In my small wonders workshop, we examine and craft creative nonfiction pieces that fall under 1000 words. I use that word limit because it's how Creative Nonfiction categorizes a "short read." Other markets stop sooner: Brevity caps out at 750 words; River Teeth’s weekly column “Beautiful Things” limits work to 250 words; and 100 Word Story asks for exactly…
1. What is your earliest memory? Why do you think that one has stuck? 2. What about childhood do you wish you could remember? What about childhood do you wish you could forget? 3. Do you trust your childhood memories? Does it matter to you if they are accurate? 4. When it comes to memory,…
I’m not sure there’s a good way, or a way at all, to prepare for your own book club reading your book. Before we even moved into our house in Wilton, I joined a book club formed by a friend (Carrie) of a friend (Katie). For nearly three years, we’ve met monthly for coffee and…
Poet and memoirist Sascha Feinstein was my mentor during the last stretch toward my MFA. He helped me pull disparate pieces on memory hunting together into a cohesive thesis and, while doing so, pushed me to rethink language and expand moments I’d been avoiding. Later—years later, after I’d written much more—he helped me shape the…
Last night, I received a generous welcome to Westport Writers' Workshop, where I am now teaching nonfiction workshops. With fellow VCFAer Liz Matthews directing WWW, I'm instantly at home among these amazing writers and teachers. Linda Gibson, me, Doug Moser, Jessie McEntee, Charles Rafferty, Laura Pochintesta Even a 25-minute drive to an evening event can…
