narrative nonfiction
July 6, 2009
- Hemingway gave perhaps the best writer's advice when he said something to the effect of, "I sit down and try to write one true sentence each day..." What he was saying is that it is not good enough to log thousands of words if those words are merely fish wrap. Nor is it good enough to sit and ponder and navel gaze all while trying to bring to life some piece of writing. A person needs ...
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January 19, 2009
- I finished my next book today and sent it to my agent. Just taking a moment to celebrate. It's narrative nonfiction. Are they still publishing that these days? I guess we'll see. Of course, I have finished it before. Several times. But this one feels like it might stick. I guess we'll see. But for tonight, as Joyce said when he finished Ulysses: Yes.
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January 14, 2009
- Now that the eggnog-hazed Holidaze have passed, it comes to mind that "The Alchemy of Air," my latest book, actually made it to a few "best of" lists. These include Kirkus Reviews -- notoriously the most prickly and "toughest" prepublication book review -- which named "The Alchemy of Air" one of its Best Books of 2008; the great, grey Oregonian newspaper in ...
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January 9, 2009
- When I think back to enduring the pain of cancer treatment and the intensity of it there are two memories that come instantly to mind. The first is while enduring the pain of radiation I sat down to write my two young children each a letter in case I died during surgery or some other area of treatment. I spent days and more working through each one having to stop as the thought of leaving them ...
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December 10, 2008
- Does jealousy make me a better writer?I ask that because this morning as I was reading through the blogs I came to a posting that brought that ugly little bear out from its den. I am not prone to jealousy. The times when I have been jealous of a girlfriend or partner have been blessedly rare and when they did occur it turned out that my feelings were not exactly unfounded. I also enjoy seeing ...
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December 9, 2008
- In the early 1930s Lou and a few of his friends from Boys High in Brooklyn founded what they called the "Social Issues Club." For them it was intened to be a means to help the many people living around them that were fast becoming victims of the Great Depression--people who were suffering from a lack of medical care, chronic unemployment, and in many cases evictions forcing them into ...
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December 8, 2008
- One of the biggest problems I have with a number of memoirs is the lack of honesty held within the pages. This is not to say that they are dishonest, unless it comes as an act of ommission rather than commission. Instead, so many memoir writers tend to shy away from writing with great honesty not only about themselves, but also about the people in their lives.This is a tough thing to deal with ...
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December 2, 2008
- It doesn't really matter if the economy is strong or in tatters as it currently is, the challenge and importance of writing a very good query letter are always the same. If you can't catch the eye of an agent or publisher your writing is simply going nowhere.For me, I obsess over nearly every detail of my query letters to the point where sometimes I find myself getting lazy because I don't want ...
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November 6, 2008
- Lately I realized that 20 years of making a living as a writer have taught me a lot. People ask me for advice; then they take it. And I usually have a very clear idea of what to tell them. It took a while to get used to thinking of myself as a hard-headed marketer and negotiator. My ambition was to write literary nonfiction, like my books about homeless women and about women and sacrifice. Each ...
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October 6, 2008
- For creative nonfiction, visit author Caroline Kettlewell's lovely blog, The Hinterlands. On her blog, you'll find a virtual bookshelf of new nonfiction, "New Nonfiction Monday," which highlights recently published books, plus reviews, news and listings of narrative nonfiction events/writers conferences/book fests. I hope she'll be adding more the calendar of events. What I like most is ...
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