Writing Practice

Notes to Nell:

To expand on what we discussed today at lunch (thanks for the great shrimp remoulade salad!):

First up: Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within and Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life for writing practice. Get the first for her simple and invaluable rules of writing practice; and the second for short essays on writing followed by a section called "Try this." It's basically the same as the first book, essays on writing, but with writing prompts for immediate use.

And while we are talking about Natalie G. check out her memoir Long Quiet Highway: Waking Up in America, one of the most moving and deepest memoirs I have ever read. She structured it by telling stories about her teachers.

And don't forget the Susan Shapiro book, Five Men Who Broke My Heart, which is completely entertaining and funny and sad.

I mention these last two books because their initial impulse and structure are similar to yours: building a memoir around a list of important people in your life.