Thanks for this, Charlotte. Going to dig in to all that great resources you shared! I have written about my family...a lot. And it is a fine line, one that challenges me in my craft, but also emotionally, in revisiting, I discover "my part." I also wrote a piece about the loss of a best friend and sent it to an editor for some help. She sent it back with a blunt note, "this is not your story to tell." Wham. I still can't let go of that story and know if I ever tell it right I will have grown as a writer.
Wow, I hope you got another opinion or two of that story. I recently got a rejection on a cnf that said "Mostly, we thought the last four paragraphs needed more connection to each other." I don't agree and another personal rejection didn't say anything like that. I'm having a couple of other writers read it for their opinion. I realize this is a different scenario from yours but I urge you to get other opinions, if you haven't already. Thanks for reading, Gina!
Thank you, Charlotte. I actually so respect this editor. But you’re right, I need another set of eyes. I love what Dinty says about revision. I always say if my essays were dresses I was sewing, they’d be rags from all the seam ripping and redos.
Thanks for this, Charlotte. Going to dig in to all that great resources you shared! I have written about my family...a lot. And it is a fine line, one that challenges me in my craft, but also emotionally, in revisiting, I discover "my part." I also wrote a piece about the loss of a best friend and sent it to an editor for some help. She sent it back with a blunt note, "this is not your story to tell." Wham. I still can't let go of that story and know if I ever tell it right I will have grown as a writer.
Wow, I hope you got another opinion or two of that story. I recently got a rejection on a cnf that said "Mostly, we thought the last four paragraphs needed more connection to each other." I don't agree and another personal rejection didn't say anything like that. I'm having a couple of other writers read it for their opinion. I realize this is a different scenario from yours but I urge you to get other opinions, if you haven't already. Thanks for reading, Gina!
Thank you, Charlotte. I actually so respect this editor. But you’re right, I need another set of eyes. I love what Dinty says about revision. I always say if my essays were dresses I was sewing, they’d be rags from all the seam ripping and redos.
Thank you for sharing my podcast and memoir here, Charlotte!
It's my absolute pleasure!
Dinty W Moore cracked me up. I grew up in Austin, Minnesota, the home of Hormel Foods who makes among other things SPAM and Dinty Moore Beef Stew!!
Excellent rumination and yes, personal stories can be much more intriguing.
I always think of the stew, too. Thanks for reading!