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Agents Request Book Proposals

03/31/2010 By 2 Comments
MTA Brooke Alan Amberly Georgia tables 3-27-10 008

I posted a Speed-Dating event sponsored by Women's National Book Association a couple weeks ago, so thought I should let you know how it went last Saturday. FYI: I'm the president of WNBA-SF and was the chair for this event, so now I'm bragging, but I can't help it. I'm feeling an elated exhaustion. I think it's important, too, to celebrate our successes, just like I ask you to celebrate your success after writing your "Mother Memoir." Mother's Day is coming up soon, so think about writing just a short, true bio-vignette. More about that later. Read below to catch the drift of a great event for writers of all shapes and sizes. Wow! One of my favorite member-benefit affairs made a huge splash last Saturday with dozens of people Speed-Dating on San Francisco Bay. The large number of members who took part in our Meet-the-Agents event had the time of their lives, as did a slew of other Bay Area literati. Everyone enjoyed an enthusiastic, productive time as the anxious writers

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Memoir Labyrinth, Write Through Series: No. 6

03/29/2010 By 1 Comment

Do you ever feel like you are just a character in your own life? Going through the motions of day-to-day living, but forever going back to certain memories from long ago that just won’t let you be? You’re not alone. Frequent, reoccurring memories present themselves to all of us from time to time. Do they pester you for a reason? Plague you nonstop? Pluck at your heartstrings? Do you whisk them away like a pest because they make your heart beat faster, bring a smile up from deep inside that you won’t take the time to savor, or do you fear remembering times you’d rather forget? Maybe you actually think you’re too busy to honor, respect, or try to understand the importance of your past by revisiting your memories. Do it with a purpose. History does repeat itself, if only in memory. Take the time now to discover what these persistent memories are there to tell you – they are vying for your attention. They are brimming with intention. Ask yourself, if not now, then when will I

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Need an Agent or Publisher? Speed-Date at WNBA’s March 27th event, San Francisco

03/19/2010 By 2 Comments
MTA agents with attendees great pic

Authors and Writers  “Speed-Dating” by the Bay at our 7th Annual Signature Event Meet-the-Agents, Editors, & Publishers Event Click here to view all the agents!  Saturday, March 27th, 2010 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p. m. Sinbad’s Restaurant, Pier 2, San Francisco Click here to Register: $50 WNBA member, $65 non-member, or $75 at the door (Buffet Breakfast and Pitch Tips, included) Bonus for all registrants: “No Host Networking Lunch” at 1:00pm, with 15% discount off food items (beverages excluded) compliments of Sinbad’s.   One Woman’s Path to Publishing began at Meet-the-Agents 2009: Mary Jo McConahay’s Maya Roads: Travels Through Time and Space in the American Rainforest will be published by Chicago Review Press, Spring 2011. She met her agent, Andy Ross, at our sold-out  MTA  event last year, so sign up now to assure your place.    “Last March I joined a hundred other men and women from the WNBA San Francisco Chapter at Sinbad’s Restaurant

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Memoir Labyrinth, Write Through Series: No. 5

03/16/2010 By 2 Comments

I see walking a labyrinth as a metaphor for the passionate journey into memoir writing. Labyrinths have been around for centuries and have been used by folks in many parts of the world as a path on their spiritual quest or for exploring aspects of their lives in a thoughtful manner. Labyrinths are beautiful, intricate structures that appear to have sacred qualities ascribed to them by some people. Yet, they are uncomplicated and undemanding when the simple act of walking slowly and mindfully through them to the center and back out again is used as a meditation. When I help people locate memories, we do a sitting meditation or reflection in a less formal, less structured way than walking through a classic labyrinth. In class, I ask students to explore the deepest recesses of their minds to locate buried treasure in relationship to the person they have chosen to write about in a bio-vignette. Most importantly, I encourage writers to invite the spirit of the main character of their

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Book Distribution: what authors need to know

03/12/2010 By 2 Comments

A few weeks ago, at the San Francisco Writers Conference, I had the good fortune to met Peter Beren, a publishing consultant for over 30 years and the author of this informative guest post. He graciously gives us the basics of the book business as he sees it – information, which all writers should be aware.  Every author published or not, needs to know the basics of the book business. One of the most basic parts is distribution. When you pitch a publisher on a book idea, they have one eye on the consumer and one eye on their distribution system. It is only when both “eyes” say “yes” that they are seriously considering a book.   Books are ordered in advance of their manufacture. They are sold on the basis of future promises. Many books actually don’t exist at the time they are ordered. Most books are presented as unique, authoritative and complete even though they haven’t been finished at the time they are ordered by booksellers.  20% of book sales occur in

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Memoir Labyrinth, Write Through Series: No. 4

03/09/2010 By Leave a Comment

Writing through emotional pain is today’s focus. Physical pain (Remember the slap in the face mentioned in the last post?) can be rife with emotional pain. Incidentally, one woman sent me a message, after post #3, saying that she called the slaps she received from her mother “love taps.” That’s an interesting way of looking at that topic, and I reasoned from her further remarks that she worked out her emotional pain by writing through it. And then there is emotional pain that has nothing whatsoever to do with physical pain. It’s a not a slap or a bruise to the body, it’s a wound to the mind and spirit.  One that if often kept secret. The anguish of this kind of emotional pain is debilitating, in fact, it is often more damaging to your spirit than is physical pain.  One way to begin to heal from emotional pain is to “write through” it. Writing is one of the most cathartic actions you can take to regain your zeal for life and free yourself as you move toward health.

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Narrative Voice in Writing Memoir

03/04/2010 By 2 Comments
Ann Seymour's I've Always Loved You

Ann Seymour’s I’ve Always Loved You is a book everyone interested in writing historical memoir should read. It is a remarkable example in emphasizing how to sustain a narrative voice when history is a big part of the memoir. Fascinating and heartbreaking are the first two words that come to mind after reading Ann Seymour’s beautiful tribute to her family, especially her father, as well as all those who served in WW2. Seymour writes achingly beautiful prose as she gives us a view of WW2 through the eyes of an enchanting, gregarious child, who doesn’t understand why Daddy has gone to war and will never return. But the well woven story goes beyond the eyes and ears of a loving daughter. I’ve Always Loved You moves between the diaries and journals her parents kept and the actual documented words of the power brokers of Imperial Japan in such a way as to give anyone a more fully rounded picture of WW2, which is an accomplishment worthy of applause. “Only an ephemeral

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Memoir Labyrinth, Write Through Series: No. 3

03/02/2010 By Leave a Comment

The last time you joined me on the memoir labyrinth, we touched on time as a great leveler. Today we’ll tap into time as a powerful healer. When was the last time you thought about the day your mother slapped your face? I remember when my very non-violent mother slapped mine, although I haven’t thought about that incident for years. It only came to mind as I was writing this article. I now assume she must have thought she had a darn good reason for that slap. It has stayed in my memory bank for more years than I’d like to count. Upon looking back, I no longer remember why her fingers flashed to burn my cheek as we were standing in our kitchen on a rainy evening way back when. It’s strange how I can remember the scene, but not what I did to provoke her to that degree. My best guess would be that I swore. And I ask myself was I more hurt or embarrassed, and why? I imagine on that evening, I hated her for slapping me. But time has turned my feelings around, as is often the case.

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