The biggest struggle for me in writing my first book, the memoir Imogen in Waiting, came after the first draft, when the craft of redrafting began. To do that I felt I needed to expose my story of having …
The writer laid bare
Memoir – to write or not to write? A Guest Post by Cynthia Banham
A little while back I announced to my writers’ group, surprising us all, that I was done with memoir. Having published two, most recently Mother Shadow, I’d decided that a third –something I’ve been working on since 2020, a …
Writing about people you have unfinished business with: A Guest Post by Julia Lawrinson
‘That must have been cathartic.’ This is the sentence I hear most when I tell people I’ve written a memoir.
Some days, it is true. Putting shape to a life that has been messy, traumatic, bizarre, and entertaining by turns …
ON THE (WRITING) POWER OF RESTRAINT: A GUEST POST BY JOANNE FEDLER
You would think that at this ancient stage of my writing career, working on a rewrite of a book would get easier. Bring Us Home from Sorrow is my seventeenth book, a memoir about losing my mother to ovarian cancer. …
On identity and gatekeeping: A Guest Post by Susan Blumberg-Kason
The moment after I signed with my first literary agent, I immediately went to my website to add those coveted words: “Rep’d by…”. After four years of querying agents for a memoir, I felt I had finally made it into …
Who Gets to Speak at Writers’ Festivals?
A version of this post was first published at Australian Financial Review
During the Adelaide Writers Week scandal – the removal of Randa Abdel-Fattah from its schedule, then an apology and an invitation for 2027 AWW – my predominantly literary …