NEWS YOU CAN USE. Maybe you saw these stories. Maybe you missed them, but these are among the pieces I’ve read recently that might elicit some form of short memoir – an op-ed, or personal essay – from you. Once a week I’ll bring you news pieces I find provocative.
Here are some that get me going:
- In case you didn’t hear them all the other times they’ve said this.
- Is this any way to run a protest?
- Equal pay remains an illusion, even after college.
- More proof that Texas is its own country. As if we needed it.
- Hello? To many people, this looks a lot like economic recovery.
Surely you have something to write using one of these as your news peg.
Looking for inspiration or guidance on how to write a personal essay? Look at my categories for NPR essays, parenting essays and several other topics. All of the pieces there have been published, or have aired on the radio. Pressed for time? Check out the interactive calendar, where other news pegs give you the option to work weeks in advance. So write on.
Jan Marquart says
I enjoy your newsletters because writing memoir has saved and healed me from emotional, spiritual, and physical health problems. I have written non-fiction, self-help, fiction, and poetry and each one has been a memoir.
Sometimes writing memoir can be difficult especially if a situation is painful to write. Here’s a trick I learned. When I wrote The Breath of Dawn, a Journey of Everyday Experiences I was fearful about re-entering the paralyzing stroke-like-event I suffered as a result of ingesting an herbal formula. So I wrote what I could in the first person. Then I rewrote the entire book in the third person. I couldn’t believe how much easier it was to recover painful information in the third person. Then I rewrote it back to the first person. It was worth the time it took to do this.
Just thought I’d pass this process on.
Jan Marquart
Jan Marquart says
I would like to add a book to your list of memoirs. I just finished reading Alice Koller’s book The Stations of Solitude. This is a must read. I have a review of it on Amazon if anyone cares to read specifically how this memoir touched me.
Jan Marquart