Ask the Author: Marsha Jacobson
Answered Questions (3)
Marsha Jacobson
I actually didn't want to write a memoir. I wanted to write a collection of personal essays, and I'd completed several. When I learned that the author Joyce Johnson was leading a small workshopping group, I submitted one of my essays and was thrilled when she accepted me into the group. It was Joyce who insisted that my essays "wanted to be" a memoir. I resisted for a long time but ultimately tried connecting them into a long narrative. The result was The Wrong Calamity: A Memoir. Joyce was right all along.
Marsha Jacobson
Meeting other writers! Though we write in different genres, we share a creative drive and the shared experience of all the ups and downs of writing. My writer-friends have deeply enriched my life.
Marsha Jacobson
If I'm suddenly blocked in the middle of writing, I take a long walk outside, regardless of weather. Often, when I come back inside, my writer-mind has started up again. If that fails, I stop trying and spend the rest of the day--or many days--not thinking about my writing at all. I've found there always comes a time when I know the next sentence to write and what comes next. I don't know how this works, but knowing that it always does allows me to stay relaxed when I'm blocked.
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