Category Archives: Guest writer
About Writing “Mountain Girls”: An Interview with Stephanie Kadel Taras
Stephanie is my friend and colleague in the Association of Personal Historians. In this interview she reflects on writing Mountain Girls, her memoir published in 2013. Last week I posted an excerpt here on True Stories Well Told. Sarah: What got you started on this … Continue reading
Excerpt from “Mountain Girls”
by Stephanie Kadel Taras Stephanie is my friend and colleague in the Association of Personal Historians. She published her memoir Mountain Girls in 2013, from which the following is exerpted. Next week I’ll post an interview with Stephanie about the process … Continue reading
Ode to Hildegard
By Violet Suta Moran Elderly Hildegard is a favorite of our family. It’s strange that we have such warm, sentimental feelings toward her. After all, she has a lot of quirks. But I guess her constant presence at many of our … Continue reading
What I’ve Learned about Writing so Far
by Nancy Eberle I’ve been writing fairly seriously for about a year now. Though by seriously I don’t, of course, mean I’m doing it as a job, or that I’ve actually earned any money doing it. But seriously enough that … Continue reading
Deux Chevaux
By Susan Daugherty The summer of 1970 after I had been living and working in London for over a year, my friend Pam came over to Europe to travel with me. We had no money, so we decided to rent … Continue reading
Interview with Libby Atwater, author of “What Lies Within”
Last week I posted a review of Libby Atwater’s memoir, What Lies Within. Today I offer this interview with Libby, one of my colleagues in the Association of Personal Historians, of which she has been a member since 1997. We … Continue reading
November 29: Listen to Your Family’s Oral History
For several years now, Storycorps has encouraged us to use the day after Thanksgiving to listen, instead of shop. This “National Day of Listening” recognizes that we need to make time to honor our loved ones through listening. “It’s the … Continue reading
Ben’s Barber Shop
By Sara Williams The first time I walked into Ben’s Barbershop on a Saturday morning, 5-year-old Sean in tow, I was engulfed in a moment of mild panic. All conversation stopped, all eyes were on us. I hadn’t known that … Continue reading
Denis LeDoux says, “Don’t De-value Your Characters”
I’ve been talking about character as an aspect of memoir writing in my workshops this fall, so this recent blog post by my colleague Denis LeDoux of The Memoir Network caught my eye. He is the author of Turning Memories … Continue reading
True Stories Well Told 
Tethered to the Real World
By Doug Elwell Dear Everyman, Social media has wormed its way into almost every part of our lives—that is unless you’re making mud pies down by the river for a living. But for the rest of us there it is, all … Continue reading →