Thanks to everyone who offered advice about getting over the fight with my manuscript. After a weekend break, I forced myself to get back at it, and completed drafts of chapters nine, ten and eleven! Largely because of that progress, I’m in back in love with the story. I can see the light at the […]
Writers of memoir, unite! Let’s chat on Twitter about some of the specific challenges to writing memoir. When: Wednesday, July 8, an hour-long chat starting at 8 p.m. EST. If there’s enough interest, we’ll consider making this weekly or bi-weekly. UPDATE: Now every other Wednesday. Where: #memoirchat How: If you want to participate but aren’t […]
Some authors say writing a book is like a love story. Writers, they say, go through the same ups and downs with a manuscript as they would in a romantic relationship. In that case, I think my manuscript and I just had our first fight. Last week I was so sick of my book that […]
Little by little, my travel memoir is coming together. I’ve got a big (self-imposed) deadline coming up: I’m trying to finish the first 2/3 of the book — that’s 10 chapters — by Aug. 1. As I connect with more writers of memoir on Twitter, I’m thinking of organizing a #memoirchat. Let me know if […]
I’ll try anything to convince myself that even though I’m writing alone in my office, I’m not really alone. That’s why I love connecting with other writers online, particularly those who are working on memoirs. “Meeting” Rachel Held Evans, whose spiritual memoir will be released in early 2010, was particularly exciting because like me, she […]
Gasp! I’ve been spelling roundup incorrectly for five weeks — with a hyphen — and none of you told me?! You know I’m finicky about grammar! (Had to dig out the trusty AP Stylebook.) I feel like I’ve had spinach stuck in my teeth for 40 days. A handful of helpful links I came across […]
What’s that I hear? You want to read an excerpt from my book? Sigh. You know I can never tell you no. This scene takes place in Madagascar, during the third and final section of my book. I picked it partly because it doesn’t require much context; even though you haven’t read the book until […]
For the first time yesterday, someone other than me read Chapter Seven of my travel memoir. Well, I guess it wasn’t really the first time. Before I sent the chapter to my critique group, I had a slight panic attack, realizing I was about to make myself vulnerable by throwing my work out into the […]
As a journalist in a newsroom, I never worried about how to write. I just did it. I put words on my computer screen to meet a deadline. But memoir, in full-book form, is a different game. One of the ways I’ve adjusted is by reading books on the craft of writing. So during the […]
While working on my travel memoir this weekend, I wrote this paragraph: He softly kissed the corner of my mouth, then my jawline, then inched toward my ear, where he began whispering sweet nothings. At least, I assumed they were sweet nothings – his French words weren’t clear enough for me to understand. Then I […]