Words to Write by Words to Write by

Last episode we mapped all 12 steps of Christopher Volger's Hero's Journey (as presented in his book, The Writer's Journey) to J.R.R. Tolkien The Hobbit. As you can see from Renee's show notes, they lined up pretty well. But what about a story not written by a British scholar steeped in mythology and folklore? For this workshop, we put Kim's soon-to-be-published novel, Our Comeback Tour is Slaying Monsters, through the same analysis, to mixed success.Remember, we have a Writers Process/Writin...

We've officially started our new book, Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey. And boy is there a lot in the first two chapters!First (or first after Kim's rant) is an overview of the Hero's Journey, yes, dear listener, we cover all twelve steps. And as examples for those steps we turn to... The Hobbit (the OG book version, not the movie). After that, we move to archetypes, what they are and what they mean for your story. It's a very informative episode. Also, check out our show notes...

We're on the last chapter of Judith Barrington's book, Writing Your Memoir: practical advice on critique groups, plus the dos and don't of giving and getting feedback. It's practical and useful and everything thing we've come to expect from Barrington. And before we close the book on memoir, we give our final takes on the book along with what chapters we think are mores useful.And then .... something new.Our new book is Christopher Volger's The Writer's Journey. Written back in the 90's...

Your memoir is about you (obviously) but it’s not just about you. In this episode we cover Judith Barrington’s chapter on how (and why) to bring events from the real world into your memoir. And in our writing exercise we try it out by remembering our own lives during a moment in history.Then it’s on to the penultimate chapter in Writing the Memoir where Barrington has some writer self-care advice. Who can disagree about self care? Well… Also in this episode Kim interviews a poet wh...

For this week's workshop episode, Renee wrote about the brief time she spent as a child in Pacific Grove, CA, taking care to identify specific streets and locations as recommended by Judith Barrington in her book Writing the Memoir. We discuss and analysis this technique to see how it can improve our memoir writing.Remember, we have a Writers Process/Writing Sprint meetup every Wednesday. Check us out.

Writing (and publishing) a memoir can be nerve wracking. What if the people you’re writing about don’t like your portrayal of them? What if they hate it? What if they decide to sue?In this episode we discuss the chapter (and appendix) that cover this memoirist’s fear in Judith Barrington’s book, Writing the Memoir — both from an emotional and legal perspective. We also talk about the importance of using place names in your memoir and practice the technique in our writing exercise.And, check i...