Months ago, partly in response to reports on how many of our recyclables don't actually get recycled, I started a creative bin. It's an old basket into which I chuck clean cardboard, paper, and plastic. When the bin gets full, and when the weather is bad or the boys are under it, I pull out…
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…
