Let’s Talk Memoir

13. The Case for Generosity in Memoir featuring Judy Bolton-Fasman

Judy Bolton-Fasman joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation on how writing about complicated relationships with generosity creates stories and characters that stay with readers, the case for speculative nonfiction, the impact fellowships have had on her writing,  negotiating family members who appear in memoir, and don’t-miss-encouragement for all artists.
 
Also in this episode:
-how seeds of her memoir began in fiction
-what blew her work open
-Ronit mispronounces illustrative
 
Memoirs mentioned in this episode:
Knocked Down by AIleen Weintraub
Priestdaddy: A Memoir by Patricia Lockwood
How to Forget: A Daughter's Memoir by Kate Mulgrew
 
Bio: Judy Bolton-Fasman is the author of ASYLUM: A Memoir of Family Secrets from Mandel Vilar Press. Her essays and reviews have appeared in major newspapers including the New York Times and Boston Globe, essay anthologies, and literary magazines. She is the recipient of numerous writing fellowships, including the Alonzo G. Davis Fellowship for Latinx writers at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts.  She is a four-time winner of the Rockower Award from the American Jewish Press Association and a two-time Pushcart Prize and Best of the  Net nominee. She recently received an honorable mention in Tiferet’s Creative Nonfiction Essay Writing Contest.
Website: judyboltonfasman.com 
Amazon link to buy ASYLUM: https://www.amazon.com/Asylum-Memoir-Family-Secrets-Bolton-Fasman/dp/1942134770/ref=sr_1_1?crid=12OPHYITO9LWO&keywords=asylum+judy+bolton+fasman&qid=1649088222&sprefix=bolton-fasman%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-1
 
Ronit’s essays and fiction have been featured in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, The Iowa Review, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in both the 2021 Best Book Awards and the 2021 Book of the Year Award and a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and will be published in 2022. She is host and producer of the podcasts And Then Everything Changed and The Body Myth.
More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com
More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/
Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd
 
Follow Ronit:
https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
https://twitter.com/RonitPlank
https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank
 
Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash
Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography
Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

12. Making Your Manuscript Shimmer featuring Laura Davis

Laura Davis joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about creating tension, writing for ourselves versus an audience, moving from the personal to the universal, trusting your reader, and the gift of self-discovery on the page.
Also in this episode:
-self-care when writing about trauma
-using correspondence in manuscripts
-the power of beta readers
Memoirs mentioned in this episode: 
Expecting Adam by Martha Beck
Half the House by Richard Hoffman
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls 
 
Laura Davis is the author of The Burning Light of Two Stars, the riveting memoir about her tumultuous yet loving relationship with her mother, and six other non-fiction books, including The Courage to Heal, Allies in Healing, I Thought We‘d Never Speak Again, and Becoming the Parent You Want to Be. Her groundbreaking books have been translated into 11 languages and sold 1.8 million copies. In addition to writing books that inspire and change people’s lives, the work of Laura’s heart is to teach. For more than twenty years, she’s helped people find their voices, tell their stories, and hone their craft. Laura loves creating supportive, intimate writing communities online, in person, and internationally. You can learn about Laura’s books and workshops, read the first five chapters of her memoir, and receive a free ebook: Writing Through Courage: A 30-Day Practice at www.lauradavis.net. 
 
For Let’s Talk Memoir Listeners:
You can also read the opening chapters for free here: http://www.lauradavis.net/chapters
 
Direct links to buy The Burning Light of Two Stars:
Audiobook version of The Burning Light of Two Stars (Laura is the narrator):
On Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Burning-Light-of-Two-Stars-Audiobook/B09G8WJQP7
And on Libro.fm for independent stores: https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9781950144471
 
Independent Bookstores:
Get Signed Copies Through Bookshop Santa Cruz:
 https://www.bookshopsantacruz.com/burning-light-two-stars-get-it-signed)
 
Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/books/the-burning-light-of-two-stars-a-mother-daughter-story-9781954854161/9781954854161
 
Amazon:  
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1954854161
amzn.com/B08XZMFH46
 
Want to Order Internationally with Free Worldwide Delivery? 
https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Burning-Light-of-Two-Stars-Laura-Davis/9781954854161
 
Attention Writers:
If you’re a writer or want to use writing as a tool for healing or self-discovery, you can learn about Laura’s online writing workshops and in-person domestic and international retreats here: www.lauradavis.net 
And if you want to go on a magical creative vacation to Tuscany with Laura in June of 2022, check out some serious eye candy here!
 
Social media links:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/thewritersjourney
IG: https://www.instagram.com/laurasaridavis
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurasaridavis
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/laurasaridavis/
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Ronit’s essays and fiction have been featured in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, The Iowa Review, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in both the 2021 Best Book Awards and the 2021 Book of the Year Award and a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and will be published in 2022. She is host and producer of the podcasts And Then Everything Changed and The Body Myth.
More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com
More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/
Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd
 
Follow Ronit:
https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
https://twitter.com/RonitPlank
https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank
 
Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash
Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography
Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

11. Yes, Your Writing Has Value featuring Paulette Perhach

Paulette Perhach joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about why it’s okay to see writing as a business, balancing both grace and accountability in our work, the importance of a writing community, overcoming imposter syndrome, nurturing ourselves, and what happened when her essay “The F*ck Off Fund" went super viral.
Also in this episode:
-balancing both pay and appeal in writing jobs
-getting paid well for memoir essays
-financial safety for writers 
 
Memoirs mentioned in this episode:
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Crying in the H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Night by Elie Wiesel
“A Story of a F*ck Off Fund” by Paulette Perhach https://www.thebillfold.com/2019/02/classic-billfold-a-story-of-a-fuck-off-fund/
 
Paulette Perhach’s writing has been published in the New York Times, Elle, Slate, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Yoga Journal, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and Vice. She’s worked for Health and Coastal Living magazines, as well as various newspapers. Hugo House, a nationally recognized writing center in Seattle, awarded her the Made at Hugo House fellowship in 2013. In 2016, she was nominated for the BlogHer Voices of the Year award for her essay, “A Story of a Fuck Off Fund,” which is anthologized in The Future is Feminist from Chronicle Books, along with work by Roxane Gay, Mindy Kaling, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Caitlin Moran, and Audre Lorde.
She became interested in adult education while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in South America, and in 2015 she created the Writer’s Welcome Kit, an online course for writers that includes a 55,000-word workbook. Her book, inspired by the course, was published in August 2018 by Sasquatch Books, part of the Penguin Random House publishing family. Welcome to the Writer's Life was selected as one of Poets & Writers' Best Books for Writers. She blogs about a writer’s craft, business, personal finance, and joy at welcometothewriterslife.com and keeps a casual podcast called Can We Talk About Money?
 
http://www.pauletteperhach.com
https://welcometothewriterslife.com
Twitter: @pauletteperhach
Instagram: @paulettejperhach
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/paulette.perhach
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/pauletteperhach/
--
Ronit’s essays and fiction have been featured in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, The Iowa Review, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in both the 2021 Best Book Awards and the 2021 Book of the Year Award and a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and will be published in 2022. She is host and producer of the podcasts And Then Everything Changed and The Body Myth.
More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com
More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/
Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd
 
Follow Ronit:
https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
https://twitter.com/RonitPlank
https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank
 
Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash
Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography
Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

10. The Merits of Writing About Trauma with Restraint featuring Kelly Sundberg

Kelly Sundberg joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about sharing her story of domestic violence with the world, depicting trauma and triggering events in memoir, the alchemical value of PTSD, navigating the privacy of others, and incorporating essays in manuscripts.
Also in this episode:
-using direct address in memoir
-the publisher’s vision vs. the writer’s
-lyric essays and poetry for memoirists
 
Books and articles mentioned in this episode:
Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford
The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch
A Fortune for your Disaster by Hanif Abdurraqub 
Bluets by Maggie Nelson
“It Will Look Like a Sunset” ​​https://www.guernicamag.com/it-will-look-like-a-sunset/
“Ritchie County Mall” https://gay.medium.com/ritchie-county-mall-7b30b96731f6
“Every Line is a Scream” https://gay.medium.com/every-line-is-a-scream-3ed54c727619
 
Kelly Sundberg's memoir, Goodbye, Sweet Girl, was published by HarperCollins in 2018. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times Modern Love, Alaska Quarterly Review, Guernica, Gulf Coast, The Rumpus, Denver Quarterly, Slice, and many other literary and commercial magazines. Her essay “It Will Look Like a Sunset” was selected for inclusion in The Best American Essays 2015, and other essays have been listed as notables in The Best American Essays 2013, 2016, and 2018. She has a PhD in creative nonfiction from Ohio University and has been the recipient of fellowships or grants from Vermont Studio Center, A Room of Her Own Foundation, Dickinson House, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She was recently awarded a 2021 Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council, and she is an Assistant Professor of English at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio. 
 
Links: https://www.amazon.com/Goodbye-Sweet-Girl-Domestic-Violence/dp/0062497685/ref=sr_1_1?crid=TOX8R2VUN9S2&keywords=goodbye%2C+sweet+girl&qid=1648689563&sprefix=goodbye%2C+sweet+girl%2Caps%2C95&sr=8-1
 
https://kellysundberg.com/
https://twitter.com/K_O_Sundberg
https://www.instagram.com/ksundber/
--
Ronit’s essays and fiction have been featured in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, The Iowa Review, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in both the 2021 Best Book Awards and the 2021 Book of the Year Award and a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and will be published in 2022. She is host and producer of the podcasts And Then Everything Changed and The Body Myth.
More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com
More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/
Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd
 
Follow Ronit:
https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
https://twitter.com/RonitPlank
https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank
 
Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash
Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography
Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

9. Writing About Our Children featuring Debi Lewis

Debi Lewis joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation on best practices for writing about our children, navigating the medical memoir, positioning books to make them appealing to publishers, and how she broke into The New York Times and sold her book during a global pandemic.
 
Also in this episode:
-rewriting drafts from scratch
-using texts and messages as manuscript material
-discovering a memoir’s structuring principle
 
Memoirs mentioned in this episode: 
Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan
Happiness: The Crooked Little Road to Semi-Ever After by Heather Harphan
 
BIO: Debi Lewis is the author of Kitchen Medicine: How I Fed My Daughter out of Failure to Thrive and has written for outlets including The New York Times, Bon Appetit, Huffington Post, Romper, Wired, and more. She lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband and two teenaged daughters. You can learn more about her at http://www.debilewis.com and follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @growthesunshine.
 
PURCHASE LINKS FOR KITCHEN MEDICINE: 
BOOKSHOP.ORG: https://bookshop.org/books/kitchen-medicine-how-i-fed-my-daughter-out-of-failure-to-thrive/9781538156650
AMAZON.COM: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1538156652/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_583S4P8V9N7BXANH6SGE 
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD: 
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538156667/Kitchen-Medicine-How-I-Fed-My-Daughter-out-of-Failure-to-Thrive 
Instagram and Twitter @growthesunshine
 
Ronit’s essays and fiction have been featured in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, The Iowa Review, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in both the 2021 Best Book Awards and the 2021 Book of the Year Award and a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and will be published in 2022. She is host and producer of the podcasts And Then Everything Changed and The Body Myth.
More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com
More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/
Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd
 
Follow Ronit:
https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
https://twitter.com/RonitPlank
https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank
 
Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash
Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography
Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

8. A Conversation with Writing and Publishing Expert Jane Friedman

Jane Friedman joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about the most common craft issues she sees in memoir manuscripts, what writers often misunderstand about the industry, The Big Five, how to write memoir query letters, ways the publishing landscape has changed for memoirs, and so much more in this do-not-miss episode.
-Visit the Let's Talk Memoir Merch store: https://www.zazzle.com/store/letstalkmemoir
Also in this episode:
-the lowdown on platform
-protecting identities in memoir
-Jane Friedman’s why
 
Books mentioned in this episode:
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
Swing by Ashleigh Renard
 
Links to articles mentioned in this episode:
How to Use Real People in Your Writing Without Ending Up in Court:
https://helensedwick.com/how-to-use-real-people-in-your-writing/
Law & Authors: a conversation with Jacqui Lipton
https://youtu.be/GDydK3Z4aOI
How to and (Especially) How Not to Write About Family
https://www.janefriedman.com/write-about-family-memoir/
A Big Shitty Party: Six Parables of Writing About Other People
 
Millions of Followers? For Book Sales, ‘It’s Unreliable.’
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/07/books/social-media-following-book-publishing.html
 
Jane Friedman (@JaneFriedman) has 20 years of experience in the publishing industry, with expertise in digital media strategy for authors and publishers. She is the publisher of The Hot Sheet, the essential newsletter on the publishing industry for authors, and was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World in 2019.
In addition to being a columnist for Publishers Weekly, Jane is a professor with The Great Courses, which released her 24-lecture series, How to Publish Your Book. Her book for creative writers, The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press), received a starred review from Library Journal.
Jane speaks regularly at conferences and industry events such as BookExpo America, Digital Book World, and the AWP Conference, and has served on panels with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Creative Work Fund. Find out more.
www.janefriedman.com 
https://www.instagram.com/janefriedman/
 
Ronit’s essays and fiction have been featured in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, The Iowa Review, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in both the 2021 Best Book Awards and the 2021 Book of the Year Award and a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and will be published in 2022. She is host and producer of the podcasts And Then Everything Changed and The Body Myth.
More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com
More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/
Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd
 
Follow Ronit:
https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
https://twitter.com/RonitPlank
https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank
 
Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash
Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography
Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Finger

7. Writing Your Story for Yourself featuring Melissa Gould

Melissa Gould joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about how writing was a way back to herself after she became a widow unexpectedly and at a young age, making the jump from screenwriting to nonfiction, when she knew she had a memoir, and how she protected her daughter in her writing.
Also in this episode:
-Melissa’s experience leading workshops
-how writing helps transform grief
-what it’s like to have your book optioned for TV.
 
Memoirs mentioned in this episode:
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Educated by Tara Westover
Maid by Stephanie Land
 
Melissa Gould’s memoir, Widowish, is an Amazon best seller and Editor's Pick for best memoir, a Goodreads Top Book of 2021, and has been named one of BookAuthority's 100 Best Grief Books of All Time!  Her essays have been published in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Hollywood Reporter, Buzzfeed and more. She is an award-winning screenwriter who has worked on shows such as Bill Nye the Science Guy, Beverly Hills 90210, Party of Five, and Lizzie McGuire. Widowish is available wherever books are sold. Find Melissa at www.widowish.com and on Instagram at MelissaGould_Author.
Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Widowish-Memoir-Melissa-Gould/dp/1542018781/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Website link: www.widowish.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissagould_author/
 
Ronit’s essays and fiction have been featured in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, The Iowa Review, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in both the 2021 Best Book Awards and the 2021 Book of the Year Award and a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and will be published in 2022. She is host and producer of the podcasts And Then Everything Changed and The Body Myth.
More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com
More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/
Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd
 
Follow Ronit:
https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
https://twitter.com/RonitPlank
https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank
 
Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash
Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography
Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

6. Not Too Soon, Not Too Much: Stories That Insist on Being Told featuring Meg Weber

Meg Weber joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about knowing when the right time is to tell your story, approaching loved ones about scenes in your memoir featuring graphic sex and kink, why compartmentalizing on the page doesn’t work, and writing with a broken heart.
Also in this episode: 
-real names and pen names
-asking your family’s permission 
-why there can never be enough memoirs
 
Memoirs mentioned in this episode:
The End of Eve by Ariel Gore
Refuge by Terry Tempest Williiams
Abandon Me by Melissa Febos
Whip Smart by Melissa Febos
The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch
The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan
Group by Christie Tate
 
Bio: Meg Weber writes memoir about sex, grief, love, family, therapy, and tangled relationships. She is a queer writer and a mental health therapist who specializes in gender and sexuality. Her debut memoir, A Year of Mr. Lucky, launched in February of 2021, and she is at work on her second memoir. She lives in a suburb of Portland, Oregon with her wife, her teenager, a therapy labradoodle named Portland, and two cats. 
Connect with Meg:
https://www.megweberwriter.com/a-year-of-mr-lucky
Purchase A Year of Mr. Lucky from Bookshop
 
Ronit’s essays and fiction have been featured in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, The Iowa Review, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in both the 2021 Best Book Awards and the 2021 Book of the Year Award and a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and will be published in 2022. She is host and producer of the podcasts And Then Everything Changed and The Body Myth.
More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com
More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/
Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd
 
Follow Ronit:
https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
https://twitter.com/RonitPlank
https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank
 
Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash
Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography
Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

5. Doing Whatever it Takes to Get Yourself to Write featuring Andrea Ross

Andrea Ross joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about battling memoir imposter syndrome, choosing scene over exposition, doing whatever it takes to get yourself to write, and how she used the wilderness to help tell her story and convey the particular brand of loneliness that adopted people experience.
 
Also in this episode:
-what new writers sometimes forget
-promoting your book 
-publishing with a small press
 
Memoirs in this episode:
Unnatural Selection by Andrea Ross
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr
Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden
The Mistress's Daughter by A.M. Homes
 
Bio:
Andrea Ross's memoir, Unnatural Selection, about her years as a wilderness guide searching for her biological family, was published by CavanKerry Press in 2021. Her writing has appeared in Ploughshares, The Huffington Post, Terrain The Conversation,  Mountain Gazette, and many other outlets. During the 1980s and 1990s, Andrea worked throughout the American West as a wilderness guide, a National Park Service Ranger, and a backcountry Search and Rescue leader. She is a faculty member in the University Writing Program at UC Davis. 
 
Links:
website: andrearosswriter.com
link to buy book: https://www.cavankerrypress.org/product/unnatural-selection/
twitter: https://twitter.com/Andrea_M_Ross
insta: https://www.instagram.com/andrearosswriter/
facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/rossandream
 
Ronit’s essays and fiction have been featured in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, The Iowa Review, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in both the 2021 Best Book Awards and the 2021 Book of the Year Award and a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and will be published in 2022. She is host and producer of the podcasts And Then Everything Changed and The Body Myth.
More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com
More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/
Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd
 
Follow Ronit:
https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
https://twitter.com/RonitPlank
https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank
 
Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash
Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography
Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

4. Finding the Thread featuring Ellen Blum Barish

Ellen Blum Barish joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about becoming a memoirist after a career as a journalist and how that deepened her love of writing, the power of working on smaller pieces as we craft our memoir, and finding the themes and structure in our story.
Also in this episode:
-Ellen’s Eight Essential Elements of Essay
-Writing about the people we love
-Knowing where to begin and where to end
 
Memoirs mentioned in this episode:
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Inheritence by Dani Shapiro
What Comes Next and How to Like It by Abigail Thomas 
Safekeeping by Abigail Thomas
One Hundred Names for Love Diane Ackerman
Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Greely
Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett
 
 
Ellen Blum Barish is the author of Seven Springs: A Memoir (Shanti Arts, 2021) and Views from the Home Office Window (Adams Street Publishing, 2007). You can find her work in Brevity’s Blog, Full Grown People, Literary Mama, Tablet and The Chicago Tribune. Many of her essays have aired on Chicago Public Radio and have been told on storytelling stages around Chicago. Ellen founded the literary publication Thread, which earned four notables in Best American Essays and has taught writing at Northwestern University where she earned a master’s in journalism. She works privately with writers and teaches writing workshops on essay collections and memoir.
Seven Springs: A Memoir: http://www.shantiarts.co/uploads/files/abc/BARISH_SEVEN.html
Seven Springs: A Memoir (audiobook on Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Seven-Springs-A-Memoir/dp/B09BDBM1FD/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Website: https://ellenblumbarish.com
Coaching: https://ellenblumbarish.com/coaching/
Blog on Craft, Creativity & Commotion: https://ellenblumbarish.com/blog/
E-Guides “Writing Your Marker Story” & “Ellen’s Eight Essential Elements of Essay” https://ellenblumbarish.com/guides/
Upcoming Workshops: https://ellenblumbarish.com/workshops/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellenblumbarish/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EllenBlumBarish
Twitter:
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Ronit’s essays and fiction have been featured in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, The Iowa Review, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in both the 2021 Best Book Awards and the 2021 Book of the Year Award and a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and will be published in 2022. She is host and producer of the podcasts And Then Everything Changed and The Body Myth.
More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com
More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/
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Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash
Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography
Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers