Words to Write by

For this week's workshop episode, Renee wrote about the brief time she spent as a child in Pacific Grove, CA, taking care to identify specific streets and locations as recommended by Judith Barrington in her book Writing the Memoir.  We discuss and analysis this technique to see how it can improve our memoir writing. Remember, we have a Writers Process meetup every Wednesday. Check us out.

Writing (and publishing) a memoir can be nerve wracking. What if the people you’re writing about don’t like your portrayal of them? What if they hate it? What if they decide to sue? In this episode we discuss the chapter (and appendix) that cover this memoirist’s fear in Judith Barrington’s book, Writing the Memoir — both from an emotional and legal perspective. We also talk about the importance o...

Okay, maybe that's a bit of hyperbole, but not by much. In this stand alone episode we talk with Erik Klass, the entrepreneurial editor behind the submission service Submitit about what literary journals are looking for in short stories and creative non-fiction.  He also discusses how his company evaluates and chooses particular journals for their client's stories. Remember, we have a Wr...

Last week we covered time in memoir, specifically how the writer can jump back and forth in time and the reader can follow along easily.   In this episode, we identify signposts and time jumps in two short memoir pieces. One by one of Kim' s favorite science writers, Rebecca Skloot. Remember, we have a Writers Process meetup every Wednesday. Check us out.

Memoirs are rarely straight chronological narratives, what with the musing we talked about last episode, and they almost always jump forwards and backwards in time. We discuss Judith Barrington take the mental Time Machine from her book Writing the Memoir , specifically the idea of the “Now” and how with a little signposting, readers can follow along. We also do a bit of grammar review (just a lit...

We’ve gotten to the part of Judith Barrington’s Writing the Memoir   where she covers the actual writing of in a memoir, the words on the page. In addition to scenes, which we’ve covered in our fiction writing podcasts, Barrington says memoirs contain summaries and musings. In this episode, we discuss all three (with examples!) and talk about how they fit together. And if you’re still not clear ab...

Readers seek out memoirs because they want true stories. But the truth, according to Judith Barrington in her book Writing the Memoir , is more than using Google to fact check. There are also emotional truths, which are harder than factual truths due of our imperfect memories, because they might offend our friends, families and communities, and because they can be painful, both to write, and to re...

Chronological, essays, skipping through time, interspersed non-fiction — there are so many forms that memoir can take. Judith Barrington covers several in her book, Writing the Memoir, and in this episode we discuss the options, and why you might choose one for your memoir. As a bonus, Renee shares an exercise she’s come up with for finding your memoir’s theme.  Remember, we have a Writers Process...

Baring one's soul in a memoir is hard work. Convincing others to care, to engage in your life story may be even harder. In her book, Writing the Memoir, Judith Barrington says the first step is getting ourselves to care about our memoir. In this podcast we discuss both her philosophical reasoning and practical advice.  In this week's writing exercise, Kim tries to come up with what her m...

We’re starting a NEW BOOK - Judith Barrington’s Writing the Memoir . And what better place to start than by discussing what a memoir is, and what memoir isn’t, and just how truthful do you need to be, important questions that are addressed in the book’s first chapter. But that’s only half the episode. We once again have a book with writing prompts at the end of the chapters. We might be a bit rust...

How do you tackle one of the most famous writing craft books, you take it “Bird by Bird.” That’s what we’ve done with Anne Lamott’s book over the past 12 episodes and in this final episode we cover her end of the class advice, along with how to avoid libel (not sure why that got placed there) and give our opinion about the book as a whole.  And then, because there’s always another writing craft bo...

Well,  why do you? The answer for most authors is to get published. But is that the only reason, or even the best reason? As we near the end of Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird we investigate other rewards for writing, like to to find ones voice, or as way of giving. And then we get back to publishing (this is a writing advice podcast) and discuss Lamott’s opinion that it’s not all that it’s cracked up...

Anne Lamott (in her Bird by Bird book) says the dreaded writer’s block isn’t about being blocked, it’s about being empty. In today’s podcast we discuss Lamott’s approach to writer’s block, as well as her technique of letter writing to get at the heart of your story. We also have an insightful conversation on exactly why memoirists (or at least Renee) want strangers to read about their lives. But b...

Behind most successful authors there is a writing group (at least according to their novel's acknowledgment section). But how does one find a writing group, and how do you get the most of out of one once you're in? In todays episode, we discuss the chapters "Writing Groups" and "Someone to Read your Drafts" from Anne Lamott's book Bird by Bird .   We also recall...

Some advice is timeless, some is not. In this episode we evaluate  writing techniques from Anne Lamott's book Bird by Bird and see if they still have value in our current Information Age.  Specifically, Lamott writes about capturing one's thoughts on index cards, and how to use a telephone to get information and also, to get a larger sense of people's views. Although we now use our...

Sometimes just showing up isn’t enough. You’ve set time aside for writing and instead of your story unfurling on the page (or screen) other things come out. In this episode, we’ll discuss author Anne Lamott’s struggle and solutions to this problem from her book Bird by Bird . First we’ll tackle the good voice, the inspiration that we keep ignoring, Lamott calls this the “Broccoli” then the bad voi...

We're onto the second section in Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird -- The Writing Frame Of Mind -- and it's getting a bit nebulous folks.  In Looking Around, Lamont encourages us to see, truly see, the world. That sounds like mindfulness training to Kim, it sounds like something else to Renee. And then it's onto The Moral Point of View which brings out an even more heated discussion....

Even published authors have problems getting the magical stories in their heads into finished manuscript. But Anne Lamott’s account of how, over the course of three years, she completely rewrote what would be her second novel several times, probably deserves a prize for perseverance (or stubbornness). In this podcast we discuss what was wrong with each of those drafts and the techniques she used t...

We’re covering two different topics from Ann Lamott’s book Bird by Bird . First off is scene setting, both their importance for your characters and how to get all the details right (quick answer, ask an expert) Then we’re back to finding out what your story is about, how to return to a scene or chapter again and again (and again) until you can finally say, “Yes, that is how it needs to be written....

We’ve gotten to some hearty chapters in Anne Lamott’s book Bird by Bird . First up is plot, which “grows out of characters.” We discuss what this means and if it’s applicable to genre writing. Then we turn to dialog, and how you distill intent from the rambling conversation of what people say while maintaining their unique voice.  Putting our writing chops to the test, Renee took a hilarious 3000...

So you’ve committed to Anne Lamott’s daily writing practice (as discussed in our previous podcast), good for you. Now let’s find out how to turn those embarrassing word scribbles into profound and meaningful insights.  In this episode we start with the Bird by Bird chapters, School Lunches and Polaroids, which, trust us, are about that transformative process. Then it’s onto the Character chapter w...

How does one write an entire novel? It’s a bit like the advice for eating an elephant, one bite at a time. In this episode we cover Anne Lamott’s novel biting tips from her book, Bird by Bird . First comes her 1-inch picture frame technique, then her most famous suggestion, shitty first drafts. Finally, we tackle the anti-writing mindset, perfectionism.   Also on the podcast, we interview literary...

It’s time for a new season and it’s time for a new book! We’re starting Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird. This is the writing process book that everyone has heard of, and, given that it’s funny and self-deprecating, it’s probably one most people have read. We’re looking forward to mining it for writing tips and seeing following them increases our own literary output.  We start with discussing the tone a...

Think ChatGPT can finish your creative writing exercises? Let’s find out! In this episode we’re testing the cutting-edge artificial intelligence on some old school writing prompts. We dug out our copies of John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction and typed in two of the back-of-the-book exercises. Faster than you could say “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” out came …...

We’re on our penultimate episode for our reading of Jack Bickham’s Scene and Structure . So, what does the bullet point Meister have to squeeze into an end of a book that 90% of its readers will probably never get to? Well, first we give ourselves a little pep talk and then we see if we can make sense of all of these specialized scene situations. And, dear listener, there are a lot of them: interr...