Tag: bookcoach
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to reveal, or not to reveal?
“I don’t know whether I should write about my affair,” one of my memoir clients said recently. “Without it, the choices I made after don’t make sense. But I can’t imagine my ex-sister-in-law reading it…She might not forgive me.” This kind of dilemma comes up a lot with my memoir clients. They want to write…
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a beast in my soup
One afternoon I was having lunch with my friend Misha. We were gabbing about who-knows-what when she stopped and said, “There’s a beast in my soup.” I looked over and sure enough, swimming around her soup was a jade-green beetle. We erupted into giggles. “What is the other word?” she said, wiping a tear. She’s…
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the thing about peru
People often ask me why I live in Peru. For years, I’d give an almost-answer: “I like learning Spanish, I love the people, my friends here, the food, the history, the culture.” Those are all true, but they don’t add up to the full reason. Only recently have I understood the real “why.” * In…
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a sharpened stake
I used to think writing was a solitary act. I wrote alone, brainstormed alone, edited alone. Only on very rare occasion did I let it out into the sunlight, did I invite someone in. Partly that’s because I was shy. I didn’t think anyone would want to read what I wrote. And showing someone your…
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anatomy of a story
One Thursday in 2017, my arm began to hurt. Instantly I assumed the worst: I must have torn something, probably during silks practice. I put on a sling and refused to lift even a pen. The pain worsened. So, days later, I called my chiropractor to book an appointment. “What does it feel like?” he…
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to be a toddler
When I first came to Peru three years ago, I found a community of language learners: some learning English, some learning Spanish. I was learning Spanish, armed with high school vocab and an impressive Duolingo streak (250 days!). Yet it was not past experience, nor commitment to an app, that indicated anyone’s success. Nor was…
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saws and other writing tools
“If you’ve never seen a saw, then a log looks like a miracle.” Think about that. If what you want feels impossible, it’s tempting to conclude that it is. But maybe… Maybe it just seems that way because you haven’t yet found the right tools. Maybe, to someone with the right tools, it’s in reach.…
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the scriptwriter’s secret
There’s a character in the book Aunt Julie and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa* who’s known for writing dozens of scripts a day. He writes constantly, and what he writes is good. So people ask him: How do you do it? What’s your secret? His answer: He poops a lot. !!! He says, “Un…
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twenty cat-cows
“Let’s go into cat-cows,” my yoga teacher said last Monday. “We’re going to do twenty.” (Me, silently: That’s way too many cat-cows.) “Don’t go to your full range of motion at first,” she went on. “Start small, and let each one expand a little more.” I felt called out, trying to arch my back as…
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ghosted
Years ago, I met a client in person after months of working together. Right after, she ghosted me. She was a renowned clothing designer, and I was nervous to visit her studio. Still, she was friendly and welcoming, and I left thinking it had gone well. Then she stopped returning my emails. Weeks turned to…
Kimberly Bunker, MFA 