By Abigail Thomas I have been looking through a mess of writing for a lost poem, and come across a story so old that the paper is the color of weak tea. I recognize the typeface from the Olympia typewriter I found on 110th Street and managed to lug back to my apartment. God knows how many years ago that was. I loved that thing, it was as big and heavy and honorable as one of those beautiful old cash registers you never see anymore.  I wrote poems and stories on that typewriter until the computer was invented and I couldn’t find ribbon to fit the old machine. Maybe I didn’t look ..read more

Guinevere Turner Tamara MC interviews Guinevere Turner Turner is a screenwriter (American Psycho, The Notorious Bettie Page), film director, actress, and now author of a debut memoir, When the World Didn’t End. Turner spent the first eleven years of her life (1968-1979) in n urban hippie commune with approximately a hundred adults and sixty children. Like other cults, there was an “Us versus Them” mentality, medical care was restricted, children were homeschooled, and girls were chosen to be brides by thirteen or fourteen. The group was apocalyptic and believed the world would end—members woul ..read more

By Julie Vick The road to having your first book come out is filled with ups and downs. It’s like being on an amusement park elevator ride where each new door might open to display either a scene of your friends presenting you with a cake decorated like your book cover or a stranger dressed in a hockey mask handing you a breakdown of your latest sales rankings by the hour. Achieving a lifelong dream is gratifying, but can also come with a lot of expectations, some of which don’t live up to reality. But one of the bright spots in my publishing journey has been libraries. My local library was a ..read more

NOT A GOOD FIT TAKING A DIFFERENT DIRECTION DON’T TAKE THIS REJECTION TO HEART THE TIMING ISN’T QUITE RIGHT NOT A REFLECTION ON YOU A HEARTBREAKING DECISION DOESN’T MEET PRESENT NEEDS All these phrases come from rejection letters I’ve received. Not from love interests, but from literary publications. The language around sending in writing for publication—submitting—mirrors the language of dating and relationships. And the rejection can sting nearly as much. No matter how nicely worded, a literary rejection can pierce one’s fragile sense of belonging (as a writer, as a person). I still remembe ..read more

By Beth Kephart Years ago, when I began to teach memoir at the University of Pennsylvania, I drew a conclusion I had not foreseen: Writing memoir was no longer my job, or my privilege. Creating a community of trust among truth seekers was. Listening for the pulse and purpose of others’ stories. Developing not just an editorial stance, line by line, but a philosophical one about what memoir could be and was not. Reading lists and meaningful prompts. Individualized care and group dynamics. Teaching memoir the way I wanted to teach memoir would leave no room for my own tangled personal explorati ..read more

By Lainy Carslaw This is not an easy story to tell. Mostly because it’s embarrassing and I’m ashamed of my stupidity. And also because I still don’t know how this story ends. But I want other writers to learn from my mistakes in their efforts to publish. So here we go. At the beginning of 2021, I landed an agent (Yay!) I was on cloud nine and imagined that I was within reach of my life-long dream of publishing a novel. I should have known better. There were signs. It all started the previous year with me reading an article about a certain agent in the Huffington Post. She sounded professional ..read more

By Alexander Forston      I have no traditionally valuable skills; by this I refer to those that are commonly called “marketable” or “in demand.” I do not understand money management nor the value of labor nor why all of society’s functions must occur in the daylight. I have been a night owl since I was born; you can ask my mother about it. I often find it unpleasant to talk to strangers, but I can do it when I must. I perform diligently and to the best of my ability when I have a job, but I cannot remain at a position for more than six months without falling into exi ..read more

By Katie Bannon Mental health is often branded “taboo” and, for writers of memoir and personal essay, these stories can be our most vulnerable and challenging material. But there’s a reason these types of narratives are so sought after. At their best, they speak to our darkest truths and teach us what it means to be human. I’ve been writing about mental health for over a decade now. And as a developmental editor, I’ve worked with dozens of memoirists and essayists writing their own mental health stories. Here are the five most important lessons I’ve learned about crafting mental health narrat ..read more

By Sandra A. Miller When my friend Lisa and I received our MFAs in 1996, we both immediately scored New York literary agents with our just-finished manuscripts. Within a few months, Lisa, twenty-six to my thirty-two, sold her novel to a major publisher and went on to land a series of book deals that set her on the literary path she still walks today. My road was rockier. My MFA novel, although admired for its fine writing and plot twists, received a pass from all of the Big Ten publishing houses. At that point, my agent pruned me from his client list, leaving me with an unsold manuscript and ..read more

By Carolyn Roy-Bornstein When I retired at 65 and closed my medical practice, I looked forward to long stretches of time to write, something I rarely had when I worked. My days then were filled with sick visits and well-baby checks, hospital rounding and conference calls. For all my adult life, writing had been catch-as-catch-can. I carved out time in the morning, before the rest of the household woke up, to add a few precious paragraphs to that half-written essay, to polish and submit a short story. I’d pull out my young adult novel every couple of Novembers and add a few chapters during Nat ..read more