I plan to write a post about the places I’ve visited as background research for my memoir. However, I decided to write about my trip to Hannibal, Missouri first. I visited the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum last week. Like every Twain lover, I just had to make the pilgrimage to the home of … Continue reading
Filed under Books …
To Artists – Take Risks and Have Passion – Gnaw a Bone!
I was listening to a podcast about memoirs the other day. Somewhere in the dialogue the guest speaker said “…if you’re not taking a risk, then you’re not writing.” It made me think…do readers know when the writer is holding back? Do we always expect an exceptional story-line and exceptional prose to go with it, … Continue reading
You just have to Laugh About the Pig!
Do you have memoirs on your bookshelves? A friend (thanks Bobbi!) handed me three memoirs from her collection a few weeks ago. Two of them had “national bestseller” scrawled across the top. The other looked like a lesser-known volume, titled Me, Melvin ‘N Andy by Andy Anderson. My friend had picked the book up during … Continue reading
LibriVox: Acoustical Liberation of Books in the Public Domain
I made a wonderful friend while we were both volunteering at the American Red Cross the other week. He shared with me that he also volunteered as a reader for LibriVox. I had never heard of it, so he explained more (thanks Mark!). It turns out that this terrific organization (www.librivox.org) uses volunteers to record … Continue reading
Non Fiction Writing: Getting the Details Right
I’ve spent at least an hour a night with my 87-year father over the last ~6-years collecting his memories for my storybook. Dad grew up in Stratford, CT, and has shared his memory of his hometown during the Great Depression and World War II. Dad’s father, my grandfather, was friends with Igor Sikorsky, the entrepreneur … Continue reading
Memoirs for Readers, Reality Television for Viewers
I sent the manuscript for my book to an editor a couple of weeks ago. It’s possible that I forgot to tell him that I was writing a memoir, but he was clearly turned off by either the genre, my writing, or both. He wrote back that the book lacked “broad general appeal.” I have … Continue reading
Writing Your Story – Which Events do you Remember?
I finished the 3rd draft of my storybook a few days ago. Hooray! I rushed to Staples to have copies printed for my friends and family reviewers. It was exciting right up until the point when I got the bill. Let’s just say that when you have a ~72K word book that ~$.011-$0.22/page can really … Continue reading
E-Feedback for Writers?
It was a few weeks ago when I blogged about the benefit of feedback that playwrights receive in a workshop setting. Can authors receive similar feedback for an unfinished work? It turns out that e-reader devices already collect information that may be useful to authors in this regard. In a broadcast by NPR’s “All Things … Continue reading
The Difference Between A Writing Group and a Drawing Group
I few years ago I joined a drawing group to gain some basic skills that might help with powerpoint presentations. I liked sketching strategic concepts, but I was never able to translate whiteboard sketches into anything that looked halfway professional. After weekly lessons, I’m now a lot better. What’s become more enjoyable, however, is meeting … Continue reading
Little Red Schoolhouse – A Memoir That’s Not Quite Right!
I learned a little about the history of 1-room schools on the radio show “Backstory with the American History Guys.” http://backstoryradio.org/ This is one of my favorite programs as I just love it when the historians set the record straight – on all kinds of subjects! In a show titled “School Days: A History of … Continue reading
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