I’VE NEVER LIKED JIMMY CONNORS, considering him among the triumvirate of people who temporarily turned tennis into a game played by bad-tempered men in (very) short pants. And since I spent a lot of … [Read more...] about What Makes Bad Memoir? Jimmy Connors Provides a Willing Example
The Memoir Project Blog
The Writing Life, or Groping My Way Toward Memoir
A BIG GROUP GROPE. It’s the image that popped into my head after a friend wrote seeking some writing advice. A thoroughly politically incorrect term, of course, as well as dated, the grope provides an … [Read more...] about The Writing Life, or Groping My Way Toward Memoir
How to Write Memoir: The Week in Review
MEMOIR WRITERS THINK we've got it made. That is, until we sit down to write, and all those stories seem to scatter away from our fingertips. Why does this happen? Who knows? But how about we fix it? … [Read more...] about How to Write Memoir: The Week in Review
A Guide to Great Memoir Adaptation
MEMOIR ADAPTATION IS TRICKY, indeed, the assignment being nothing less than inhabiting someone else’s life and getting it right. Sometimes they are spot-on perfect, of course. Such is the case with … [Read more...] about A Guide to Great Memoir Adaptation
How To Write Grief Memoir
IT WOULD BE HARD to estimate the percentage of students who enter my classes wanting to write grief memior. Half, maybe? Seventy-five percent, perhaps? I’ve never counted, but I know the numbers are … [Read more...] about How To Write Grief Memoir
Required Reading: What to Read to Learn to Write Memoir? Calvin Trillin.
MY HUSBAND SINGS in a large chorale group, providing me on a regular basis with music of the season. Most recently what filled my home was the music of Easter, whose own particular brand of adulation … [Read more...] about Required Reading: What to Read to Learn to Write Memoir? Calvin Trillin.