you? Do you schedule a time every day, work madly when inspiration hits or something else?

I meet with a group of other writers twice a week, at 6:00 a.m. in the morning on Mondays and Thursdays.   Believe me, it’s sometimes a chore and I have been known to skip on cold Colorado winter mornings, but generally, for the last five years, you will find me on a Zoom call with fellow authors twice a week.

Currently, my most favorite writing time is on a Friday morning with I meet with my speed writing group.  This group is a very disparate group of women.  We are differing nationalities:  one gal is Singaporean but lives in DC, one gal is English and lives in the Netherlands, one gal lives on the Isle of Man, another gal is French living in Germany and I am Scottish living in Colorado.

We choose really simple prompts, write for ten minutes then listen and offer praise.  The turn of phrase, together with the wild and visceral writing complete with a vocabulary that could fill several dictionaries emerges through these women’s voices.   I hear language and content in an environment that I could never recreate here in Colorado.

This is my most favorite and fun writing every single week.

As an author – what do you enjoy most about the writing process? What feels like a chore?

I enjoy the moments of inspiration. When that idea lands and seems to explode with energy and delight – that’s my favorite moment in the writing process.  I do also enjoy the excuse to sit by a stream, a river, a lake – or pretty much any body of water, with a purpose.  Flowing water helps my words flow onto a page.

My least favorite is the tedious part of editing, then re-editing and the process of moving large pieces of text around.  I find that I lose my place when moving pieces of text and large swaths of writing and I need the help of a terrific editor to partner with me on those tasks.

When not writing, what do you most like to do to relax? Any favorite books you enjoy curling up with?

Here’s the short answer:   house and petsitting!

Here’s the long answer:  my hobbies are dependent on where I am in the world.

Because I am a globally mobile writer, my writing frequently has taken a backseat to the travel.  I am now managing to find my lane more frequently and easily while I am on the road.  Writing about travel while on the road makes my writing more visceral and brings it more present.  In the last year I have spent a month in each of six countries, then seven months in Mexico, four of them stranded by the Covid-19 pandemic.

This time last year we were living in a five-story townhouse in the north of Brussels, Belgium.  Near the Royal palace and parks and close to the Atomium, we were caring for Patci, whose family were on vacation in Peru.   Patci, is an enormous Australian shepherd puppy who at eight months old was over 70 pounds packed with energy and enthusiasm for life.

We spent hours in the Royal park, meeting other dog owners, struggling to communicate in their language of choice.  French, German and Dutch are the official languages of Belgium, while normal day-to-day business is conducted in French and Flemish.   Most locals speak some English, many are fluent, the dog owners who frequented the park were eclectic and represented many nationalities, lifestyles, and cultures.

Since my husband retired, we have added international pet and housesitting to our activities and have just returned from more than a year away.   Is it a hobby?  Yes! But it’s also a new lifestyle which both of us thoroughly enjoy.

Since writing is a relatively still pastime for the body, I find balance is best created by both sitting still and thinking, inter-mingled with plenty of movement.   My thoughts, ideas and inspiration come from not only moving my body through exercise but also by transporting it somewhere by bus, train, plane, car or boat.  Leaving, arriving and departing contain terrific life lessons in leadership and culture which we can apply anywhere we find ourselves.

My home base is Colorado, in the US and while home I love to play pickleball, hike, bike, and my new personal passion is now time spent paddleboarding.  Just a few days ago I managed to sustain two different yoga poses on my paddleboard, that’s a huge personal milestone for me!

Since my lifestyle is frequently portable or nomadic, I need to have activities that are also portable.   Since my feet carry me everywhere, I make it a priority whether in Scotland or Mexico, to take the time into every week to walk, hike, or just generally explore.

We make a concerted effort to build some exploration into every week.  This practice seems to widen our ideas and contributes to keeping me feel like life is an adventure, not a chore.

About the Author

Doreen Cumberford is a Scottish expat author who has been a global traveler for more than four decades. In her 20s Doreen left her home in Scotland and drove down to London to become a member of Her Majesty’s Diplomatic Service, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Her first posting was as the youngest and most junior British Embassy staffer in Cameroon, West Africa. Later she moved back to London and took a position with an American oil-field construction company based in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. After moving to America, living in Louisiana then California, two extremely different cultures in the USofA, Doreen and family moved overseas to Japan then spent the following 15 years in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. With 13 major moves under her belt, she understands the value of moving, building a new life, and handling inter-cultural hurdles. One constant has been her ability to explore through the lens of adventure. Her stories are full of multi-cultural intelligence, messy multilingual communications, and multi-global perspectives. Doreen is currently based on Denver, Colorado although spends most of the year living adventurously in the Housesitting Lane, which takes her around the globe.

Currently, she is doing her best to install Spanish in her brain which previously had French and smatterings of Japanese and Arabic. She is passionate about cultural intelligence, global heartedness, and life on the road. Featured in the Anthology: Empowering Women, and a co-author in 2018 of Arriving Well: Stories About Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering Home After Living Abroad. 2020 sees the publication of Life in the Camel Lane: Embrace the Adventure. Honest, compassionate, full of wisdom and inspiration, Life in the Camel Lane comprises stories mostly from women and men who lived in Saudi Arabia from the 1950s onward. This memoir contains expert advice sage wisdom and stories that all globally mobile families can use to navigate their international journey. The principles in this book will also encourage anyone who is embracing a more adventurous life, or considering taking the leap to move overseas.

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