Magical Memoir Moments
Richard Gilbert's Blog: A Memoir Treasure Trove
Please say hello to Richard Stuart Gilbert, someone I’ve never met in person but feel I’ve known a long time. His words have often left me pondering days or weeks later. He’s a blogger, journalist, memoir writer, professor and more. Some years ago he owned a sheep farm. Sound interesting? He is! Richard seems to…
An Inside Look into Finding an Agent and Publisher: Terry Helwig's Story
Remember the wonderful interview with Terry Helwig in which she shared her book marketing strategies? Well, thanks to the gentle nudging of one of that post’s most engaged readers, Linda Gartz, Terry is back. Here’s how she found her agent and publisher, in her own words. I suggest you go to her site to learn…
Marla Likes It! A Query Critique Lesson
Remember the old Life cereal commercial? “Mikey likes it!”? Here it is again. If Mikey likes it, it’s got to be good. Well, in memoir query critique, if Marla Miller likes it, the same is true. She’s a tough critic, but kind. And she’s seen a lot of query letters in her role as columnist…
Dialogue and Memoir: A Challenge, A Method, and Two Mentors
Like 497, 651 other people, I have “liked” David Sedaris on Facebook. You can too, if you click on his name. You can help his PR people to say he has half a million FB fans. Wow! Recently an interview with Sedaris appeared on his page that reminded me of something I am struggling with…
A Query Critique Focusing on the Hook: Taking Care of Mother When Mother Didn't Take Care of You
Marla Miller, of Marketing the Muse, explains to a writer with excellent credentials how to make her query letter stand out by strengthening the “hook”: I agreed with Marla’s advice. Did you? Would you want to read a memoir on this subject? How do you determine a good “hook” in your own writing? Do you…
A Memoir Writer's Self-Publishing Success Story: An Interview with Mary-Ann Kirkby
Mary-Ann Kirkby, who grew up in a Canadian Hutterite colony until the age of ten, and whose memoir has been a publishing sensation in Canada, has kindly agreed to answer some questions. I chose her publishing story as the focus of my questions, and Mary-Ann gave generous answers that may surprise you. How did she…
The Memoir Project: Marion Roach Smith's Video Book Marketing
One of my friends, Susan Neufeldt, whom I met at the Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference years ago and who is writing her own book about wisdom, sent me a link to the NPR program that featured Marion Roach Smith, an author and teacher in the memoir field I had not heard of a week ago….
Reader's Digest–A Fond Memory–And Now, a Memoir Source
Since television was not allowed in my Mennonite home when I was growing up, magazines, newspapers, and radio were an important link to the outside world. The magazines I read from cover to cover included The Saturday Evening Post, Boy’s Life, and Life. But these were special treats not always available. Usually, they followed some…
An Interview on Learning To Write by Learning to Read
This week one of my own favorite bloggers, prize-winning Canadian novelist Dora Dueck, interviewed me on her blog about an issue central to my reason for starting this blog: to learn to write by reading better writers than myself. You will want to click the link above and explore her thoughtful blogs, but in the meantime,…