Lauren Hunter is a writer and consultant, with a career spanning more than two decades in public relations, content marketing, freelance writing, and publishing. Her latest book is Write Your Journey: A Step-by-Step Guide to Write Your Life Story Fast. She also maintains a twice-monthly newsletter, and if you sign up you’ll receive as a gift a PDF of the introduction and first chapter. Lauren walked me through the seven sections of her book during our conversation. Please listen.
#54: writing biography (life-writing, episode iii)
My guest today is Rachael Hanel. She’s a writer and also an associate professor of Mass Communication at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Raechel also teaches narrative nonfiction and memoir at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. She has a master’s degree in history and a Ph.D. in creative writing. She has an interesting book coming out, which we discuss in our conversation. It’s called Not the Camilla We Knew: One Woman's Life from Small-town America to the Symbionese Liberation Army, and is due for release this fall. She was a really great guest: knew what she was talking about, enthusiastic, but also able to speak clearly to complicated or nuanced issues. We compared Minnesota and Canadian accents before we started recording, and then got right into it. Please listen.
#53: the how and why of memoirs (life-writing, episode ii)
My guest on this episode of Editing Writing is Donna Mazzitelli. She is a writing coach who helps writers particularly with memoirs. Donna says herself that “everyone has stories to tell, and how we grow through our life experiences is what others want to read. The more we share our stories from our hearts, the more our readers will connect with us and be transformed.” She is the founder of Merry Dissonance Press, and also continues with her own writing. She’s published three children’s books, and earlier this year her first memoir, called Mosaic Heart: Pieces of an Unfinished Life. She’s now at work on her second one, called Madonna Blue Heart. Donna was insightful and empathetic, and a pleasure to talk to. Please listen.
#52: coaching a memoir writer (life-writing, episode i)
Barbara Boyd says on her website that a book coach is a combination of “an editor, a project manager, a mentor, and an honest BFF … [providing] editorial feedback, emotional support, and project management and accountability.” In my conversation with her, she was extraordinarily sensitive, intelligent, and articulate. I concentrated on her work with people who are writing memoirs. It was really a fascinating interview of a person whose centredness and empathy I could sense on Zoom all the way from her olive farm in Italy to my condo in Canada. Please listen.