In my years as a memoir teacher, editor, and coach, and as a memoirist myself, I’ve found that the greatest challenge for a personal writer is to create work that is meaningful to others. And the most crucial question a personal writer can ask, and keep asking, her material in an effort to meet that challenge is, WHO CARES?

 

An inspiring, tough-love quote that any serious memoirist should put on a post-it above her…

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I'm honored and delighted to have been invited on the University of Iowa's International Writing Program's Souk Ukaz 2010, or "marketplace of ideas," a delegation of writers from the U.S. and elsewhere traveling in Jerusalem and Fes, immersing ourselves in the cultures, interacting with local artists, activists, professors, and others, and writing about our observations. Come check out who we are and what we're doing, and follow our… Continue

(Day of Action + 2: I added two more, for a true baker's dozen. SS)



These are among the books published this year that I plan to read or have read already. True gems, all, and you'll see I'm in good company in thinking so — several lauded by Publisher's Weekly itself, oddly enough. Links to purchase handily included. In no particular order:…



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My favorite section of Michiko Kakutani's rave of Mary Karr's new memoir, Lit, comparing it to the onslaught of memoirs that have been coming out in droves since the late '90s:



"Whereas many of these lesser efforts were propelled by the belief that confession is therapeutic and therapy is redemptive and redemption somehow equals art, Ms. Karr's own work demonstrates that candor and self-revelation only become literature when they are delivered with hard-earned craft, that the… Continue

SHE WRITES’ VP of Education Deborah Siegel introduces our latest webineer, Shari Cohen:

Shari showed me how to professionalize and become a true “solopreneur”—giving me the tools I needed to turn my writing, coaching, and consulting into a profitable business, helping me to see myself as bona fide business person, in addition to journalist/author/blogger. So much of SHE NEEDS HELP is informed by Shari's unique… Continue