Author Archives: first person productions
!%#@*! Writing Prompts
Writing prompts. Every memoir teacher uses them, pretty much. But secretly, I hate most of the writing prompts I’ve seen. Before I go into my rant (and dilemma), let me give you some examples. The first of this curious form … Continue reading
Excerpt from “I Went Away, But Then I Came Home Again”
by Chris Connolly The opening pages of this chapter were written in response to a writing prompt from Sarah White’s UW mini-course “Start Writing Your Memoir.” This is unedited first draft copy. -Chris I’m trying something different here. Chris is … Continue reading
Working on my memoir…
I’ve just returned from a weekend in a cabin on the Lake Superior shore, alternating work on my memoir with walks in the snowy woods. Each morning began with coffee and scribbling on a legal pad in front of the wood … Continue reading
Book review: Jeannette Walls’ “Half Broke Horses”
This weekend I finished reading Jeannette Wall’s Half Broke Horses. Good book. Walls captures Lily’s voice, the sound of the person she describes as “a tough, leathery, woman who always yelled…” The tone of voice in the novel, written in … Continue reading
Have you been touched by a “Double Life”?
I typically begin a session of a memoir writing workshop with a check-in round, where we tell each other how our writing’s been going since last we met. When it’s the first session of a new series, there can be … Continue reading
Kennedy film found; why care?
A home movie of President and Mrs. Kennedy, filmed the night before he died in Dallas in 1963, came to light this week. Roy Botello had kept the film reel stored away in a living room drawer in his San Antonio … Continue reading
The Volcano
By Linda Lenzke The year is 1962. I’m twelve years old and walk into my sixth grade classroom. It’s a special day. I can tell because all of our desks have been rearranged into a square instead of rows, we … Continue reading
Pecan Gems
I woke up this morning thinking about this piece I wrote in Summer 2009 for the Meals and Memories workshop I conducted with students from the UW-Madison’s Odyssey Project. The assigned theme was “Favorite Holiday Foods.” -Sarah White I am … Continue reading
Save your local independent bookstore
We have met the enemy, and he is us. I opened my third package from Amazon books this month as I sat down to write this. I had just finished reading about Borders’ bankruptcy in the paper. Yesterday a friend forwarded … Continue reading
Book review: Patti Smith’s “Just Kids”
I just finished reading Patti Smith’s memoir of her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe, which began in 1967 when she was 19. Just Kids takes us from their first “meet-cute” to his dying breath, March 9, 1989. I’m not a big … Continue reading
True Stories Well Told 