If I am forced to use just one word
to describe the publishing world in 2009, that word has to be CHANGE. And as
soon as I’ve uttered it, I’m going to cry foul and demand a second word. What
would my second word be? I’m sure you guessed it, EBOOK.
If you doubt me, then imagine what Rip Van
Winkle would find upon waking from his 20-year nap. He falls asleep in
1989…probably waiting for his acoustic modem to connect to CompuServe. He
awakes to a world of iPods, iPhones, and Kindles. It’s a world where bookstores
in the United States are shuttering their doors at a rate of about 400 a year
(according to Grant Thorton LLC’s August report on retail, and that number is
up 500 percent from 2008). A world of print on demand, Amazon.com, and
ebooks…thousands and thousands of ebooks and millions of downloads.
I love stats for their ability to
give a quick view of trends. Here are a few I've corralled for you:
3 million smartphone ebook application users
(according to Flurry.com book apps overtook game downloads in September)
700,000 is the number of
ebooks offered through Barnes & Noble’s new eBookstore (they expect the
number to surpass 1 million in 2010)
3.6 percent is the amount
book sales are UP for the year 2009 (so far, according to the Association of American Publishers); we hear so much bad news about
book sales, it’s nice to report some good news.
Join Us in a Discussion on Getting Published
Change and ebooks are big
topics in any conversation about publishing…and now a word from our sponsor.
Austin, Texas, is the place to be this February 5-7, 2010, when Story Circle
Network hosts its Fifth National Women’s Memoir Conference: Stories from the
Heart V. You can follow the link to the conference program. This is going to
be an exciting conference, filled with hands-on workshops, interesting
speakers, and excellent networking opportunities.
Specifically, I want to draw your attention to the publishing panel discussion on Saturday from 11:00 a.m. until 12:30 p.m., moderated by Helen Ginger, who in addition to her editorial and marketing services writes one of my favorite blogs, "Straight From Hel." The panelists include my co-author and business partner Matilda Butler, author Susan J. Tweit (whose "Walking Nature Home" also ranks among my favorite blogs), poet and lover of all things western Laurie Wagner Buyer, award-winning journalist Linda Wisniewski, and me. I expect this will be a lively discussion. By my quick count, the six of us have written more than 30 books (and we've all published memoirs), so I think it's fair to say that we have a few stories, and probably even several war wounds, to share.
Do You Have Questions?
With so much going on in the
publishing industry, I’m sure you must have questions. So why don’t you share
your questions in the form of comments appended to this post. Helen has asked
her panelists to suggest topics for our discussion. I thought it would be
useful to open that request to all of you.
One More Word
I have one more word that I have to
use when describing the publishing industry in 2009. But to learn what that is,
you must follow this link to my post over on Women’s Memoirs.
One of the most basic issues in writing is how to tell the story: where to start, where to end, what voice or voices to use, what to include, and at least as important, what to leave out. Perhaps it's obvious, but sometimes we forget that any one story can be told in many ways with many different results. Which way you choose depends in part on what your aim is, as well as on the audience you're speaking to. Knowing how to tell a story involves enough introspection to know what the story says,its underlying meaning. (Sometimes we only learn the underlying meaning by writing out the details of the story and then letting it sit a while--I call this letting it compost--and reading it anew to see what it has to say.)
Here's an example of telling one story--in this case, a life-story, part of my ongoing project to write memoir about my life as it happens--in two different ways for two different audiences. The first version, "A Tale of Two Hospitals," is on my blog at http://tinyurl.com/ybkbmet. Read that first, and then read the version below, which appeared in my weekly newspaper column as "Thanksgiving Is For Giving Thanks."
One unseasonably lovely November afternoon a few weeks ago, my husband, Richard and I drove over the mountains to Denver. We left on time for once, the weather and traffic cooperated, and we arrived in the Metro Area before rush hour got crazy.
I should have known things were going too smoothly.
We had planned to bring dinner to my parents, who live near the city. But when we arrived at their senior community, we learned that my mom been taken to a nearby hospital, with my dad accompanying her.
We drove straight there, and found my mother in a room off the busy ER, looking tiny under a mound of blankets and attached to a plethora of tubes and wires and monitors. She was sitting up though, and devouring her hospital dinner.
Turns out that the sore throat she had reported when I called the previous weekend had been the beginnings of pneumonia. Hence the antibiotics dripping into her veins from one bag and the saline solution from another, plus oxygen chuffing into her nose, and electrodes attached to her chest to monitor her heartbeat.
Now that she was stable, she was slated to be transferred to a regular room. So we drove my dad back to their apartment and fed him dinner.
By that time, Richard and I had almost forgotten why we ventured the long drive to Denver in the first place--almost. Our destination was another hospital, where Richard was scheduled to meet with Oncology to learn what's next in the journey that began with him hallucinating birds more than two months ago and continues through treatment for brain cancer.
By the time we left the city the next afternoon, headed back home over the mountains, my mother had improved so much that she hoped to be discharged from the hospital the next day. And we had conferred with Richard's oncologist, who explained that his tumor, a Grade 3 Astrocytoma for those who track these things, is serious enough that they want to treat it aggressively.
That means radiation to start, accompanied by chemotherapy to enhance the cell-killing effect, and then a course of chemo by itself.
That's where Thanksgiving comes in: Our two-hospital trip reminded me of why I give thanks. Not just on Thanksgiving, or just for the turkey, no matter how delicious it and the trimmings might be.
No, what I give thanks for on this holiday and every day is not stuff--nor the chance to stuff myself with food, nor money, power, or prestige.
My giving-thanks list is short, comprised of the essentials that I believe are worth more than any things or money: Sharing my days with Richard, my mother's recovery, being part of a far-flung-in-distance but close-in-heart community of family and friends, the gift of practicing our art and writing, and of being able to live in a generous and sustainable way in a place we love.
Those blessings are what make every day Thanksgiving for me.
Notice that both versions begin with almost the same words, and tell the same story. But the blog version, besides being longer, includes more details of the actual events. It's memoir-in-the-making: here's what's happening, and how it affects my life, plus a bit of the lessons I take from it. The newspaper column version gives an abbreviated version of the events, and then teases out a connection to Thanksgiving (the week the column will run). It's an opinion piece, not a news piece, but it's actually less personal than the blog post, with a tie-in to a more universal meaning. Essentially, it says, "This is what has happened in my life, and it reminds me of things we can all think about and learn from." Both versions are memoir, both tell the same story from my life; where they differ is in the voice and interpretation.
Here's an exercise to practice with your writing: take a story you've been working on. Write it out, and then go back and write it a different way: choose a different beginning, a different voice, add musings about what it means.... Then compare the two versions, read critically, and see what each has to tell you!
We want to do good and help
our sister writers. We join groups to do just that. When like minds come
together with the same purpose—intent on trust, kindness, and truth—everyone
benefits. How do critique groups produce virtuous rather than vicious circles?
Doing Good
·A good match between writer and
group encourages writing.
·Thoughtful critique makes work
stronger.
·Beyond the individual piece by the
individual writer critique offers the entire group lessons in effective writing.
What is good writing? How do we do it? How do we communicate beyond ourselves? Discerning
critique opens our eyes to new ways of thinking and confirms what we’ve already
intuited or believed.
Who are you as a group?
Know what kind of group you
are. Here are a few possibilities.
1)Witnessing—Story Circles “encourage
and facilitate story-sharing” without analysis or correction. Susan Albert in “Writing From Life: Telling Your Soul's
Story,” says: We are mutual presences, simply, and in that attentive
being-with, that delicate, careful listening, we help one another bring
forth—ourselves." (p.12)
2)Listening Back is a term
I coined as an alternative to “feedback”. How can you be useful and specific in
your comments while creating a cozy, supportive environment? Clive Matson’s
“syngenetic workshop” (having the same origin) illustrates a version of listening
back.
Clive’s Crazy Child process
is based on the writing itself. Group members take notes on the piece they’re
hearing and reading in order to repeat memorable lines exactly; clearly and
positively they say why these work. The author also takes notes and speaks only
at the end. (Clive’s complete process is on Pp. 16-17 “Let the Crazy Child
Write.”)
3)Craft-based or genre-based groups focus on
developing writing skill in more detail. Such groups may be directed towards refining
work to present to the marketplace.
How to Critique?
Be a Girl Scout: trustworthy, kind,
and truthful.
Trust.Act and speak so
that each writer in the group feels that her work is respected.
Kindness. You would
never say to a new mother “What an ugly baby!” Remember that the writer is
showing you her literary baby.
Truth. If your group is
one that gives feedback, make it specific, honest and respectful.
Kindergarten
Rules: Structure
Choose someone to
facilitate the group. You might choose to rotate this role. The facilitator
keeps the critique on track and redirects unhelpful feedback. A timekeeper is
useful as well.
Set up levels of feedback.These levels provide
readymade goals for each person’s turn. Ask the writer what she wants and address
only that. For example, does she want her piece to be witnessed as she reads
it? Does she have a specific question about craft (perhaps pacing or length)?
Is she open for a broad band response? Grammar and nitpicking is off the board.
What did you like? The
humor? Beautiful language? Skillful structure? The idea behind it? Specific
passages? Be specific.
Follow up with concerns and
suggestions. Is the writing clear? Is the language appropriate to the
genre? Where and how can she improve her writing? Be specific.
Manuscripts at the ready. When we have the written words in front of us, we can more
easily be helpful and specific. Small changes can be noted in the margins.
These copies go back to the author at the end of the critique with names at the
top.
Note it! In addition to individual notes on the manuscript, appoint
a recorder to capture group responses and suggestions during the discussion.
Anything else? Have you addressed the writer’s questions? The writer may
want to follow up on comments.
With
practice and attention your critique group can, as Denise
Levertov says, allow
each woman “to say or sing all that she can, and to deal with
as much of the world as becomes possible toher in language”.
How does the writer contribute to a
good critique? Tune in next month.
END NOTES
Column written by Janet Grace Riehl of St. Louis in collaboration with
Stephanie Farrow of Albuquerque.
Pose questions about practical creativity; give ideas for future cycle
themes; and join in the dialog in the comment section below.
If you follow Opening Salvos, you know that I interview women memoirists to get their perspective on effective ways to start a memoir. Each discussion has generated insights into multiple approaches. I’ve learned from the conversations and hope you have also. Even if no one technique is right for you, understanding alternatives will help you better consider what will be most appropriate for the memoir you are writing.
This week, Kendra Bonnett and I had the pleasure of a lengthy conversation with SCN founder, Susan Wittig Albert. As you know, Susan’s newest book is Together, Alone: A Memoir of Marriage and Place. Late in the interview, I asked Susan about her decision to have a Prologue, which presents one opportunity for an opening, as well as Chapter One, the more formal beginning to her memoir. I urge you to listen to her thoughts as I think you’ll find some wonderful insights.
Click here to go to the interview with Susan, available on Women's Memoir website. But before you leave this site, I'd like to share one of Susan's points that will may give you a reason to start journaling or confirm the wisdom of the journaling that you are already doing.
For this Opening Salvos, I’d like to break with tradition and discuss a point from the interview that puts a completely different perspective on openings. Consider your journaling as the preparation for your opening. Because Susan’s guest blog and writing prompt on Women’s Memoirs focused on the importance of journals, I began to see a new way to think about openings.
“I began keeping a journal when I was 26 years old, in 1966,” said Susan. She says that her memoir would not have been possible without reference to those journals that gave her details about both her internal place and her external world. These journals keep her anchored and provide the data for the memoir.
Right now, you might be thinking, “Well, it’s too late for me. I’ve never kept a journal.” Susan offers encouragement to start your journal now. You can write daily in a physical journal, on the computer, or even in a blog that can be kept private or opened more widely. You can start today or on a special occasion. Two of Susan’s favorite times to start a journal are January 1--a kind of welcoming the new year--or on your birthday--a celebration of the next year in your life.
What’s the difference between your journal and the memoir you are writing? Susan has thoughts on that as well. Just CLICK HERE to listen to our conversation with Susan. If you missed her guest blog and writing prompt, CLICK HERE.
Get writing and keep writing. Our life stories are important and should be documented.
Welcome to the Story Circle Network’s new season of Podcasts.
Join us this month for a chat with Susan Wittig
Albert while she interviews Susan Tweit before the "Be Our Guest"
program in Austin, Texas, on November 2, 2009.
This podcast is presented in 2 parts.
So brew yourself a cup of hot tea, grab a comfy chair, and join me in the circle.
Episode contents:
Interview (0:48-11:00) Part One - Susan Tweit shares some insights about her recently published memoir, Walking Nature Home.
EcoArts Walk, Lake County, N. California. Reflections.
I once cried during a critique.
It was an MFA upper-level course in visual storytelling taught by two eminent photographers. I had petitioned to get into the course, arguing that my life experience fulfilled the lower-level entry requirement. I’d gotten in, participated, and then blown it by crying during a critique of my work. Before the next class the instructors ambushed me at the top of the stairs and strongly suggested, to the point where I felt threatened, that I drop the course.
To sit back and observe critique as a sociologist, anthropologist, or psychologist can be an entertaining pastime—as long as it’s not your own work on the table. I’m surprised there aren’t plays, comic strips, and situation comedies based on the stereotypical types that surface during critique: the Ding-Bat, the Sonorous Voice of God, the Professor, the Meanie, the Raconteur.
Unfortunately, critique—peer or professional—is rife with possibility for misuse, misunderstanding, and misery. In the very worst situations there can be a scoring of points that turns the critique into a virtual blood sport. The writer’s work takes backseat to the critiquer’s social and personal agendas. Small wonder that some writers dread the very word.
Critique. For myself, I dreaded it. I hated it. I learned from it.
Fortunately, after the disastrous experience in the photography class, I had the joy of encountering a teacher, Betsy Davids, who fully understood the meaning of critique and its purpose. She regarded critique as a form of appreciation, a time of joining with the piece and giving back to the artist who created it.
During critique she grew quiet and made the piece the object of contemplation. She then took the class on a tour of what she saw and how she responded to it. She responded to each element—texture, color, shape—and how it affected her feelings and body. Her response to our artwork was fully considered and intimate.
Betsy was there for us, not to make herself more grand. She was there to help us and to know our art and art making more fully. If there were goofs, gaps, or gaffes in our work, she knew how to point these out gently. Her responses inspired us to go back to the work and try to improve it.
Although Betsy was critiquing visual art, her process would have been equally beneficial for writing. Good critique focuses on the writing—not the writer, not the critiquer. Its purpose is to help the writer make her own work stronger. Ideally, there’s no place for chest thumping or ego massaging or denigration of the writer such as in the experience I related above.
Oh, and how did that incident turn out? I’m proud to say that I held my ground with the two professors, stayed on in the course, and earned an “A.”
In our next post we’ll talk about how a group can best benefit individual writers.
_____________________
Column written by Janet Grace Riehl of St. Louis in collaboration with Stephanie Farrow of Albuquerque.
Pose questions about practical creativity; give ideas for future cycle themes; and join in the dialog in the comment section below.
See that little tree growing out of the tiniest crack in an otherwise solid rock surface. We marvel. What enables that sole plant to succeed? We can't help but anthropomorphize it and admire its tenacity when, in fact, it's just doing what nature has always done...persevering. A seed finds an opening and takes full advantage.
See that successful painter, photographer, playwright, novelist, poet...author. Again we marvel. Those of us in the arts know just how rarified is the air the great ones breathe. There are awards, great reviews, lucrative book deals, bestseller bragging rights up for grabs. We aspire. We dream. But what does it really take for us to succeed?
Matilda and I had the opportunity to ask Sue William Silverman this very question. We interviewed her as part of our Women's Memoirs Author Conversations series, and I invite you to take a little time to listen. Sue is the author of two, successful memoirs; a new book on the craft of writing; a poetry collection; and countless essays. Her response, in a nutshell, is "be tenacious." From her writer perspective, she advises us not to be afraid, never give up, and don't worry about failing. It's all part of the process.
From her author-as-marketer perspective, the answer is much the same: Yes it takes some skill and a little luck (e.g., finding the right publisher and agent can help), but above all else it's a matter of showing up every day, writing and not getting discouraged. "Everybody in the arts gets rejected," she adds, "if you're putting yourself out there." So be tenacious, and never stop believing in yourself.
Could it be that simple, you ask? Simple? Yes, I think so. Easy, no. The hardest thing is to keep charging forward in the face of disinterest or outright rejection. But that's what the great ones all have in common. Have you ever heard the saying, My overnight success was 20 years in the making?
Be tenacious today...and every day going forward. And remember the words of American author and wit Margaret Halsey: "Bulldogs have been known to fall on their swords when confronted by my superior tenacity."
Sue's comments got me thinking about blogging success. Increasingly authors are using blogs as part of their marketing effort to reach audiences through the Internet. If you've tried it, you know how hard it is to keep writing and posting on a regular schedule. It takes tenacity to keep coming up with ideas and finding time away from your job, your chores and your other writing to pound out a blog. But the hardest part of blogging is overcoming the apparent loneliness. Write for weeks on end without a single reader comment and you're ready to scream, "Is anybody there?"
I want to leave you with some hope and a reminder that you're always being read, whether or not you ever see a reader comment. When it comes to the Internet, your biggest (and most important) reader is Google. It's the fact that Google is reading your blogs that gradually builds your prominence in the search engines. So be tenacious and keep writing and blogging. Google's waiting for your words. And take courage from Amelia Earhart: "The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity."
These days we've got so much to be excited about at Story Circle Book Reviews. New reviewers, new books, new opportunities...where to start?
You already know, I trust, that we have a website, and as you're surfing the 'Net, I hope you'll visit often. We just sent out our latest e-letter and have chosen a new Review of the Month: The Journal of Hélène Berr by Hélène Berr. It was reviewed by Susan Schoch. Check this out this fascinating read, as well as our Editors' Picks. Our reviewers have just outdone themselves lately. Kudos to all of them!
For mini-peeks at what's going on with us, you can now follow us on Twitter. We'll be letting the world know what's happening. We already have new followers,including several publishers, and we'd be delighted if you all signed up to follow us too.
When you come by the website to visit, be prepared to stay awhile. Get comfy and grab a cup of tea. There's a lot to read. Donna Remmert reviewed Josie's Story by Sorrel King. Josie's brave mom has written an account of loss due to a horrendous error on the part of a hospital, and relates how she is now an advocate for hospital safety. A sad story but one with such purpose...
Another review with medical ties is Nothing was the Same by Kay Redfield Jamison, reviewed by Duffie Bart. Redfield is a psychiatrist who happens to suffer from bipolar disorder. She lost her beloved husband of twenty years to cancer and she chronicles her grief and her depression, as well as trying to distinguish between these two powerful emotions. A compelling love story with a message...
If you or someone you know suffers from a chronic illness, be sure to read Kathy Waller's review of Dancing at the River's Edge: A Patient and her Doctor Negotiate Life with Chronic Illness. This is one case when we allowed a male author, or co-author, because Richard Lockshin is the personal physician of Anita Brill, the book's other co-author. In alternating chapters, they share about the same issue--Anita's chronic illness--from two different viewpoints. An interesting and hopeful account...
Are there daughters or granddaughters in your life? Judy Miller, one of SCBR's editors, reviewed Book by Book: Your Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs by Cindy Hudson. It is all the title claims and more. How I wish I'd had this book around when my daughters were younger. We often read together and discussed books, as I related in an earlier post, but how much fun would it have been to include their friends and their friends' moms? This is a fantastic way to keep communication lines open and flourishing. A fine gift for yourself or for the moms in your life...
Daughters told their stories in two of our reviewed books. I Have Something to Tell You by Regan Hoffman,reviewed by Susan Schoch, recounts the life of a young woman who is HIV-positive and once so afraid to share that burden with anyone. This too is a story of hope as Regan has gone on to do remarkable things with her life. Penny Leisch reviewed A Princess Found: An American Family, An African Chiefdom and the Daughter Who Connected Them Allby Sara Culberson. The author, who was adopted at as a baby, seeks out her family of origin and finds that her father is indeed an African tribal chief. This is her personal story but also touches on adoption issues. Emotional and very interesting...
These snippets give you such a brief look into these wonderful stories, so I know you'll want to read each review (and each book?) for yourself.
Then there are the interviews! We love catching up with favorite authors and visiting with them about their books and their writing. You can learn more about Cindy Hudson, Susan Wittig Albert, Heather Cariou (speaker at the upcoming SCN National Conference), Diana Allen Kouris and Susan J. Tweit by just clicking on their names. Some of the interviews were done by our reviewers and some are courtesy of SCBR's good friend (and occasional reviewer) Susan Tweit. Fascinating questions and answers that give insight into these immensely talented women...
Let me share a huge treat in store for all of us in the Austin area. Susan Wittig Albert, author of Together, Alone: A Memoir of Marriage and Place and Susan J. Tweit, author of Walking Nature Home, will appear together at SCN's Be Our Guest program on November 2 at First United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas. Go here for all the details. Both of their memoirs have been featured on SCBR, and now here is the opportunity to meet them both and hear them discuss their books. I do hope as many of you as possible will attend.
Did I say we were excited at SCBR? Maybe that was too mild a word. We are animated, impassioned, ebullient, invigorated and exuberant!! Join us--you may find this is contagious!!
When my new media expert badgered me into joining Twitter last summer, I was grumpy. What in the world could I do on Twitter, in 140 characters or less, that wouldn't just seem stupid? I thought about something my husband, Richard, taught me when he was a university professor honing his teaching skills: the concept of added value. In his case, that meant finding what he brought to teaching that students couldn't get from textbooks, videos or the internet. In applying that idea to my presence on Twitter, I thought about what I could do on Twitter that would be useful and reflect my voice and perspective.
After a bit of fumbling around, I realized, haiku. Richard and I have always played with haiku when we're on long road trips as a way to capture moments and experiences that might otherwise be forgotten in the rush of getting from A to B. (When I say we "play with" haiku, what I mean is we come up with the haiku in our heads and speak it aloud to each other as we drive along.) It occurred to me that Twitter is like a radio station of sorts, and I could post a daily haiku as a way to "broadcast" a snippet from wherever I find myself out to the social media universe, like a virtual locator beacon. "I'm here, and this what's happening in my landscape."
So I started posting a daily haiku as my contribution to Twitter. (It cross-posts on Facebook, thus saving some digital energy.) It doesn't have to be anything as grandiose as this view of the mountains that rise above our valley shot from the highway coming down the last passon our drive home. A detail can be as telling as a whole view. Sometimes something I notice in the garden prompts a haiku, like this one:
Clear dawn turns to rain frost forecast—harvest like mad! fall comes tomorrow.
Or this one:
Fog hid the dawn sky then crescent moon at sunset day passed in between.
Or something I notice as I look out the window:
Rising fast and high fifty vultures slip-slide south silver under wings.
The practice has made me more attentive to where I am and what's happening in the world around me, so that I've even come up with haiku from Richard's stays in the hospital, like this one from a difficult night in the ICU:
Outside snowflakes reign inside lights blink, sensors beep life sighs, in and out.
The gift of finding a haiku worth posting on Twitter nearly every day (I'm not perfect!) is that it asks me to find a bit of grace in the day, no matter what comes. And the practice of turning that bit of grace into haiku gives me experience in finding the essence in the moment and communicating it in words. As life-writers, it seems to me that an important part of what we're doing is finding the essence in our experiences and figuring out how to communicate it. That makes Haiku excellent practice: it's short, it exercises our vocabulary and hones our awareness, and it can be done anywhere at anytime and memorized until it can be written down.
If you want to try a daily practice of seeing and communicating via haiku, here are the basic rules:
Three lines in a 5-7-5 pattern (five syllables in the first line, seven the second, five the third--haiku experts say that this rule isn't firm, but I find it a useful discipline)
Based in nature or natural phenomena
References--directly or indirectly--the season
The gift? I've found beauty and grace in the toughest moments, from Richard's time in the ICU, to the morning I woke way too early and lay in bed wide awake and tired, until I opened the blind:
Crescent edge silver ghost moon rises escorting Venus and Saturn.
Are you having a hard time with the beginning of your memoir? You’re not alone. Even if you have written many vignettes or dozens of chapters, you still may not know the answer to how you’ll open your memoir. On Friday, Kendra Bonnett and I interviewed Nancy Bachrach, author of The Center of the Universe and asked her to share her experiences in crafting the opening to her memoir.
The interview went something like this: “Nancy, I wonder if you’d talk a little about the opening to your memoir and your decision to make this your opening.”
“The opening is the hardest to write,” said Nancy. “I rewrote my opening at least 1000 times. I didn’t know where to begin. I only knew what the last line would be.”
It turns out that Nancy begins her memoir with an Author’s Note. Why? She told us that while her book was being edited by her publisher Alfred A. Knopf, she kept asking, “Don’t you want to know if my story is true?” She explains that the editor kept replying the way a shrink would -- “Is there something you want to tell us?” Finally, her editor suggested that if she wanted to make a statement to her readers, she could write an Author’s Note. And she did. A very funny Author's Note. It turns out that it was a great way to begin her memoir as it established her tone as well as her role as the narrator of the story. I was already smiling by the time I got to page 1.
Nancy’s mother-daughter story, told with ample dark humor, is true although she took a few liberties. In the wake of the James Frey controversy, she wanted her readers to know how she arrived at her perspective on her mother’s life. And, yes, she says that the memoir really isn’t her story. It is her mother’s story and she’s the narrator. But from the moment you begin reading the Author’s Note until you reach the last page, you feel you’re sitting with your best friend, the one who always makes you laugh, no matter how difficult the situation.
If you’d like to hear the complete interview with Nancy with her many insights into memoir writing, CLICK HERE. She also talked about finding your voice even if you’re not naturally funny like she is; telling your mother you’re writing about her or keeping it well locked since Nancy’s mother found her memoir in a drawer; handling the different views of siblings; and many more topics.
A few days before our interview, Nancy posted a guest blog and memoir writing prompt. If you're interested, CLICK HERE.
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