Memoirs
The Power of Persistence: #1 in a New Series by Katie Coleman, Author
Power of Persistence I’d stared stage IV cancer in the face at twenty-nine and had come out on the other side. Yet now, the idea of facing strangers gathering in the lobby downstairs suddenly felt like an insurmountable challenge. As I hid in my room, attempting to summon the courage to go down to mingle…
Read MoreThe Gynecologist
By: Victoria Zackheim: I was about to teach my first course at the San Miguel Writers’ Conference in Mexico, when I suffered a medical emergency. Not to go into details, but it appeared I was having my period. Knowing this was impossible, I was faced with the likelihood that I was dying. Writing prompt: Write…
Read MoreThe Dating Game
By Victoria Zackheim Many of my students struggle when asked to write a personal essay. And I understand. It’s not easy going from writing “she was not well liked” to “I couldn’t stand the bitch.” But if there is one irrefutable rule governing personal essay, it is that the truth prevails. One step away… and…
Read MoreGood Old Writers
By Victoria Zackheim I recently walked into my newly built kitchen and discovered a large, grayish rectangular stain on the quartz counter. Had I placed a hot pan there? Not likely. Spilled bleach? Definitely not. I wiped, scrubbed, gently scoured… nothing helped. And then I lifted my arm and noticed a change in the shape…
Read MoreMemoir as a Method for Change
by Brooke Warner (Brooke Warner will be speaking with Michelle Tea on the topic of using your memoir as a force for change at San Francisco Writing For Change: Worldwide on September 8. Register and join us for this Inspiration Conversation!) I was twelve or thirteen when I read Go Ask Alice. It was fiction,…
Read MoreMemoir Tips: Engage Your Reader’s Senses
By Louise Nayer Drawing readers into your world through sensory detail is what makes your pages come alive. Whether it’s the bitter taste of coffee in your mouth the day your father dies, or the creamy smell of a chocolate éclair as you pass a bakery and remember how you and your sister giggled with…
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