What Constitutes a Lie?
Every time I go to a book reading for memoir, the question of what’s “true” invariably surfaces in one form or another. It’s generally posed by another aspiring memoirist in the audience who wants to know how to handle their own struggle with memory, or desire or need to protect someone in their family, or [...]
Are you ready to call yourself an “author”?
Last year, before I finally wrote What’s Your Book?, all I knew was that I wanted to publish a book someday. I knew I had a book in me, but there were barriers. Time. A big one for me since I had a one-year-old and a full-time job at the time. The messages in my [...]
Go Ahead and Green-light Yourself
I had the great privilege to be at AWP this month, showcasing what Kamy Wicoff and I are doing at She Writes Press. And because we had another great privilege of being in what we nicknamed the “Woman Hood”—because our table neighbors were Hedgebrook, ARHO, VIDA, and Women’s Review of Books—we ended up talking a [...]
Your Outline, Your Friend
I’m in beautiful San Miguel de Allende this week at the San Miguel Writers’ Conference. We kicked off last night with a keynote by Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild. Read more here. This morning I presented one of the first workshops, whose focus was—surprise—outlining. Outlining is not only for left-brain thinkers, and it doesn’t have [...]
Why Practice Hurts So Good
On Christmas Eve I walked into my yoga studio with the sort of set determination I had around my writing practice back when I was trying to finish my book. I wasn’t super excited to be there, but it had been three weeks since I’d gone. I knew I needed to go back, and the [...]
Show Don’t Tell Is a Lie
Lately I’ve been working with a lot of writers who are stuck on “showing,” to the detriment of their work. It’s been an interesting turn of events, since for years at Seal Press the primary reason I rejected memoirs was for telling too much. In fact, most newbie writers struggle with telling–especially memoirists. I came [...]
5 Social Media Musts for Authors
1. Create a Facebook fan page and ask for likes. It’s never too early to create a fan page on Facebook, and you don’t have to be well-known. Everyone starts somewhere, so if you’ve been dragging your heels, do it today. Start building by asking everyone you know to like your page. Yes, it’s going [...]
Mastery
Earlier this month I had the privilege of seeing the Dave Matthews Band at Shoreline in Mountain View, California. The concert was as amazing as I’d anticipated it would be, but for a very specific reason: Dave Matthews surrounds himself with masters. He clearly knows and loves good music, and the solos he chooses to [...]
Memoir Categories
I pulled this list of memoir categories together for the memoir class I’m teaching with Linda Joy Myers. I’ve been sharing it with a few people who’ve found it fun to contemplate, so I’m sharing it here, too. I’d love to hear your additions or tweaks. Childhood, Adolescent, and Coming of Age Memoirs • [...]
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