Roy Peter Clark, a senior scholar at the Poynter Institute, describes writers like me when he says that when we’re not writing, we are often doubting ourselves. We feel bad. Instead, we could think of this period of delay as something constructive. We could reframe it as rehearsal. Just … Read More
Category: memoir
“But memoir is neither testament nor fable nor analytic transcription.”
So, then, what is memoir? A memoir should “lift from the raw material of life a tale that will shape experience, transform event, deliver wisdom.” In other words, the writer’s story needs to illustrate a point. Rather than simply telling us what happened, the writer should tell us why what … Read More
“Putting together a novel is essentially putting together the lives of stranger I’m coming to know.”
As it turns out, writing nonfiction stories is not very different from writing fiction for Ann Patchett. The title essay for this collection describes how she puts together an understanding of the life of the stranger who comes to stay in her house during the first months of the COVID-19 … Read More
“And then learn to be more compassionate company, as if you were somebody you are fond of and wish to encourage.”
When you are writing, do you think “This is great!” or do you think, “I shouldn’t have put this off. It’s a mess. I’ll never get it right.” Too often, I find it easy to be with the large number of people who are critical of themselves when they write. … Read More
“Get your intention clear before you start and tell your story with integrity.”
“I said O let us not go.”
“I began to think that some of us are the designated rememberers.”
I always begin my “How to Write Your Memoirs” classes by asking, “Why do you want to do this?” No one has ever answered the question like novelist Pat Conroy does in this collection of essays about writing memoirs. Conroy said that he was surprised that when he talked with … Read More
“I believe large numbers of people have at least some talent as writers and storytellers, and that those talents can be strengthened and sharpened.”
I nearly fell off my chair when I read this statement in Stephen King’s book On Writing. It provides such a sharp contrast to the 20 other books I’ve been reading on the subject of writing memoirs. Because I’m working on my own book on this subject, I’ve been … Read More
“It seemed to me that if I could stir, if I could move to take the next step, I could go out into the poem the way I could go out into that snow.”
Were my reading assignments interesting? Moving? Inspiring? These are the questions I ask myself after teaching literature classes. I hope my students will experience the sort of engagement that Eudora Welty describes here. She writes about spending an afternoon in the library reading Yeats and feeling so absorbed by the … Read More
“Antiracist ideas argue that racist policies are the cause of racial inequities.”
It is easier to blame people for making mistakes than it is to consider the role that policies play in determining outcomes. Ibram X. Kendi writes, “Americans have long been trained to see the deficiencies of people rather than policy” (28). For example, when my book club discussed of … Read More
“What my father wanted to cast from me wasn’t a demon: it was me.”
To say that Tara Westover’s dad demanded complete obedience to his rules and doctrine would be an understatement. When one of his children disobeyed, he assumed it could be due to one thing only: the work of the devil. He is a person most of us would dismiss … Read More
Best Books of 2019: Five Favorites
Here are the five books I’ve recommended most frequently in 2019:
Novel: It appears that Ann Patchett’s The Dutch House is on every “Best of 2019” list. What makes it so appealing? In addition to having likable, open-hearted characters in an interesting situation — which we can expect from Patchett … Read More
“But what is the truth of our social existence?”
Why would anyone invest a large percentage of their reading time in Knausgaard’s 3600-page novel? Is it worth it? I started reading it because I was curious about this Norwegian writer’s experiment with a new form of writing, which emphasizes frankness, speed, quantity, and courage. I continued reading because … Read More
Best Books of 2018: Five Favorites
The books I have recommended most often to my friends this year are:
Pioneers! Strong families! Resourcefulness! I’ve always been drawn to the stories of Laura Ingalls Wilder, and I’ve often recommended her books to those who are learning to write memoirs. I’m rethinking all of that after reading Prairie … Read More
“To live the complete human catastrophe is terrible indeed, but to write about it?”
Karl Ove Knausgaard is a Norwegian writer who conducted a public experiment. He wanted to see what would happen if he wrote honestly about his life, aiming to “penetrate that whole series of conceptions and ideas and images that hang like a sky above reality” in a six-volume novel. On … Read More