I’m All For Truth

What I Deeply Believe In

Even after 11 years of living in Pittsburgh as an uprooted American from Israel, I still struggle with Reverse Culture Shock or RCS, which is an emotional illness coupled with high levels of involuntary stress.

My new upcoming memoir (2020) Sand and Steel: A Memoir of Longing and Finding Home explores the idea of transforming our longing into belonging.

Our unsatisfied longing is not unique to people who long for a place; it exists after death or divorce or separation from loved ones, too. This kind of longing is about a desire to be connected to someplace or something when you cannot. This kind of longing is about deep loss.

These feelings get especially exacerbated because of social media – which can leave us wishing, hoping, yearning for what we don’t have. When I go on Facebook, I see images of Israel that only amplify what I can’t have.

I believe people who have had to straddle two different cultures, mentalities, languages, and histories are fiercely protective. I believe in the power of determination and motivation to redefine one’s identity, vision, and values. 

My definition of home is constantly in flux depending on where my heart is – some days I feel I belong in Israel. Other days, I’m trying to figure out what it means to live “the American dream.” I can cry in a moment, as emotions are full within me, but what I’m really after is telling a heartfelt story with cross-cultural connections.

I believe we all crave the feeling of being “special” even though those “center-stage moments” weren’t always a fit for our souls. We are all-stars, but we don’t always have to stand in the spotlight. Sometimes we shine brightest offstage. I believe that each of us experiences a calling to be true to ourselves and not to follow the majority rule or herd instinct even though that is often very hard to do.

Finding My Home in Memoir and Beyond

For eleven years now, since reverse immigrating back to the States from Israel, where I lived for eighteen years, I’ve had to figure out creative ways of dealing with the loss of giving up a country I loved and dealing with  Reverse Culture Shock – the psychological, emotional and cultural aspects of returning home.  My second memoir Sand and Steel: A Memoir of Longing and Finding Home is a work I’m living as I’m writing it. Often my longing to be back in Israel is so strong that it threatens to consume me. A memoir is a perfect genre to give voice to my truth and to the rawest of feelings as I experience them in real-time.

Despite these intense longings, I continue building Jewish Pittsburgh roots as a freelance writer and SEO analyst/strategist.

My writing matters first and foremost for myself as an artist raising two creative young impressionable souls. But I cannot underestimate the value of connecting with a target market in the marketplace. After all, to create is to connect.  Whether I am blogging or writing SEO copy for a client, my biggest priority is nurturing authentic connections and conversions.

How I Got to Writing Memoir

For years writing took me down the academic path. Like teaching, I took the familiar route. I wrote books on teacher collaboration for English language learners that were contracted with Rowman and Littlefield. I deeply craved another genre, but I was scared.

I remembered the words of a former writing instructor in 2007 in Pittsburgh: Dorit, only you have seen and witnessed things that you can write. I didn’t think anyone really cared enough to read a story about serving in the Israel Defense Forces. When I discovered memoir in 2011, it suddenly felt like a vintage piece – warm, cozy and real –  something you’d find in your grandparents’ home.

However, it felt terribly vulnerable to expose my Israel self from this space in mainstream America, but those early drafts helped with developing my courage muscle. The Memoir is the fine art between straddling your truth and allowing yourself to be seen. The fear, shame, and rejection over leaving our kibbutz in 2007 for unknown America were still there, but instead of writing about the pain of leaving, I wrote about the Israel home I fell in love with back in 1990. To do this successfully, I took online memoir writing courses and devoured memoir. Starting in 2012, I spent hundreds of hours listening to Hebrew songs I would sing in the Israel Defense Forces on Youtube. I crafted character sketches of the other foreign recruits who served alongside me in the form of vignettes and shared these in a small safe online group. And I started blogging about the experience. These stories are infused in everything I share in my first award-winning memoir Accidental Soldier: A Memoir of Service and Sacrifice in the Israel Defense Forces.

Background and Experience

Spending twenty years as a teacher of EFL/ESL students both in Israel and Pittsburgh, I learned that you can’t assume anything in terms of the students’ background knowledge, skills and abilities. That is how I approach my writing, carefully unpacking for my readers what they need to know in order to deeply connect with my characters and stories.

Initiating my own self-study for bestselling memoirists Cheryl Strayed of Wild taught me the importance of using fictional elements when telling your truth. The excerpts I use in memoir writing classes I teach, help model for students that there are so many ways to tell a story, but connecting with your readers is key. This is why it’s so important to view yourself as a character, the “she/he” of your story.

The same principle applies to my work doing SEO freelance writing client projects. Each client is a character, a “she” or “he.” Until I do the right amount of background knowledge, competitive research, target profiling, I can’t do justice to the project.

And Finally Me…

Having come full circle my home is a very important place and I enjoy spending time there. You love your family, your hearth, and a cupboard full of goodies to feed those in need. My sensitivity extends to other people’s feelings as well as your own. I feel nurtured by my home, my family, and my money in the bank for a rainy day. My home gives a feeling of comfort and security. I have a deep desire to be true to myself and not to follow the majority rule or herd instinct. This is why when people flock around SEO, I calmly remind myself that SEO is NOT writing for Google. It’s much more than that. It’s a deep connection. And storytelling is a big part of that endeavor.

I care deeply about humanity and humanitarian ideals, and I often need to risk disapproval from others to develop a more satisfying feeling of self-approval. Thank goodness I am blessed with a keen intellect and the ability to see things differently. In this way, I have a lot to offer the world.

And by the way, if you’re reading this – Dani Shapiro, I would just love to sit with you on one of your book tours and pick your brain on memoir writing. The same goes for Jhumpa Lahiri whose cultural journey mimics that of my own. Your worldly writing culture deeply excites me.

BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE

As the digital world of the Internet grew, I realized that I didn’t have to write only about subjects I loved like literature which fueled the drive towards my MA in English. Through the power of the written word, I discovered I could also help the business grow with marketable skills I started learning as a freelance writer. In 2014, I started writing short-form blog posts for Huffington Post about subjects that once intimidated me like marketing, business, and e-commerce.

I became a member of the Editorial Freelance Association and attended monthly chapter meetings in Pittsburgh. Focused on increasing my earning power, I added SEO to my toolbox as a freelance writer and got a temporary gig optimizing company product pages. It was at this time, I discovered that web writing was much more than writing for Google. As a Pittsburgh based freelance writer trying to find my home, I also discovered a writerly home in SEO.

In May 2018, I self-funded my certification towards SEO copywriting through the SEO Content Institute.  As of January 2019, I am a certified SEO Copywriter!

I used to be intimidated by SEO. I used to think it was only meant for nerdy technical people. But the more I learned more about SEO copywriting, the easier it was to convince myself about what it means to connect. Each keyword represents an opportunity to nurture a local and perhaps even a global connection. Each number fuels my desire to write for that audience. Suddenly, I was back in my target audience’s shoes: what WAS keeping them up at night? The more questions I asked, the longer my keyword and content ideas became.

Click here to view my writing portfolio!

Invite Dorit to Speak

Whether it’s a personal mentoring session or a keynote address, Dorit will share her inspiring story and motivate you to give a voice to your own story.