HOW TO WRITE the personal essay is something I cover in my many online memoir classes. I've written many essays, including those I read during my time as a commentator for NPR's All Things Considered. … [Read more...] about A September 11th Remembrance
A Thanksgiving Personal Essay
I TEACH MEMOIR, a job that includes teaching others how to write a personal essay. I've written them for NPR's All Things Considered, among other places. Here is one of those. Read it, and then ask me … [Read more...] about A Thanksgiving Personal Essay
Writing Memoir: Father’s Day
FAMILIES, LIKE NATIONS, have their own languages. We talk, we colloquialize ourselves into clans whose simplest intimacies are nicknames and dog names and things we shout at an ump. … [Read more...] about Writing Memoir: Father’s Day
Memoir Writing: My First Autopsy
I WENT TO my first autopsy, and here is what I learned: Human ribs can be clipped with the shears I use to prune my floribunda roses. The smell of a man dead for more than one week is far more … [Read more...] about Memoir Writing: My First Autopsy
A Modest Addiction: A Radio Essay
MY NAME IS MARION and I am an obit addict. … [Read more...] about A Modest Addiction: A Radio Essay
Ashes to Ashes, A Holiday Memoir
EVERY TIME THE holidays come around I am reminded that one of these days I simply have to do something with my mother’s ashes. It’s been more than twenty years since she died. This length of stay out … [Read more...] about Ashes to Ashes, A Holiday Memoir
