Tag: book-review
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on querying
It feels weird to be back in the querying game for my own novel. This past year I’ve told every single one of my clients that I recommend hybrid publishing over traditional. I do. Hybrid can be so much cleaner, easier, more satisfying, less devastating on a soul level. Traditional saps up so much energy…
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on gifting creativity
It’s been strange, boxing up my grandparents’ house this summer. Stuff they’d had for 50 years or more. Most of it was meaningful once, now it’s at Goodwill. Honestly, it’s made me not want to own stuff. My family is very into gift-giving at Christmas, so I’ve been thinking about how to handle that. What…
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on writing for a cause
One genre of books people don’t talk about much: Books for a cause. Sometimes these are hiding in other bookshelves: psychology, history, sociology. But they’re not just informational or instructional. What they are is books that move people, galvanize them, inspire them toward something important. (Maybe it’s foster care, restorative justice, somatic healing, urban planning,…
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on writing anger
“I don’t know how to write about this person. I don’t know if I forgive him, and he basically ruined my career/relationship/life. I’m still angry.” I hear this a lot from my memoir clients. Writing about betrayal, loss, pain, abuse, injustice can be messy, painful, and just plain hard. It’s especially so if you’re considering…
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on the unfamiliar
When I first moved to Iquitos, a city deep in the Peruvian Amazon, I felt farther from home than I’d ever been. Nothing was familiar. Motos screeched around corners—many with small children, many with women nursing babies. It was 100 degrees, but people stood on sidewalks grilling whole fish. Cumbia rhythms poured through windows. Yet…
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on discovery
One fall Saturday while visiting my parents in upstate New York, we went to the town’s famous annual shindig: the Hilton Apple Fest. We parked at a church nearby, and on the way back to the car, we passed what looked like overgrown brush. Until: “Is that okra?” I said, stepping off the path. “Where?”…
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on writing a memoir
“Want to join a memoir-writing group with me?” my friend S. asked me one day in 2019. This was pretty random. We’d never talked about writing memoirs before, and I wasn’t ghostwriting them yet. I liked reading them, but my specialty was fiction. “Yes!” I said right away. “When do we start?” Shoot, I thought…
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on moving
Moving day. Everything’s moved in, so now it’s a matter of organizing. This is my favorite part. Deciding what goes where, that glimmer of satisfaction when I put something its new home. I don’t have much stuff (and thank God the apartment’s furnished). Each object I own tells a story of where or who it…
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on being ghosted
Years ago, I met a prospective client, a renowned clothing designer, in her NYC studio. We discussed the book she wanted to write — her timeline, her goals, her hopes and fears. I thought we bonded… …and then she ghosted me. Weeks passed. I wondered: Was it something I said?I should NOT have worn that…
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on connecting the dots
My first night in Peru, I sat on my patio and opened a notebook to write. I’d come here to find peace. My life had been upended recently—a 6-year relationship ended; the house I’d wanted to buy had fallen through. The future I’d imagined had dissolved, and I felt lost and uncertain. Here, though, listening…