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“Il faut cultiver notre jardin,” —Voltaire
For those of us who don’t do fancy French, this means:
“We must cultivate our garden,” says Pangloss at the end of Voltaire’s Candide.
No sentiment could be truer for women who write. Stop focusing on the whole wide world. Instead, maintain a space that is your own and encourages the fruits of your labors to blossom.
But the process of growing our garden requires the right tools. Reading this blog and learning how to revise your own stories could help you cultivate your garden, obtain peace of mind, and establish your writing legacy. Happy reading and writing!
Looking for a specific writing topic? Search the entire blog below.
Get Your Selfie Stick: It’s Memoir Time
Sure, you run a greater risk of being seen—and judged—when you write about yourself, but is memoir really just the smatterings of a self-involved sociopath? Can anything literary actually be gleaned?
For a genre believed to be rooted in navel-gazing nonsense, there sure are a lot of memoirs getting published—and purchased.
“What is memoir? Is it the same as autobiography?”
When it comes to writing memoir, we’ve much to unpack. Buckle up.
Why I Wrote about My Miscarriage
When the doctor said there was no heartbeat, I went out of my body. I know I began to sob uncontrollably until the sound inside of me became guttural. I know I moved from the table to the chair and tried to climb over it to escape myself. I also know that watching my boyfriend Aaron’s face crumble into his hands was the single most devastating part.
It felt as if I was watching myself from the outside looking in.
Write to Focus Your Grief
I’ve endured a miscarriage, a traumatic birth, isolation as a new mom, the loss of friends, the ending of a job I loved, and another health crisis. Plus the collective trauma we’ve all experienced as a nation.
To say I (and you) have felt grief would be an understatement.
But there’s one thing that hasn’t changed. My resolve to write about grief-ridden events. I hope you’ll join me in telling your stories.
Who the Hell Are You? Using a Pen Name
In my most recent online class, the teacher kept calling me by the wrong name. At first, I ignored it. But after the third round of being labeled with the wrong moniker, I vowed to speak up and correct him. I mean, my name was right there in front of his eyes every time he responded to my discussion questions.
But I hesitated.
Was I making a big deal out of nothing?