Ronit Plank's Blog, page 13
May 14, 2024
Episode 96 ft. Maureen Murdock
Maureen Murdock joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about how myths help excavate our stories, memoir as a way to reclaim the past, invisible primary patterns in the psyche, letting ourselves meander and reflect, using process journals to excavate fears about being vulnerable, allowing structure to emerge, a favorite prompt of hers, and her latest book Mythmaking: Self-Discovery and the Timeless Art of Memoir.
Listen on iTunes Listen on Spotify YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
Episode 96 ft. Maureen Murdock May 14, 2024
Maureen Murdock joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about how myths help excavate our stories, memoir as a way to reclaim the past, invisible primary patterns in the psyche, letting ourselves meander and reflect, using process journals to excavate fears about...
Episode 95 ft. Vickie Rubin May 9, 2024
Vickie Rubin joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about raising a child with medical complexities and intellectual disabilities, submicroscopic chromosomal deletions, incorporating clippings, news articles, and photographs in memoir, when you feel something is...
Episode 94 ft. Steve Almond May 7, 2024
Steve Almond joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about the ambivalence memoirists often experience when writing about others, the story underneath the story we are telling, disrupting the negative feedback loop of writer’s block, dialing the ego down, questions...
The post Episode 96 ft. Maureen Murdock appeared first on Ronit Plank.
May 9, 2024
Episode 95 ft. Vickie Rubin
Vickie Rubin joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about raising a child with medical complexities and intellectual disabilities, submicroscopic chromosomal deletions, incorporating clippings, news articles, and photographs in memoir, when you feel something is wrong with your child, her career in the helping field, overcoming marriage struggles while raising children with disabilities, advocating for other families and for herself, the gift of a late diagnosis, the decision to move her daughter to a group home, and hew memoir Raising Jess: A Story of Hope.
Listen on iTunes Listen on Spotify YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
Episode 95 ft. Vickie Rubin May 9, 2024
Vickie Rubin joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about raising a child with medical complexities and intellectual disabilities, submicroscopic chromosomal deletions, incorporating clippings, news articles, and photographs in memoir, when you feel something is...
Episode 94 ft. Steve Almond May 7, 2024
Steve Almond joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about the ambivalence memoirists often experience when writing about others, the story underneath the story we are telling, disrupting the negative feedback loop of writer’s block, dialing the ego down, questions...
Episode 93 ft. Vivian Gornick Apr 30, 2024
Acclaimed memoirist and teacher Vivian Gornick joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about the origins of her approach to memoir, the crucial difference between situations and stories, why implicating ourselves in our work makes us trustworthy to our reader,...
The post Episode 95 ft. Vickie Rubin appeared first on Ronit Plank.
May 7, 2024
Episode 94 ft. Steve Almond
Steve Almond joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about the ambivalence memoirists often experience when writing about others, the story underneath the story we are telling, disrupting the negative feedback loop of writer’s block, dialing the ego down, questions of inner life, his contribution to Dear Sugars podcast, generosity and mercy in our work, performing versus storytelling, how our failures are actually are teachers, and his new book on writing, Truth Is the Arrow, Mercy Is the Bow.
Listen on iTunes Listen on Spotify YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
Episode 94 ft. Steve Almond May 7, 2024
Steve Almond joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about the ambivalence memoirists often experience when writing about others, the story underneath the story we are telling, disrupting the negative feedback loop of writer’s block, dialing the ego down, questions...
Episode 93 ft. Vivian Gornick Apr 30, 2024
Acclaimed memoirist and teacher Vivian Gornick joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about the origins of her approach to memoir, the crucial difference between situations and stories, why implicating ourselves in our work makes us trustworthy to our reader,...
Episode 92 ft. Cait West Apr 25, 2024
Cait West joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about growing up in and leaving Christian patriarchy, indoctrination, identifying and writing about the rifts she felt in herself and her family, gender oppression, using geology as a metaphor, moving from memoir in...
The post Episode 94 ft. Steve Almond appeared first on Ronit Plank.
April 30, 2024
A conversation with Vivian Gornick, your memoir questions, & upcoming workshops
I am so pleased to announce that acclaimed memoirist, critic, and teacher Ms. Vivian Gornick is my guest on Let’s Talk Memoir. This was a dream come true.
I first heard Ms. Gornick’s well-loved and oft-repeated advice: “In order for the drama to deepen we must see the loneliness of the monster and the cunning of the innocent”, in a seminar Debra Gwartney presented when I was getting my MFA. I was studying fiction at the time but had been dabbling in memoir essays here and there and feeling the nonfiction call. It was this seminar, this very moment, that changed my writing trajectory. I began to understand that memoir held vast promise and was complex; that there was far more to my story than I had grappled with or even yet realized.
Talking with Ms. Gornick for Let’s Talk Memoir was a full circle moment for me, an opportunity I never even imagined back when I was writing When She Comes Back. I am grateful to Ms. Gornick for her time and generosity.
In this interview I ask her when she knew she’d arrived at the approach to memoir writing she presents in The Situation and the Story and so evocatively harnesses in her memoir Fierce Attachments. In addition, we talk about why implicating ourselves in our work makes us trustworthy to our reader, how she discovered what her story was truly about, and we also take a look at autofiction. You can listen here.
Your Memoir Questions AnsweredI recently got these excellent questions from Lindsay Webster, a subscriber to this Substack who asked:“Hi Ronit! … I think on one or two of your podcasts a guest went into explaining writing on proposal vs submitting an entire manuscript. Should memoir always be written on proposal? And do you have any more advice on that? I am wondering what the format is for a proposal. I know the components, but is there a particular form you would fill out and then submit it as a query? I have almost 10,000 words written and have an outline of chapters but wondering if I should work on editing what I have and start focusing on my proposal and query it out at this point. Is there a minimum word count that a query needs? Thanks in advance!” – Lindsay Webster on Substack at @lindsaybrookewebster
Thank you for writing Lindsay and for these thoughtful questions. I’ll break this down into three sections. And these are my opinions and merely suggestions. For every link or resource I include here there are also many more excellent ones, but this is a start.
As with everything in writing and in life, please follow your intuition and what feels right to you.
Proposal vs. Entire Manuscript for queryingFor me this is a bit of a chicken or the egg question because we learn about our memoir and the story we’re trying to tell by writing the whole book, but we also hone our manuscript and what makes our voice and story stand out in the very process of drafting our proposal. Finding the uniqueness in your approach as well as the proven appeal of your story is vital to selling it. I think ideally you would have completed a few drafts of your entire memoir, taking into consideration feedback from your trusted readers, and you have a proposal ready to query. If you would prefer to write only the first 3 chapters of your memoir and are eager to write a crackerjack proposal in order to sell your memoir on proposal and then complete it, that is also a route you can take. My guests on Let’s Talk Memoir, The Witches of Pitches, are all about proposals and you can listen to our conversation here.
Case study: When I was querying When She Comes Back, my memoir about the loss of my mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and our eventual reconciliation, my manuscript was complete. Several agents asked for fulls (the entire manuscript) to review and several asked for my proposal plus my first 3 chapters. I was surprised they needed a proposal as this was memoir and I’d already written the thing. I felt frustrated and frankly a bit annoyed that not only had I gone through the arduous work of writing and excavating my story, revising, hiring editors, revising, sharing the manuscript with trusted readers, revising again, but now I had to show agents why my story belonged in the world in the first place!? Ugh.
Of course, I now understand when it comes to traditional publishing, they need among other things, to see how they can sell your book, that there’s an audience for it, and that they can make money on it. Your story might be gripping and you might be a beautiful writer but this is a business and agents and publishers don’t have the time or resources or money to invest in a product that won’t sell. When I queried Motina Books, the press who published my memoir, I already had my proposal ready to go and submitted that along with my manuscript.If you’d prefer not to write a proposal, there are memoir contests, indie presses, and university presses that will likely accept your manuscript without one and review your manuscript on its merits alone. I suggest spending time researching the publishers of memoirs similar to the one you’re writing to learn about their preferences and submission opportunities. You can also find out more about indie presses at these listings at Poets & Writers and Reedsy.
Proposal Format
While there is a general proposal outline memoirists can follow, agencies and indie/university presses often have their own preferences. It’s a good idea to begin by following basic proposal recommendations from trusted sources like Jane Friedman’s How to Write A Book Proposal. Jane Friedman’s site offers a trove of writing resources.Then, as you begin researching agents and presses to query, you can adapt your proposal per their specifications. The difference between requests may be as simple as a reordering of the elements like Comparable Titles and your Marketing Plan, but it’s always a good idea to submit what they want exactly as they ask for it.
Query letter vs. Proposal
A query letter is a one-page pitch letter about your project and you whereas a proposal is lengthier – anywhere from 35-60 pages usually. The query letter is how you announce yourself to the agent or press you are approaching and grab their attention and interest. You will need a strong query letter regardless of whether you query with a proposal or full manuscript or both. The query letter is key and you can learn more about writing and perfecting yours from many trusted resources including at Jane Friedman’s site.I know this a lot of information. Take your time to digest it and please reach out if you’d like more resources.
Taking your questions
If you have a memoir-writing question you’d like me to address you reach out here or via my website. I’d love to hear from you.
Two Memoir Writing Offerings1. May 7th Memoir-Ask-Me-AnythingOn May 7th Lisa Kefauver, MSW and host of Grief is a Sneaky Bitch joins me for a Memoir Ask-Me-Anything. Have burning questions about writing your story? Wonder if writing memoir can be a generous act? Want tips on how to get started? Join us for an interactive session where you can ask anything related to memoir writing. We’ll begin the hour with the impact on healing memoir can have then we’ll open the floor to your questions. Mark your calendar and don’t miss this opportunity to get valuable guidance and support at this free event! Register here.
I’m thrilled to be joining Bianca Marais of The Shit No One Tells You About Writing on the 11th of May from 10am-5pm ET to teach a workshop as she hosts a one-day virtual retreat specifically for memoirists! My session is Putting the Plot in Your Memoir and we’ll explore how to know whether you have one, tools to help eliminate baggy parts of your manuscript, and four key elements memoirists can harness to amplify tension and stakes in their manuscripts so they crackle with resonance and momentum.
Speakers include:
• Catherine Gildiner – Author of Too Close to the Falls, After the Falls, Coming Ashore and Good Morning, Monster: Five Heroic Journeys to Recovery.
• Chelsea Devantez – Emmy-nominated writer, comedian, and filmmaker. Author of the upcoming memoir, I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This (But I’m Going to Anyway).
• Courtney Maum – Author of five books, including the game changing publishing guide, Before and After the Book Deal,and the memoir, The Year of the Horses.
• Bonny Reichert – Award-winning journalist, chef, and author of the upcoming memoir, How to Share an Egg: A True Story of Hunger, Love and Plenty.
• Abby Maslin – Bestselling author of the memoir, Love You Hard, and a contributing essayist in Moms Don’t Have Time to Have Kids.
• Ronit Plank – Award-winning writer, teacher, and podcaster who hosts Let’s Talk Memoir. Author of the memoir, WhenShe Comes Back and the short story collection Home is a Made-Up Place.
Each 40-minute session will be followed by a 20-minute Q & A in which delegates get to ask the presenters all their burning questions. The retreat will be taped, and the recording will be sent out the next day. The registration fee is US $ 149.00
For more information and to register, go to this link and mention I sent you.
I’m so happy to be able to share these memoir resources with you and appreciate you being here. If you found this post helpful you can subscribe (always free) and share with your friends.
Best wishes for a productive and fulfilling May!
The post A conversation with Vivian Gornick, your memoir questions, & upcoming workshops appeared first on Ronit Plank.
Episode 93 ft. Vivian Gornick
Acclaimed memoirist and teacher Vivian Gornick joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about the origins of her approach to memoir, the crucial difference between situations and stories, why implicating ourselves in our work makes us trustworthy to our reader, clarifying our narratives, how she discovered what her story was truly about, why some writing questions are unanswerable, and her well-loved and oft-repeated advice: “In order for the drama to deepen we must see the loneliness of the monster and the cunning of the innocent.”
Listen on iTunes Listen on Spotify YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
Episode 93 ft. Vivian Gornick Apr 30, 2024
Acclaimed memoirist and teacher Vivian Gornick joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about the origins of her approach to memoir, the crucial difference between situations and stories, why implicating ourselves in our work makes us trustworthy to our reader,...
Episode 92 ft. Cait West Apr 25, 2024
Cait West joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about growing up in and leaving Christian patriarchy, indoctrination, identifying and writing about the rifts she felt in herself and her family, gender oppression, using geology as a metaphor, moving from memoir in...
Episode 91 ft. Sue William Silverman Apr 23, 2024
Sue William Silverman joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about claiming our stories, creative nonfiction as an act of affirmation and courage, tapping into artistic masks, discovering answers along the way, the aware and the unaware voice, writing...
The post Episode 93 ft. Vivian Gornick appeared first on Ronit Plank.
April 25, 2024
Episode 92 ft. Cait West
Cait West joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about growing up in and leaving Christian patriarchy, indoctrination, identifying and writing about the rifts she felt in herself and her family, gender oppression, using geology as a metaphor, moving from memoir in essays to a more linear form, ethical and legal concerns when writing about others, coming to grips with abuse, purity culture, and her memoir Rift: A Memoir of Breaking Away from Christian Patriarchy. Listen on iTunes Listen on Spotify YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
Episode 92 ft. Cait West Apr 25, 2024
Cait West joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about growing up in and leaving Christian patriarchy, indoctrination, identifying and writing about the rifts she felt in herself and her family, gender oppression, using geology as a metaphor, moving from memoir in...
Episode 91 ft. Sue William Silverman Apr 23, 2024
Sue William Silverman joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about claiming our stories, creative nonfiction as an act of affirmation and courage, tapping into artistic masks, discovering answers along the way, the aware and the unaware voice, writing...
Episode 90 ft. Kathleen Dorothy Blackburn Apr 18, 2024
Kathleen Dorothy Blackburn joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about listening to and putting our younger selves on the page, recognizing family codes we can no longer adhere to, place as a character in memoir, writing like nobody will ever see our work, how...
The post Episode 92 ft. Cait West appeared first on Ronit Plank.
April 23, 2024
Episode 91 ft. Sue William Silverman
Sue William Silverman joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about claiming our stories, creative nonfiction as an act of affirmation and courage, tapping into artistic masks, discovering answers along the way, the aware and the unaware voice, writing metaphorically and sensorily, the arc of reflection and the arc of action, her decades of teaching at the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program and her newest book Acetylene Torch Songs: Writing True Stories to Ignite the Soul.
Listen on iTunes Listen on Spotify YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
Episode 91 ft. Sue William Silverman Apr 23, 2024
Sue William Silverman joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about claiming our stories, creative nonfiction as an act of affirmation and courage, tapping into artistic masks, discovering answers along the way, the aware and the unaware voice, writing...
Episode 90 ft. Kathleen Dorothy Blackburn Apr 18, 2024
Kathleen Dorothy Blackburn joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about listening to and putting our younger selves on the page, recognizing family codes we can no longer adhere to, place as a character in memoir, writing like nobody will ever see our work, how...
Episode 89 ft. Kate Manne Apr 16, 2024
Kate Manne joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about coming of age in fatphobic culture, disentangling the threads of weight, health, and diet culture, the racism at the root of anti-fatness, writing ourselves out and then back into our work, the psycho-social...
The post Episode 91 ft. Sue William Silverman appeared first on Ronit Plank.
April 18, 2024
Episode 90 ft. Kathleen Dorothy Blackburn
Kathleen Dorothy Blackburn joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about listening to and putting our younger selves on the page, recognizing family codes we can no longer adhere to, place as a character in memoir, writing like nobody will ever see our work, how shame and pain can manifest as silence, sharing with readers what we may not be able to reveal to loved ones, the contracts we enter as writers of memoir, creating intimacy on the page, and her new memoir Loose of Earth.
Listen on iTunes Listen on Spotify YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
Episode 90 ft. Kathleen Dorothy Blackburn Apr 18, 2024
Kathleen Dorothy Blackburn joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about listening to and putting our younger selves on the page, recognizing family codes we can no longer adhere to, place as a character in memoir, writing like nobody will ever see our work, how...
Episode 89 ft. Kate Manne Apr 16, 2024
Kate Manne joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about coming of age in fatphobic culture, disentangling the threads of weight, health, and diet culture, the racism at the root of anti-fatness, writing ourselves out and then back into our work, the psycho-social...
Episode 88 ft. Suzette Mullen Apr 9, 2024
Suzette Mullen joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about digging to find a deeper story and the question we need to ask in memoir, discovering where to begin by getting to the end of our manuscripts, the revision process as revelatory, the effect our memoirs...
The post Episode 90 ft. Kathleen Dorothy Blackburn appeared first on Ronit Plank.
April 16, 2024
Episode 89 ft. Kate Manne
Kate Manne joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about coming of age in fatphobic culture, disentangling the threads of weight, health, and diet culture, the racism at the root of anti-fatness, writing ourselves out and then back into our work, the psycho-social consequences of fatphobia on our bodies, the shame around shame, organizing our time, writing while mothering a young child, gathering and incorporating research in our work, and her new book Unshrinking: How to Face Fatphobia.
Listen on iTunes Listen on Spotify YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
Episode 89 ft. Kate Manne Apr 16, 2024
Kate Manne joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about coming of age in fatphobic culture, disentangling the threads of weight, health, and diet culture, the racism at the root of anti-fatness, writing ourselves out and then back into our work, the psycho-social...
Episode 88 ft. Suzette Mullen Apr 9, 2024
Suzette Mullen joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about digging to find a deeper story and the question we need to ask in memoir, discovering where to begin by getting to the end of our manuscripts, the revision process as revelatory, the effect our memoirs...
Episode 87 ft. Mimi Zieman Apr 4, 2024
Mimi Zieman joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about thinking of ourselves as characters, hooking readers from the beginning, playing with structure, balancing our reflective narrator, trusting your reader and not overexplaining, the true self and the...
The post Episode 89 ft. Kate Manne appeared first on Ronit Plank.
April 10, 2024
More Memoir? Yes, please!
I first came to memoir as a writer who knew very little about the genre but was beginning to sense that masking what I needed to express in fiction wasn’t going to cut it for much longer. What I experienced growing up seemed to leak into the characters and situations I wrote about; the part of me I had wanted to forget kept clamoring for a voice. As I learned more and more about what memoir could be, I realized the genre was a perfect fit for me.
After one semester in my Masters program at Pacific University in Fiction, I switched to Nonfiction and was able to begin work on my own memoir, When She Comes Back which Motina books published in 2021. Back in my fiction days I never would have predicted I’d become a memoir teacher and editor, or a podcaster who interviews memoir writers and teachers about their approach to story and structure, what they’ve come to understand about their lives, and how writing memoir has impacted their perception and emotional growth.
This week I got to turn my lens inward again when Lisa Kefauver invited me to be her guest on Grief is a Sneaky Bitch. We talked about what having each of my parents leave was like and why in my memoir I needed to share what they experienced in their childhoods to help the reader understand the legacy of loss in my family. In our conversation we reflected on the adultification that happens when we grow up in disorganized and chaotic households and the importance of honoring with care the versions of us that never got what we deserved: a safe and loving home. I loved talking with Lisa whose podcast is a moving resource for those living with loss.
You can listen here.
I’m thrilled to be joining Bianca Marais of The Shit No One Tells You About Writing on the 11th of May from 10am-5pm ET to teach a workshop as she hosts a one-day virtual retreat specifically for memoirists! My session is Putting the Plot in Your Memoir and we’ll explore how to know whether you have one, tools to help eliminate baggy parts of your manuscript, and four key elements memoirists can harness to amplify tension and stakes in their manuscripts so they crackle with resonance and momentum.
Speakers include:
• Catherine Gildiner – Author of Too Close to the Falls, After the Falls, Coming Ashore and Good Morning, Monster: Five Heroic Journeys to Recovery.
• Chelsea Devantez – Emmy-nominated writer, comedian, and filmmaker. Author of the upcoming memoir, I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This (But I’m Going to Anyway).
• Courtney Maum – Author of five books, including the game changing publishing guide, Before and After the Book Deal,and the memoir, The Year of the Horses.
• Bonny Reichert – Award-winning journalist, chef, and author of the upcoming memoir, How to Share an Egg: A True Story of Hunger, Love and Plenty.
• Abby Maslin – Bestselling author of the memoir, Love You Hard, and a contributing essayist in Moms Don’t Have Time to Have Kids.
• Ronit Plank – Award-winning writer, teacher, and podcaster who hosts Let’s Talk Memoir. Author of the memoir, WhenShe Comes Back and the short story collection Home is a Made-Up Place.
Each 40-minute session will be followed by a 20-minute Q & A in which delegates get to ask the presenters all their burning questions. The retreat will be taped, and the recording will be sent out the next day. The registration fee is US $ 149.00
For more information and to register, go to this link and mention I sent you.
On May 7th Lisa Kefauver, MSW and host of Grief is a Sneaky Bitch joins me for a Memoir Ask-Me-Anything. Have burning questions about writing your story? Wonder if writing memoir can be a generous act? Want tips on how to get started? Join us for an interactive session where you can ask anything related to memoir writing. We’ll begin the hour with the impact on healing memoir can have then we’ll open the floor to your questions. Mark your calendar and don’t miss this opportunity to get valuable guidance and support at this free event! Register here.
There are now 88 episodes of Let’s Talk Memoir available packed with advice on voice, structure, plot, tension, ethics, publishing, revision, and more. This week on the podcast, memoirist and book coach Suzette Mullen joins me for a conversation about discovering where to begin by getting to the end of our manuscripts, the revision process as revelatory, the effect our memoirs have on loved ones, leaning on trusted readers and writers, her work as a nonfiction book coach, and her coming of age and coming out memoir The Only Way Through is Out.
You can listen here.
I’ve got lots more good stuff coming, so be sure you’ve subscribed to this Substack and to Let’s Talk Memoir on your favorite podcast platform. And if you have a memoir concern you’d like me to address on the podcast or here in this newsletter, please send me a message. I’d love to feature your question.
Thank you for being here and if you know a writer who is memoir curious and would enjoy my resources, please share away!
xo,
Ronit
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