This essay is so close to my heart and is central to the themes of my memoir-in-progress. I was thrilled when it was recently republished by Reader's Digest in 10 different countries and multiple languages.
#cysticfibrosis
#amwritingmemoir
Read here:
@anaismitchell
@pauletteperhach
My brain not being so fragmented and distracted. I could draw for hours in my room. I miss how my friends and I wrote long, handwritten letters to each other. I loved not being constantly tracked. We had the freedom to be silly and awkward and weren’t constantly reporting back.
@GlennonDoyle
This is the flip side of the girls in sports can unashamedly play hard without caring about looking pretty or unmessy. Boys can be unashamedly emotional. You are like a social anthropologist, G.
A PSA for my writer friends: whenever you publish a new digital piece, drop that URL onto this page: so it is archived in case the publication disappears. Just happened to one of my pieces and I had archived it so I have that link to now use.
Salt, my newest piece of CNF, flowed from my brain to my fingertips like a fever dream. It’s my new favorite and I wrote it with
@hobartpulp
in mind. I’m so proud and excited that they loved it too. I hope you enjoy.
#amwriting
#writingcommunity
I’m taking part in
@suleikajaouad
’s 100-Day Project (started April 1), part of
#theisolationjournals
. One creative act each day. Mine is daily stillness. Guilt-free time off from being productive. I’ll read, walk, write, draw, meditate, be in nature.
Just learned my essay, "How to Keep Him Alive" won 1st place in
@ULLitMag
2020-21 Creative Nonfiction Contest. Thank you to Unlimited Literature. I'm honored.
I just got a yes on a submission that means a lot to me and how am I supposed to get back to my regular work now that my brain is pinballing around my skull like this?
11 years ago my Dad passed away from melanoma. It was a Sunday too. He was the kindest, most generous, funny, gentle, talented and loving dad. Grief is not linear and can’t be willed away. Just gonna feel it and be okay with it today.
Thrilled to get an acceptance this morning on a piece of flash CNF at a terrific literary pub. This was my fourth submission to them and first acceptance. Never give up.
I'm a copywriter who only started writing memoir, essays and reported stories in 2020. I'm making up for lost time now but am trying to stop thinking of it as a late start vs. accepting it was the right timing for me. Now I have a decades of stories to share.
Woke up to a notification that a piece I love, one I’ve submitted to multiple literary publications, was just accepted by the place I actually had in mind when I wrote it. Never give up. Believe in your work.
#WritingLife
A photographer is on his way to my house to shoot pictures of my daughter and me because a piece I wrote last summer is being picked up by a major publication for reprint. Treated myself to a blowout.
Just entered three of my own personal essays to The Best American Essays because I believe in advocating for my own work. A lifetime ago my work as an art director used to get entered for advertising awards (and win).
@Tumi213
“So, Michael decided to hire a private nurse to give us shots in the office, and he asked me for the number of that nurse from the rabies fun run. I don’t think he’s aware she’s not a real nurse.”
This gorgeous memoir, Between Two Kingdoms, is out in paperback today and I am gifting it to several friends. The author,
@suleikajaouad
is an extraordinary writer and human and I credit her with putting me on my current writing path. I strongly recommend the book.
I feel like I just completed a marathon, not that I'd know anything about that. I submitted the most important piece I've ever completed to-date, a highly competitive contest where the winner gets a publication deal.
#amwriting
#memoir
Today I was supposed to write but grief is piling up from two losses this week, one a wonderful man my mom dated for 7 yrs after my dad died, the other a cousin like an uncle to me, and I’m just going to curl up and feel it and not try to push past it.
One year ago, my first Tiny Love Story was published in the print version of
@nytimes
and I'm still as thrilled today as I was then. Grateful to
@yayamilee
and proud to be in the company of my fellow TLS writers.
I’m flabbergasted. My first Pushcart nomination. Thank you
@PaulCrenstorm
for the nomination and thank you
@havehadhavehad
and
@Chelsea_Stickle
for publishing my piece, We Never Got To Watch Carol Brady Grow Older.
Every submission is an act of optimism. That’s one of the reasons I’m compelled to keep putting out work. I’m also making up for all the years I wasn’t doing this kind of writing. It truly energizes me and brings me joy (with a side of angst).
“Raising a child with CF was like driving through a blizzard. Gripping the wheel, it took all my strength and determination to keep from careening off the road.”
One year ago WaPo published my essay. I’d love for you to read it.
They say the brain doesn't discern between trauma in the moment and trauma recalled, such as when writers dive back down the hole to capture an event. I need to shift gears and ground myself after writing about a harrowing time.
#amwriting
#memoir
@ajmandal15
I’m hesitant to do that because I don’t want to harm my chances of working with other editors (elsewhere). I am going to see how she responds to my email first. I also told my agent and that’s another possible path to making this right.
Excited to learn a TLS of mine was chosen for the 2023 Tiny Love Stories calendar! I just ordered it and can't wait to pore through it. Thank you
@yayamilee
and
@danjonesnyt
for publishing my story and so many other beautiful and inspiring stories.
I got a maybe on a submission that would mean a lot to me. Will know more next week. Good vibes appreciated. This was a lift I needed. Happy Friday, friends!
Just got a very disappointing rejection on a submission I was sure would be a yes. But I’m grateful I got it in two weeks vs. this pub’s usual 5-6 months. Only one thing to do now: submit elsewhere.
As a memoirist I am always inspired by writers who once doubted anyone would care about their story but wrote it anyway. Their words found the people who needed them.
Hey all you cats and kittens,
@MeganAronson
and I will be back this Thursday with the next
#WomenWriters
Connection. Join us! Set a reminder below and please RT!
#WomenWriters
Nonbinary, gender-fluid & trans writers welcome.
Portrait of a writer inspired by the course
@GuerillaMemoir
taught yesterday now kicking ass editing the chapter of her memoir that had previously tripped her up.
#HippoCamp22
A story I originally wrote for
@washingtonpost
is in the November
@readersdigestUK
with the magnificent
@idriselba
and I'm hoping he looks at mine while I look at his. Proud to have 6 pages in the magazine. 👀🔥
Last year, I had a conversation that changed my life.
It caused me to upend everything and move across the country.
The lesson from it may change yours:
My January submissions (pitches and finished pieces):
19 submissions
12 rejections (includes 2021 subs)
1 no response to a timely sub
2 acceptances
#amwriting
Working on my memoir today in my quiet living room surrounded by shelves filled with books. Sometimes the bigger challenge for me is not staying isolated but making sure I stay connected to friends. This is me reaching out to say hi.
#WritingCommunity
#introvert
@TammyRabideau2
@noahmichelson
@HuffPost
@Susanshapironet
Thanks for sharing this beautiful essay. Had BDD not even been a factor, his comments should have been deal breakers. They revealed someone rude and insensitive at best, cruel and undermining at worst.
Okay here me out: sliced nectarines, Greek yogurt w/honey, blueberries and goat cheese crumbles and I gotta say the goat cheese is freaking genius because this is amazing. That counts as writing, right? I wrote a snack
@KayeSteinsapir
Thank you for showing us what grief looks like. It isn't linear. It doesn't magically go away. And the tiniest, most innocuous things can sucker punch you. Sending a long virtual hug.
Reminder to self: every writing path is unique. This is not a competition or a race. Be inspired by the progress of others, not defeated by it.
#amwriting
#writingcommunity
Don't kill your darlings. Relocate them to a compost file and visit them every so often and they may live to fertilize another piece one day.
#amwriting
#writingtips
I’m part of a viral nostalgic thread about growing up before cell phones and how nice it was to write long letters to friends and be free of constant monitoring and off the grid and as I keep checking replies realize I’ve become a rat pushing a button for a reward pellet.
I just bailed on submitting a personal essay to a publication that demands all intellectual property rights in perpetuity along with your firstborn child.
Me to hubs: I haven't given a thought to Valentine's Day.
Hubs: I thought about it but didn't do anything.
Me: Okay good. Love you.
Him: Love you.
This, my friends, is what a happy, healthy marriage looks like.
@GlennonDoyle
@AbbyWambach
@Gatorade
Can I just thank you for normalizing not wearing high heels? They are fine for whoever wants to wear them, but after 20 years of working from home in sneakers, I have no ability to wear or walk in any heel other than a stacked boot.