Magical Memoir Moments
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…
A Memoir Overview: Guest Blog post at Jane Friedman's blog
Depending on whom you ask—or what lens you apply—memoir is either a boomlet that burst or a timeless form just now coming into its own. The first lens, the literary lens, gets a fair amount of press attention. The second lens, a more hidden one, may need a little more magnification. While I believe memoir is…
Gutsy: An Indie Publishing Success Story Interview
Gutsy author Sonia Marsh has an incredible story. It’s the story of a mom (and a dad) who fled the rat race and saved their family by moving to Belize for a year. How do I know about Sonia? I first wrote about her, one of my Santa Barbara Writers Conference friends, when she started her…
Adventures with eReaders: The Kindle Part 3
Here’s what Amazon calls “Shirley’s 2nd Kindle.” They gave me this one because I called their customer service department when my first one, an earlier model, died. Pretty impressive, eh? How many other companies offer you a newer model of a product valued at $149 for free without kicking and screaming? A more cynical person…