Your Story Matters
Is Writing Your Memoir Self-Indulgent?
Picture this:
May 2024, a lovely home overlooking a field on the outskirts of Lancaster, PA.
A book club of seven women discussing The Only Way Through Is Out, with me, the author, in attendance.
I...
When’s the Right Time to Write Your Memoir?
I had the pleasure of being a guest on Marion Roach Smith’s QWERTY podcast where we covered a lot about memoir writing, including this question:
When is the right time to write your memoir?
Click he...
A Writer’s #1 Enemy
I won’t keep you guessing—the #1 enemy of writers—of all creatives—is Resistance, so powerful a force that author Steven Pressfield personifies it in his book The War of Art.
Resistance is:
- Invisi...
Is Writing Memoir an Exercise in Narcissism?
I got a panicky email a few weeks ago from one of my clients.
I offered to hop on a call with her, and when we connected, I learned that some family members had been pressuring her to stop writing he...
Why Preparing a TED Talk Makes You a Better Memoirist (Even If You Never Intend to Get on Stage)
A couple of months ago I did something that left me feeling somewhere between a wet noodle and a very burnt piece of toast.
Picture a TED talk, with a Zoom room as the stage, and a memoir writer in a...
Five Tips for Writers to Manage Vulnerability
A couple of weeks ago I began requesting blurbs for The Only Way Through Is Out, my memoir about coming out later in life—which meant emailing authors I didn't know at all or I knew only a little to a...
What Integrity Looks Like For a Memoir Writer
Last weekend, I had the great pleasure of seeing—and hearing!—Adele in concert during her Las Vegas residency.
I had some issues with Las Vegas itself, but that's a story for another day.
The show w...
The Crucial First Step to Coming Out as a Writer
Everyone has a closet.
In her memoir The Family Outing, author Jessi Hempel writes: "The more I live in the world, the more I come to understand that everyone has a closet."
I agree.
Maybe your clo...
Two Ways to Handle Rejection for Writers
In 1978, I was a high school senior and an exchange student living in Knutsford England, and I wrote a personal essay for my hometown paper about my study abroad experience.
My first byline!
But it ...
Don't Be Afraid to Dream Big
My friend Byron is a Southern gentleman with a wicked sense of humor and an equally wicked sense of style.
Like he would wear a made-to-order seersucker tuxedo to a black tie wedding.
And in that ve...
