“You write because you have to.” I heard this sentiment expressed several times by a few long-time authors during a “The Joy of Writing Short” panel put on by California Writer’s Club at Book Passage. I picked up words and phrases about the world of publishing like: cruel, fickle, tough, competitive—and getting more so all the time. But don’t let those words dampen your spirit; they said all this while talking excitedly about being writers and authors. The panelists were memoirists, short story writers, and magazine article writers: Zoe F. Carter (www.ImperfectEndings.com) is the author of the memoir Imperfect Endings: A Daughter's Story of Love, Loss, and Letting Go; Joan Frank (www.joanfrank.org) is the author a story collection, In Envy Country; Frances Lefkowitz (www.FrancesLefkowitz.net) is the author of the memoir To Have Not; and Peg A. Pursell's (www.pegalfordpursell.com) 93-word story, "Fragmentation," was the title story of the (February 2011) Burrow
Salacious Spirit of Spring – Mother Nature’s Daughter
Are you in love with Mother Nature or her daughter? I know you’re budding out, pert and peppy in all your glory, Spring. I feel you beckon me with your flirtatious ways, flowing sap and saucy spirit, so that I can’t resist your charms, but that only means trouble is looming on the horizon. Our love affair is fraught with predictable problems, and I should know better than to trust you after all these years. With you, Spring, I get bees that sting, sunburn, in spite of the block, and broken fingernails from poking around in your fertile bed. But that’s not the half of it. You make me hot – my temperature rises with hope held high for planting. Were it not for you, I wouldn’t envision brilliant flowers and juicy tomatoes that taste like tomatoes making their grand entrance all around after teasing them with gentle love and holy water. But I know my dreams will be dashed by loving you. You make me love you, and then you invite your ill-mannered friends to our garden
Imperfect Endings, Zoe F Carter’s Memoir
She Summoned DeathWhether or not one believes the choices this family made in Zoe Carter’s memoir, Imperfect Endings, are right or wrong, Carter is an undeniably powerful writer, who has an easy way with words on a complex, but timely issue. She has taken the difficult, to say the least, subject of life and death and crafted it into an unforgettable personal story laced with wit, wisdom, humor, compassion, insight, and abundant food for thought. To be honest, when I first picked it up I wondered if I wanted to “go there.” I’m glad I did—I found it incredibly moving.I know it took more than a little courage for Zoe Carter to write this provocative slice of life. Imperfect Endings meant paring familial façade to the bone and sucking out the marrow, which she did unabashedly.How does a daughter say, “Yes, Mom, I’ll watch you die slowly by your own hand.” I’ll be a party to your staged sit-in with death.Hauntingly beautiful are the two words that washed over my
Writers Speed-Date with Agents & Acquistion Editors
Authors and Writers “Speed-Dating” by the Bay at our 8th Annual Signature EventNew this year: Keynote Luncheon (see below) Meet-the-Agents and Acquisition EditorsSaturday, March 26th, 2011 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.Sinbad’s Restaurant, Pier 2, San Francisco$50 WNBA member, $65 non-member, or $75 at the door(Bonus: Coffee and “How to Pitch Training” included from 8:00 to 9:00 am)Space is limited (we sold out last year) – REGISTER SOONRegister via PayPal at www.wnba-sfchapter.org or mail your check made out to WNBA-SF to P.O. Box 244, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019New this year!Keynote Luncheon – 12:30 – $30.00 - Menu selections on our website.WNBA author Zoe FitzGerald Carter will share her journey to the publication of her memoir, Imperfect Endings, recently optioned for film. Join us for lunch and rub elbows with agents and acquisition editors.Note: Must be registered to attend Zoe FitzGerald Carter is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School and has written for
Write It or Lose It – Memoir Works
You know you have memories you don't want left behind...Learn how to move them into an unforgettable memoir.KEEPING SPIRITS ALIVE • with Lynn HenriksenMemoir Writing WorkshopWhere: Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA When: Saturday, March 5, 2011 -- 1:30-4:30 pm • $65Call Book Passage, Corte Madera (415) 927-0960 ext.1, to reserve. If you don’t write it down, it will be lost. Wouldn’t that be a shame? Lynn Henriksen invites you to join her to embrace a special kind of memoir where you’ll capture the character and spirit of an important person in your life as only you can. On this journey of discovery you’ll find your unique voice, move a memory gem into memoir through intriguing prompts, guided activities, partner sharing, and feedback. Find out how truth and imagination merge with all ‘six’ of your senses to awaken understanding, and why you won’t let your loved ones simply slip away. Henriksen has guided hundreds to Tap Memory & Write Memoir and is the
Meryl Streep Would Like Mother Memoir
“It’s so gratifying because it’s the audience that nobody really gives a shit about,” quipped Meryl Streep in an interview with Vanity Fair about her success in movies at the age of 60. Women will buy tickets and books that actually interest them, but we all know that, don’t we? This same audience of ordinary women wants to be involved in a learning process that moves them to write memoir about significant people in their lives, whom they do give a shit about.The best way to do that is to answer the one question I ask all TellTale Souls to answer, “If you could tell just one small story that would capture the character and spirit of your mother and keep her memory alive for years to come, what would it be?” Women and men grow quiet and contemplative when asked this question. Changing emotions flicker across their faces, and they invariably say this is a powerful question; one they really would like to answer.Come along with me, we will look closely at the woman who was
Destiny de Medici
Okay, so I received a few books for Christmas that I can't help but tell you about. Here's The Story Woman's review of another great read:Once again, C.W. Gortner doesn’t disappoint. The Confessions of Catherine de Medici bring a terrible, bloody time in European history to light through the thoughts and actions of “the Italian Jezebel,” the label her detractors gleefully hung on her. As this intriguing, ambitious, intelligent, often desperate and deceitful woman struggled to maintain Valois–Medici power in France during the 16th century’s religious wars between the Catholics and the Huguenots, I was torn between appreciating Catherine’s heroism and being wary of her insensitivity toward both her immediate family and the thousands of innocent people who perished due to her treacherous, although often ineffective, conniving.Gortner skillfully marries fact and myth, pairs the seers, Catherine and Nostradamus, and places the duty of royalty above all else, in such a way that I
Memories in Gray of a Mother and her Daughter
Grey some say. I always spell it gray, so I guess that means I'm one of those wayward Americans, which I am proud to be!—I’m told the King’s English uses an “e” to spell gray. Either way, gray or grey can be dispiriting. Would Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue have connected so powerfully with music lovers if it had been Rhapsody in Gray? Some of us cover the gray in our hair with coats of many colors, and when I hear "the graying of America," I can't help but visualize old, bent folks trudging along into oblivion, and I don’t think that’s the way people in their “Golden Years” ought to be portrayed. I revel in the eerie grayness of fog, and I dream of gray, rainy days when it’s okay to curl up with a book and not feel guilty. And then there are the early morning hours and those at dusk when the world seems to stand grayishly still for a time before giving us the day or the night. Those are often moments of forgiveness, even promise. Treasure to be sure. Gray
Making a Memoir Teacher Blush
What's a memoir teacher to do when a student makes her blush with humility and delight? Well, this one is going to share Marlene's kind words with you hoping you will follow her lead and write memoir: Dear Lynn, Your workshop, Keeping Spirits Alive, was just an amazing experience! Not only did my grandmother’s spirit come to life within me, you, dear heart, suffused my spirit with the passion, joy and unbound excitement to travel in time and space to converse with the many spirits who’ve touched my life over the years and to invite them to be heard and remembered. Your invitation to “look through their eyes;” to see, to hear, to viscerally experience my grandmother as if I were her was a profound experience for me. What a rare gift you are. I am so amazed that three hours could so change my life, my perspective and my journey here on this planet. Thank you for the safe space you created to share myself. Thank you for the wonderful teachings, tips, and
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