June 4th, 2009
A Brand Dame Must-Read
Many people I know tell me they wish they could write. I have begun to see that writing phobia is akin to my own math phobia — I see numbers and I instantly go brain dead. For others, it is the blank screen or a piece of clean paper.
And when I ask what it is they want to write they tell me “my life story” or “a memoir.” To which I can now say, Pilgrim, your search has ended………
The acclaimed memoirist Sue William Silverman has just come out with a book called Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir.” Full disclosure, Sue is on the faculty of Vermont College of Fine Arts where I am currently pursuing my MFA.One of the great beauties of this gem of a book is that it is aimed at beginning and more experienced writers alike. As Sue says:
Everyone has memories. Everyone has a story to tell. Too often those memories, those stories, remain silent, for lack of the right words to bring them to light. That’s why I wrote Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir, to help writers transform the fragments of memory into compelling stories. Writing can be lonely. Having a guide to lead you through the maze of memory and show you the power in being unafraid of revealing your secrets, can help you discover your true story. Fearless Confessions explores how to blend what actually happened, what I call the Voice of Innocence, with what those actions means, what I call the Voice of Experience. Combined with chapters on how to find the plot of your life, how to write with style and then market the final product, Fearless Confessions can help take your real life experiences form the scrapbook to the bookshelf.
Here’s Sue talking about the book:
Listen to Sue William Silverman talking about writing memoirs.
Memoir, whether short or long, just for you or for publication, has everything to do with one’s authentic, personal brand. And if there’s one book that can set you on this path, it’s this one.
