“Show, Don’t Tell” is the closest thing I know to a writer’s mantra. For every sentence that I write, I’m constantly berating myself—Did I “show”? Or did I “tell”? Did I remain “in scene”? Remaining “in scene” is my nemesis write now. Yes, write now. You read that write. Writing is all I care about, […]
The scent of writing is all around me this morning in the form of a bouquet of lilacs. Yesterday, I placed the Mason jar bouquet on the shelf next to my bed, where I begin my morning reading and writing with my first cups of coffee. The scent of lilacs. How that returns me to […]
On March 8th, I posted on Facebook that I was going to add Humor to my memoir. Humor. What was I thinking? Those who know the story of my challenging childhood were probably taken aback because only one person “liked” it (That was you, Nancy Harris.) and no one commented. With Facebook “likes” being the […]
The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge had only three cars in the parking lot on this cool wintry-looking April day. I parked, knowing that I’d enjoy the luxury of having the museum almost entirely to myself. I tried to get here on a couple of other days, but made the mistake of beginning to write […]
A spring snowstorm arrived overnight in the Berkshires, triggering more childhood memories. Haven’t lived where snow is a regular event for more than twenty-five years. There was plenty of warning. We all knew the snow was coming. I went to the Stop & Shop yesterday afternoon. Stocked up on groceries for a couple days’ worth […]
A return to Kripalu is always a full sensory immersion. Even while parking the car in the upper parking lot, I opened my door and the pungent scent of the forest immersed me in positivity. I walked down the hill, enjoying the view of the lake below and relishing each step, bringing me closer to […]
Yesterday, I accidentally found myself hiking the Appalachian Trail. How does one “accidentally” hike the Appalachian Trail? By hiking a trail that overlaps the A.T. for a short distance. Pleasant surprise! I’m here in western Massachusetts visiting relatives for the Easter holiday. Under Saturday’s brilliant sky, I went looking for a trail to hike. Decided […]
Three days after creating my chapter and scene notecards, I’m making sense of my category and themes, ready to continue editing. The category is Coming of Age. The themes were not so obvious to me. However, when you simplify the contents of your childhood into a patchwork pattern on a table, suddenly the themes that […]
Editing memoir is a long slog. The first draft is easy. It’s bleed onto the page. Dance on the page. Sing on the page. Burn. Cry. Get angry. Pour it all out. Dig back to the beginning. Try to remember every last detail. Then the editing began. Editing is when the doubts creep in. Who […]
Today I was reading a sample issue of the literary journal The Sun, July 2013, to see what style of memoir essays they publish. I came across a superb piece by Afro-Am author and University of Illinois Professor of Creative Writing Ross Gay about being a black man in the U.S. About the fear of […]
