Keep Writing. Please.
Future generations need your stories.
Greetings from Victoria, BC, where I’ve finally settled in after a stressful move. I moved into the tiniest place I’ve lived since West 53rd St (or as I called it, “two blocks west of Letterman”) in Manhattan 30+ years ago. And I love it.
Keep Writing. Please.
This is a surreal and scary time for many of us. Each day seems to tilt a little further from the axis of reality we once trusted. Events that seemed inconceivable three months ago are now everyday news. And it’s hard—sometimes impossible—not to get swept under by the torrents.
The practices that keep me tethered right now are simple: journaling. Nature. Sleep. Meditation. I’m doubling down on all of them. They don’t solve anything in the world directly. But they keep me in relationship with myself, with the people who are most important to me, with the world, with what matters.
Please. Keep. Writing.
Future generations will need your memories and memoirs—both what’s happening now and also the texture of life before the slow erosion of democratic norms.
I’ve worked with a number of women who were among the first in their field after the passage of Title IX in 1972, which prohibited sex discrimination in universities. Although I was five at the time, I still remember all the victories for women that inspired me throughout my childhood. As a middle-aged (?) adult, learning about the experiences behind those headlines has been powerful and rewarding. Those stories—and others from different decades—need to be told.
Another client is the granddaughter of an English woman who was sold into child slavery in Canada. A horrific, Dickensian practice that few, if any, people today would know about other than through books like Carol’s.
What you write today might become a window for future generations to understand the sheer terror and helplessness many Americans are feeling right now (and the helplessness many around the world feel). Write what you see. Write what you feel. Write what you experience.
You may believe nothing you do matters right now. But it does.
Take care of yourself. Take action where and when you can. And keep writing—not because it will fix everything, but because the simplest and most difficult action, bearing witness to what’s happening, is its own form of care. Pro tip: Writing by hand, especially writing your emotions, can have a profound calming affect on the nervous system.
Creating Everyday Wonder on the Page: How to Mine Awe from the Mundane
In brighter news, I’m happy to say that my second Writer’s Digest article from last year is now available online. This is a craft-focused piece that looks at how authors from Ruth Ozeki to Robin Wall Kimmerer and Colson Whitehead use specific techniques to evoke wonder on the page.
All these techniques can be used in narrative nonfiction, including memoir. I had so much fun writing this article, and I hope you enjoy reading it.
Celebrating Clients’ Success: Elizabeth Shockman
Congratulations to my client Elizabeth Shockman on this week’s publication of her book BEHIND THE RED VELVET CURTAIN (Rowan & Littlefield), about ballerina Joy Womack, the first American to join the famed Bolshoi Ballet. A public radio journalist based in Minnesota, Elizabeth spent 12 years interviewing Joy before proposing the book (which is an autobiography “as told to” Elizabeth).
Here’s why her proposal worked: Elizabeth has worked at The Moscow Times (where she met Joy); she’s also worked at Reuters and the BBC, as well as Public Radio International, WCCO and Minnesota Public Radio News. But Elizabeth’s impressive credentials are only part of the story.
Joy Womack has been the subject of two streaming movies: First, The White Swan, a documentary following Womack as the first American woman to graduate from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy and join the Bolshoi Ballet company. And Joika, a biographical drama starring Talia Ryder as Joy Womack and Diane Kruger as her mentor, Tatiyana Volkova.
This combination of a famous subject and an experienced journalist—one with exclusive access to her subject—proved a winning combination.
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