HAVING DECIDED TO WRITE MEMOIR FOR A LIVING has its perils. For me, it has some extra-prickly ones, since my only sibling has been teaching memoir-writing for 13 years, and has a disarming thing or 20 to say on the topic—plus she shares a lifetime of my memories. Now Marion Roach Smith has tucked her tactics (along with a number of our childhood anecdotes) into “The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life.” With our memoirist friend Katrina Kenison, we’re celebrating the new book and the very medium of memoir—offering six chances to win Marion’s irreverent little guide to writing what you know, whether in a whole book, a blog post, or even a letter to a loved one. Do you dare try? [Read more...]
doodle by andre: ousted from the house(ted)
June 8, 2011
IMUST GO TO MY ROOM, WITHOUT SUPPER OR FURTHER DELAY. Right now—to my room. Which apparently is no longer in the house, mind you, but in a 12-by-11 shed out in the backyard, a shed that was here when I arrived 25 years ago, did temporary duty as a spare storage space, and then for the last nine years housed Jack the Demon Cat, until he recently got a bigger idea. But now I must go to my room, and write a new book (yes, not my “new” book, but another new book) and apparently I will be doing it somewhere other than in my house, er, his house. Oh, heavens, this is confusing. But here’s the scoop: [Read more...]
reinventing yourself: a podcast with regina brett
May 24, 2011
REGINA BRETT IS MANY THINGS: a breast-cancer survivor; a onetime single parent; one of 11 kids who shared a difficult childhood she has worked to make peace with; a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist for her commentary in The Plain Dealer, Ohio’s largest newspaper. And an author, of the popular book “God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life’s Little Detours,” just out in paperback (and I bought two extra copies to give away!). In short—she’s a master of reinvention. I was happy to finally “meet” Regina when I appeared on her weekly call-in show recently on WKSU, the Ohio NPR affiliate. The topic: reinventing yourself. [Read more...]
book giveaway: the soaring work of brad kessler
May 8, 2011
IAM AFRAID OF FLYING, BUT RIGHT AT HOME WITH BIRDS. So Brad Kessler’s 2006 novel “Birds in Fall,” a story of the aftermath of a plane crash in which two characters are bird biologists, wielded a powerful but tricky pull. Loving it, I then quickly read Kessler’s memoir, “Goat Song,” a tale of leaving behind the city for a pastoral life in New England. The other day, there both books were in a bookshop I was speaking at, and I knew they would become the subject of this latest giveaway. [Read more...]
musical inspiration: on staying ‘too long at the fair’
May 5, 2011
THOUGH A TAD EMBARRASSING TO SAY SO, song lyrics, like other poetry, get pasted up on the fridge or bulletin board here, as if mantras or at least mental notes to self. If you’ve read “And I Shall Have Some Peace There,” or listened to the soundtrack I made for my book, you know this was particularly true just after I left my “old” city life. If there is one song line that describes how I feel now, well into my “new” life looking back: that maybe I stayed “too long at the fair.” It comes to my mind from a beloved 1972-vintage Bonnie Raitt song (above), but who knew that Barbra Streisand (not my musical or fashion taste, but of course a giant) sang a similar refrain in the 1960s? [Read more...]
book giveaway: fresh-start artist may sarton
May 1, 2011
NELSON, NH, THE SIGNPOST SAID, pointing off to the right of my backroads route to a recent bookstore event. I knew it led to the former home of a favorite author, May Sarton, but there was no time to detour, at least not then. Today, though, with the late Sarton’s 99th birthday looming on May 3, let’s make time to take a peek into her writing and life—and celebrate. I’ve bought two sets of Sarton books I especially like from among 50-plus she wrote to share in a giveaway to mark the occasion. [Read more...]
