Who’s Ready To Write Memoir?

The moment pen touches paper or finger pads meet computer keypads or thumb presses Record, is as personal and private as prayer. My writing journey started when I was five years old, in 1962. My first poem was published in a literary journal called The Voice of Mid-Queens, which printed the work of public school children. The editor and publisher was my mother’s friend. I felt excited and lucky until I discovered that, without my knowledge or permission, the poem had been changed. To my dismay, the editor/publisher completely missed the five year old joke (that dogs, not fish, are named Rover) and ruined the poem. It was less the publisher’s unilateral choice, though, and more my interest in other activities—first dance, then boys—that, except for college essays, I detoured off my writing path for more than 20 years.

In the late 1980s, I had a chance meeting with Elizabeth Julia Stoumen (then named Tatiana), daughter of International Women’s Writing Guild’s founder, Hannelore Hahn. She mentioned the Guild. It took ten more years (the ten years my memoir embodies) before I joined the sacred sisterhood. I attended what I call goddess camp, the Guild’s weeklong conference that takes place every spring or summer. An extraordinary array of serious writing classes and critique sessions was complemented by movement, drumming and other non-traditional classes that would stir the mighty Muse within. At evening readings, all writers: published, famous, obscure and as yet undiscovered, were each given three minutes to read. I missed the Friday night opening and the second, Sunday night opening, during which Hannelore warned newcomers: Don’t go to every class. So, I went to every class Monday and Tuesday from dawn until dusk and passed out from exhaustion on Wednesday.

Shortly after the conference, a member of my women’s action group suggested that the notes I’d been throwing in my bottom drawer for years “seem to be causing you a lot of stress. Why don’t you write the book.” My heart opened and I managed to piece together a zero draft, a mishmosh of angry and tearful journal entries, public service announcements, complaints about my childhood and moralistic musings.

At a subsequent IWWG conference, I met memoirist Sue William Silverman, who invited me to apply to Vermont College’s weeklong summer writing program, which I did. I was accepted and flew up to Vermont. I had diarrhea all week, was completely paranoid and defensive, but the other memoirists were able to get past my defenses to encourage me to read in front of the rest of the conference attendees on the last day. That reading turned into an important chapter of my current memoir. Once I returned from the conference, I realized that, as the proud writer of a longer-than-college-essay work, I needed a writing group to continue the arduous rewriting phase that Sue suggested was crucial to good writing. Yet nowhere among New York City’s 6 – 8 million inhabitants could I find a writing group I fit into, nor could I find even 15 minutes a day to put pen to page or fingertips to QWERTY keyboard.

By the time I was ready to turn the zero draft into a first draft, in 2005, I’d moved from Brooklyn Heights to Montclair and joined Women Who Write, Inc.’s Montclair group. Eventually, that group ended and I joined The Write Group’s Memoirs and Muffins critique group, where I completed a polished draft and, in the group’s tradition, had a photograph taken of me with my manuscript on my head. I am now between the first and second drafts. The next step will be researching publishing options.

Everyone has an interesting story to tell. So if you want to write a memoir but can’t seem to find the time, don’t badger yourself. Be gentle. When you’re ready, you will write it.

The Five Year Old’s Version                                                         The Edited Version

I wish, I wish I was a fish                                                               I wish I wish I were a fish

I’d swish, swish in my little dish                                                 I’d swish, swish, swish in my dish

I’d jump and bump and play all over                                        I’d jump and bump and play all over;

I’d sleep at night.                                                                             I’d sleep at night

My name is Rover.                                                                          Then do this over.

By: Little Star

Published Authors Answer Your Questions

Join Women Who Write on Saturday, February 27th for a roundtable with published authors. Anyone interested in learning how to become published, either via a traditional publisher or a self-publisher, is invited. This event is free and open to the public.

The author-panelists will field questions from the audience on various topics concerning the publishing industry, such as:

• Submitting a polished manuscript
• Finding an agent
• Finding an editor
• Working with a publisher
• Marketing and promotion

Our panelists include the following authors:

• Joanne Flynn Black, journalist
• Michelle Cameron, author of the historical novel The Fruit of Her Hands: The Story of Shira of Ashkenaz
  
• Elaine Denholz, award-winning O’Neill playwright and author of the non-fiction title Having it Both Ways
• Ann M. DeVenezia, poet & author of Riding my Tricycle and Grave Rubbings
• Marcia Ivans, poet & author of Over Easy
• Alice Mendelsohn, poet
• Corey Rosen-Schwartz, children’s picture book author of Hop! Plop! and forthcoming Three Ninja Pigs

If you’re a writer, or just interested in the art and business of writing, please join us!

Saturday, Feburary 27th, 2009
2 to 4PM
Morris County Public Library
First floor conference room

Free and Open to the Public

How “The Fruit of Her Hands” Almost Didn’t Happen

Today Michelle Cameron, a Women Who Write member, shares the amazing story of how her debut novel almost didn’t get picked up by her agent.

After my first New York reading for my recently published historical novel, The Fruit of Her Hands, my agent, Judith, invited me out for a cup of tea. As we walked, I told her about my son’s summer internship with a publishing company.

“By the end of the summer, they were letting him write editorial letters,” I said, my mother’s pride evident in my voice. “At 19! Can you imagine?”

“That doesn’t scare you a little?” Judith probed.

“It scares me a lot,” I nodded. “Or it would if I didn’t know how talented he really is.”

Judith hesitated a little, looking over at me. “Did I ever tell you how I almost didn’t accept your work?” she asked.

I stopped short, staring at her. “No,” I gulped. “You didn’t.”

“Your query letter was in my intern’s out basket–waiting for her to add the rejection letter. It was on the top of the pile, otherwise I would never have seen it. I glanced at it–and then picked it up and read it. And I was horrified that she’d almost turned you down.”

“Why…?” I whispered, aghast.

Judith shrugged. “She’s young, she didn’t understand that yours was exactly the type of letter I hope for. I had to explain it to her–how you were writing for a niche market, how you’d identified that and demonstrated other writers who had successfully written for it. And further how–because of your family connection to the hero of your novel, you had a unique hook for publishers. And your initial chapters were well-written. So of course this was a book I wanted to see.”

We resumed walking. I was finding it a little hard to breathe. Everything that had happened to me over the past 18 months–my novel’s acceptance by Pocket Books, the wonderful work they had done in helping me shape the novel and present it so beautifully, the incredible high I had just experienced walking into a major New York bookstore and seeing my books displayed next to a poster announcing my reading–all could have been dissolved into nothing if Judith had not looked over at her intern’s out basket at that critical moment.

It was a sobering thought and it reminded me, once again, just how much luck plays a role in the capricious world of publishing.

Michelle Cameron’s debut historical novel, The Fruit of Her Hands: The Story of Shira of Ashkenaz, was released by Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, in September 2009. It has been praised by Publisher’s Weekly for its “powerful immediacy,” for its “rich details” by Library Journal, as a “meticulously researched and immensely readable saga” by Jewish Woman Magazine, and as a book “rich with wonderful characters, vivid settings, and an absolutely lush and wonderful depiction of the strengths of the medieval Jewish home and community” by the San Diego Jewish World, among others. It is available in most local bookstores, as well as online. Learn more at Michelle-Cameron.com.

Would You Invite a Skunk to Your Wedding?

Writing for Kids III group member Ginger Pate’s first picture book, Would You Invite a Skunk to Your Wedding?, was recently released by Greene Bark Press. Congratulations, Ginger!

Louie Phewie is a young skunk who has a problem controlling his spray. Sometimes, when he becomes nervous, his spraying becomes uncontrollable. Despite his problem, friends invite him to be the ring bearer at their wedding. Unfortunately when a number of things go wrong at the wedding, Louie makes it a wedding to be remembered, for all the wrong reasons.

Ginger’s story is for 3-8 year-olds and was inspired by real-life events.

“At my sister’s wedding years ago, my brother borrowed my car to go to the wedding. What he didn’t realize is that a skunk had sprayed my car the night before the wedding. He had opened the window while driving and wiped his arm on the car.

“When he came into the church and reception, he literally stunk! Everyone wondered where the stink was coming from… He couldn’t wait to take his jacket off to get away from the wonderful aroma.”

Ginger says she wrote the story for her daughter’s wedding, to show her daughter that no matter what happened, she would have a beautiful day.

Would You Invite a Skunk to Your Wedding? is available now from Greene Bark and has already garnered four five-star reviews on Amazon. Congratulations, Ginger!

The Amistad Mutiny: From the Court Case to the Movie

Congratulations to Women Who Write member Melissa Eisen Azarian, whose first book was published this July. Melissa is a member of the Writing for Kids III group.

The Amistad Mutiny: From the Court Case to the Movie is part of an educational series for 9-12 year-olds from Enslow Publishers.

In 1839, a group of enslaved Africans bound for Cuba mutinied on their ship, the Amistad. They attempted to sail back to Africa, but ended up in the waters off New York, where they were recaptured and put on trial. Author Melissa Eisen Azarian explores the history behind the case, the trial, and the movie, Amistad, based on their fight for freedom. Illustrated with paintings from the period and stills from the movie.

The series received a favorable endorsement from School Library Journal:

“Books about notable court cases are nothing new, but the inclusion of movies inspired by them is an alluring twist. These authors explain complex issues in an easy-to-follow manner… Sources are well-documented, making this series a promising staple for reports.”

Congratulations, Melissa!

More Women Who Write success stories to come.