Slog News & Arts

Line Out

Music & Nightlife

« "Mr. Obama, You Can't Say That... | This Morning's Pit Bull Story.... »

Friday, February 22, 2008

Reading Tonight

posted by on February 22 at 9:45 AM

scaled.51D8EFnkzBL._SS500_.jpg

Jiminy crickets, it’s an unexciting Friday night in the readings scene.

At Borders, we’ve got Joanna Ferlan and Mary Fox Prather, authors of You Are Special You Were Chosen, a children’s book, and at the Central Branch of the Seattle Public Library, Natalie Goldberg, the author of Writing Down the Bones is reading from her new book, Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir.

There’s a lot of bad you can say about Writing Down the Bones, (touchy-feely energy oozing off the page, obsessive need to make writing an “all about me” kind of activity) but you can’t deny the basic fact that it gets the mechanics of writing right: to become a writer, you have to write a lot. That’s the most important rule, and the one thing that holds most wannabe authors back: they simply can’t put in the time commitment to actually write. I haven’t read her new book, but if it inspires a new wave of memoirists, I am entirely against it with the depth and breadth of my being.

Full readings listing, including the next week or so, here.

RSS icon Comments

1

so this is why so many adopted children are insufferable assholes; they actually DO think they are special!

Posted by Bellevue Ave | February 22, 2008 9:53 AM
2

Yeah, the "actually writing" part seems to be what's holding me back. That, and a lack of talent.

Posted by Peter F | February 22, 2008 10:23 AM
3

I would like to propose the following guidelines: If you don't have the skill to write your memoirs without buying a how-to book, don't write your memoirs. Chances are your life isn't interesting enough for anyone to want to read about anyway, and if it is, someone will probably write a biography about you. No need to do it yourself.

Posted by Aislinn | February 22, 2008 11:30 AM
4

I think the chances are pretty strong that for every person who decides to write their memoir, however unskilled and shitty of a writer they are, there is at least one person who survives them who would, I don't know, be interested in their life.

Just because someone's a shitty writer doesn't mean they didn't leave some kind of mark on the world. Even the most boring life is unique.

If your grandma wrote a shitty, boring memoir, would you read it? To understand her that much more?

Posted by meatwhichdreams | February 22, 2008 11:41 AM
5

You Are Special, You Are Chosen--is this a book for Jewish kids?

Posted by Larf | February 22, 2008 12:43 PM

Comments Closed

In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 14 days old).