Magical Memoir Moments
The Things She Couldn’t Carry: Touching the Hem of My Grandmother’s Garment
After we die, who is left to tell our story? And what is left of who we were? My maternal grandmother Anna Mary Herr Hess died at the age of 56 when I was not quite three years old; hence, I do not consciously remember her living presence. Almost everything I know about my grandmother has…
Speaking of Faith: Writing About Being Mennonite
Last week on this blog Annette Gendler offered her prescription for how to write about family, which might be one of the most difficult challenges a memoir writer faces. Annette invited me to write about religion, since both of us are shaped by faith. This morning I appear here as her guest blogger. The best…
How to Write About Family: Honoring Self and Other in Memoir
Today’s post comes to you from Annette Gendler, a nonfiction writer who teaches memoir and blogs about memoir. Annette has published many personal essays and is seeking a publisher for her book-length memoir about forbidden love between a German and a Jew, a love which succeeded despite great odds. She offers her advice on how…
How Laughter Can Heal–A Mennonite Actor's Journey after a Tragic Suicide
I love when comedy arises out of tragedy. So I loved Ted Swartz’s memoir. Here’s how he starts the book: My review of Laughter Is Sacred Space: The Not-so-Typical Journey of a Mennonite Actor appeared in the October 15 issue of Mennonite World Review. Read it by going directly to the link or by continuing below….
Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, and the Immortality of Powerful Words
When Nikki Giovanni and Joanne Gabbin call them to assemble, the stars of the African-American literary community and their fans gather. And when these two poets choreograph the stars, they sparkle, dance, and sing like never before. It was my sheer good fortune to participate in an event organized by Giovanni and Gabbin that I will not soon…
Rhoda Janzen's New Memoir: A Christian Century Review
If you have been following the bestselling author Rhoda Janzen since the publication of Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, and many people who read this blog, especially this post, have been doing so, you will want to buy her second memoir. I’m deeply grateful to Janzen for helping both Mennonites and others, both secular…
Pilgrim's Progress: Walking Backward from England to Childhood, Part III
Blessed by several experiences of pilgrimage this summer, I’m now in the final stage of the journey: the return, where the main focus is on reflection. Because I am also finishing the first draft of my memoir about a Mennonite childhood, the return takes me back not only in space but in time also. Like the characters…
Mark Nepo's Thoughts on Memoir and Voice: Seven Thousand Ways to Listen
Oprah Winfrey has said that Mark Nepo’s writing takes her breath away. His The Book of Awakening has sold steadily since its publication in 2000 and then climbed up the bestseller lists in 2011 after Oprah picked it as one of her “favorite things.” Now Mark is ready to launch a new book called Seven…
The Yearning: How a Pilgrim Journey is Like a Memoir, Part II
Yearning. Everything starts with yearning. But that doesn’t mean the nature of the yearning is clear to the yearner. Sometimes we go on pilgrimage to find out what we yearn for. Sometimes a book, especially a memoir, grabs us by the hand and takes us on the same journey. In my case, I went on…
How Writing a Memoir Is Like a Pilgrimage: Part I, Overview
Even though the time clock is ticking on my memoir deadlines, I took time out this summer to travel. In July my husband and I traveled to Turkey and Greece, an amazing experience for both of us which I described in a previous post. After returning from that trip and hosting our whole family for…