Jennifer Niven's Blog, page 562

Lulu, the Fulltime Cat (part one of three in my literary cat series)

For those of you who don't know her, Tallulah Bankkitty, better known as Lulu, is part Scarlett O'Hara, part Tinkerbell, and part Bonnie Parker. She is the minxiest, smartest, flirtiest, cleverest little soul, and I am lucky to have her. But, as my mother says, she is very much a fulltime cat. She is also [...]

Things I've learned from my early writings

1. Write what you want to write about. When I was 'ten and eleven twelfths years old,' I wrote a prologue to my novel Scrapbook: "I always wanted to write a book, but I didn't know how. I thought I would write about sports or animals or dolls or life but somehow I couldn't put [...]

10 Things I Learned While Writing a Memoir

You must kiss your pride and dignity goodbye.
There is no such thing as writing a memoir half-way.  You have to jump in with both feet, legs, arms, shoulders, hands, head, and heart.
Everyone remembers the same event differently.
It's fun to relive old memories.
It's agonizing to relive old memories.
If you have any doubt, change names!  Not only to protect the people you're writing about, but yourself.
It's fine to leave things out.  In fact, it's better to leave things out.
No matter how much they ask, your loved ones don't want to know the things you left out.
You have to think of yourself in the third person or as another, separate person altogether if you really want to write truthfully for an audience.
No matter how much they ask for it, never agree to write a sequel.


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