Crowdfunding Your Memoir: 6 Ways To Know If Crowdfunding Is For You

May 30, 2013 Kathy Pooler 14 Comments

A guest post by Justine Schofield/@PUBSLUSH posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler

I am very pleased to feature Justine Schofield in this guest post. Justine is the communications coordinator of Pubslush, a global, crowdsourcing publishing platform for authors to raise funds and gauge the initial audience for new book ideas. Pubslush also operates an independent imprint that acquires books from the platform, and for every book sold, donates a children’s book to a child in need.

Justine is currently enrolled at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA, earning her MFA in Creative Writing. She graduated from Emerson College in Boston, MA with a degree in Writing, Literature, and Publishing. She specializes in social media and public relations and has held various freelance editing and writing jobs, and her work has been published in many online and print publications.

She will discuss what Pubslush has to offer authors seeking way to fund their projects.

Although the focus of this post is on memoir writers, Pubslush’s service apply to all genre. Of note: Pubslush Press’s debut title, a beautiful mess, is a memoir.

Welcome, Justine!

Crowdfunding Your Memoir

As a memoirist, you pour your heart and soul into your work and that’s something you deserve to share with the world. Unfortunately, as writers, we know all too well that the publishing industry is very difficult to break into.

Self-publishing of course has become a great and even sometimes preferred—route, but that also comes with a financial risk.

Enter: crowdfunding.

Crowdfunding is a way for artists to mitigate financial risk and build their audience.

It has become a groundbreaking means of funding creative projects that otherwise wouldn’t have the means to become a reality, but even with the buzz around crowdfunding, it’s a very new concept that a lot of people have trouble understanding.

So how are you supposed to know if crowdfunding is right for you?

6 Ways to Know if Crowdfunding is for You:

* You have a built in network. This is where a lot of people go wrong in regards to crowdfunding. Some people believe all they have to do is throw their campaign up on a crowdfunding site and others will magically back them. This is how it would work in a perfect world, but, alas, that’s not the world we live in. Crowdfunding is a lot of work and a majority of people who support your campaign will be from your own personal network. Prior to the launch of your campaign you need to compile a list of everyone in your network you can reach out to.

*You’re not afraid to ask for support. Along the same lines, you have to be willing to ask your network to support you. Ask and you shall receive—remember that saying? It’s definitely applicable to crowdfunding. Just casually mentioning your crowdfunding venture won’t yield results. You need to be proactive and ask people to support you. Also, you need to make it as easy as possible for them to do so. If you’re asking via e-mail be sure to include a link right to your campaign. People like easy.

* You think outside the box. Yes, having a network is key, but developing new, creative ways to find your audience and gain support outside of your network is also extremely important. Especially being memoirists, there’s a niche market out there that you can tap into, you just have to figure out how to reach and sell yourself to that market.

* You must know your goals. Different people have different goals when it comes to publishing. Some people just want to publish e-books through Amazon. Others want to conduct a full-scale publishing effort, including hiring an editor, cover designer, PR agent, etc. Obviously, your funding goal is going to depend on the scale of your publishing project. You need to have a solid idea of the outcome you’re hoping for at the end of your campaign so you can plan your goal and your reward levels accordingly.

* You believe in your project. Crowdfunding is tough. You need to have the attitude that the world just won’t be the same if your book isn’t published. Especially with so many other crowdfunding projects bouncing around the Web, you need to be your own biggest advocate. If you believe in your book, others will, too. Passion in infectious.

* Be familiar with crowdfunding. Since crowdfunding is so new, a lot of people aren’t even familiar with the concept. You’re going to have to explain crowdfunding in general to a lot of people before you even get to your own specific project. You have to be prepared to do so.

Pubslush offers an abundance of resources and information about crowdfunding and publishing in general. To learn more, visit Pubslush 101.

Follow Pubslush on Twitter and Face book:

Pubslush Press’s debut memoir: a beautiful mess by Ali Berlinski:

ALIS_BOOKCOVER — Debut Pubslush Memoir, a beautiful mess by Ali Berlinski

Memoir Synopsis:

Imagine what your life would be like if you laughed through all the mayhem? Biracial and bicoastal, Berlinski spent her childhood flying between the dysfunctional families of her divorced parents, always feeling like an outsider. Fortunately, she never lost her sense of humor, which is apparent on every page of her debut story collection, a riotous and revealing exposé of the new normal and the consequences of too much air travel, cultural diversity, and conflicting and conflicted parents. With an open heart, she recounts her somewhat misspent youth and a wildly exciting (though equally torturous) love affair with the guy of her dreams, eventually leaving it all to start again abroad.

She’s Carrie Bradshaw reimagined as a third grade teacher in Brooklyn with zero interest in Manolo Blahnik. She’s a tough New Yorker with a tender twist of California sunshine whose journey will be oddly familiar and utterly unique to anyone who’s ever believed that love would save them – if not with this guy, then maybe with the next.

As her grandfather once said, “Well, it may not be the party you hoped for, but since we’re here, we might as well dance.” So now she lives in Spain and, despite everything, continues to dance through this messy, magnificent life. Say yes to your mess.

***

Thank you Justine for letting us know about your services to writers and authors. It’s nice to know there are alternatives to ease the financial burdens of marketing both with traditional and self-publishing options. And I’m thrilled your debut title is a memoir!

How about you? Have you ever considered crowdfunding your writing project?

We’d love to hear from you. Pubslush has offered to give away three ebook versions of ” a beautiful mess” to three random commenters. For those who do not have an ereader, you can download Kindle or Barnes and Noble apps to your computers to access the ebook.

Please leave your questions and comments below~

Next Week: Memoir Author Carol Bodensteiner will be featured in a guest post “Turning Mundane into Magic.” Carol will give away a copy of her memoir Growing Up Country: Memories of an Iowa Farm Girl” to a random commenter.

Memoir Writing Tips

Writing with the Reader in Mind: Memoir Writing Tips

May 27, 2013 Kathy Pooler 26 Comments

Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler

“The challenge with memoir is to make it interesting to someone other than the writer.” David Colin Carr, editor

Photo Credit: "Reading is Magic" by Sodanie Chea from FlickrCreativeCommons — Photo Credit: “Reading is Magic” by Sodanie Chea from FlickrCreativeCommons

One of the biggest challenges in memoir writing is to turn the events in your life into a story someone else would want to read. Writing with the reader in mind becomes an essential part of the process but I have found it does not occur in full force until the rewriting/polishing phase.

Keeping the reader in mind as I write my memoir is something I’m working on as I grind away after three years of writing vignettes and two rounds of professional editing by a developmental editor.

I am finally ready to focus on my reader.

Why now?

Because I didn’t know the true heart of our story until I had poured out many drafts on the paper—often referred to as “sh*#! first draft or the vomit draft–just getting it on the page with no regard for editing or censoring.

That’s been my experience.

This point was brought home to me in a recent discussion on Belinda Nicoll’s blog, My Rites of Passage during her A-Z Blog Challenge. In Challenge #23: Writing Models, she discusses paying attention to creative techniques in the hopes of crafting a story that will be of interest to the readers. Belinda had posed the question,

“Do you keep your readers in mind as you write?”

In response to my comment that the longer I write and revise, the more I find myself writing with the readers in mind, Lifewriting Coach and Author Sharon Lippincott had replied:

“Kathy, your comment prefaces what I was about to write. Only you can say for sure, but I suspect your early focus was more on the personal cost of disclosure and less on how it would affect readers. Ideally, I think we all need to “write like nobody will ever see” in the beginning, then tailor down to our disclosure comfort level balanced with reader impact.”

Bingo!

Initially, I needed to pour the words on the page before I even knew what my story was. My focus was on digging and excavating.

Now that I have my story—the narrative arc— I can concentrate on writing with the reader in mind.

But I think there’s a fine line between giving the reader credit for figuring out the details and giving the right details to make it clear.

I have a responsibility as a writer to transport the reader into my world in a way that is grammatically correct, nicely paced, appealing to the senses and action-packed.

As a memoir writer, I need to offer lessons learned from life experiences so the reader will have something to take away from reading my memoir.

With that in mind, here are a few tips I’ve gleaned along the way to write words so the reader will be moved:

Have enough emotional distance from the life events to be able to be objective in conveying the story.

Be clear on your intention for story and stay true to your theme throughout the story. Avoid distracting tangents. Yes, this means “killing your darlings.”

Offer reflections on the wisdom gained from life events rather than listing chronological events.

*If you are stuck on who your target audience is, try writing with one reader in mind and focus on what you want them to learn from your story.

Read your manuscript aloud to yourself and to others to listen for inconsistencies in pacing, clarity, voice. I use a digital recorder and tape some chapters. It’s amazing what I have been able to hear when I listen to my own words.

Use a critique group and/or beta readers for objective feedback. In the end, it is your story but being open to how potential readers view your story is crucial to getting your best work out there.

Commit to excellence on all levels. Invest (as you are able) in professional services for all levels of editing, book cover design, promotion. If finances are an issue, explore creative options for funding, such as kickstarter campaigns, beta readers, sharing services with other writers.

“It matters to put your best foot forward.” Jami Carpenter, The Red Pen Girl

Keeping the reader in mind as we build our characters and move our plot along through a series of event and actions that will keep our readers turning the pages seems like a reasonable expectation.

I’d like to leave you with a question Dan Blank posed in a recent post on Writers Unboxed: “Are You Giving Your Readers Only the Minimum Amount of Your Attention?”

Photo Credit:" Reading Books" from Google Free Images — Photo Credit:” Reading Books” from Google Free Images

How about you? How do you move the reader with your words? As a reader, what does it take to keep you turning the pages?

I’d love to hear from you. Please leave your comments below~

On Thursday, May 30: Justine Schofield, Communication Coordinator of Pubslush a global crowdfunding publishing platform will discuss: ” Crowdfunding Your Memoir: 6 Ways to Know If Crowdfunding Is For You.” She will give away three (3) ebook versions of Pubslush’s debut title, a memoir, a beautiful mess by Ali Berlinksi.

Memorial Day, 2013

We remember and pray for our living and deceased veterans and thank God for the freedoms of this country.

My WWII Hero Dad Saluting the American Flag, Memorial Day,2004

Memoir Writing Tips, Writing a Peace Corps Memoir

The Rewards and Challenges of Writing a Peace Corps Memoir: An Interview with Janet Givens

May 20, 2013 Kathy Pooler 43 Comments

Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler with Janet Givens/@GivensJanet

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences.” Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)

I am very happy to feature Memoir Author Janet Givens in this guest post. Janet’s upcoming memoir At Home on the Kazakh Steppe is a story of the challenges and transformation that occurred in their lives when she and her husband lived in Kazakhstan, the largest of the former Soviet Republics, as Peace Corps volunteers in their 50’s and 60’s in 2004.

Welcome, Janet!

KP: Where is Kazakhstan?

JG: Growing up in the 50s and 60s, I thought the Soviet Union WAS Russia. It wasn’t until I got into poli sci in grad school and the Soviet Union collapsed that I learned the difference. Russia was just one of the 14 “Republics” within the Soviet system that became independent in 1991 or earlier. (there are other republics still under Russian control). THEN, since the press kept referring to five of the 14 newly independent countries by lumping them together as “The Stans”, I still didn’t know about Kazakhstan. The Peace Corps changed that.

As for where it is, I can tell you that Kazakhstan is west of China (the fourth largest country) and south of Russia (thelargest). FYI, the USA is the third largest and Kazakhstan is the ninth. This is by area, not population. All pretty big, given there are about 200 identified countries now. A little fewer. I just found http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/world-top-ten-largest-countries-in-area-map.html

KP: “How did you wind up being “on the Kazakh steppe,” and in the Peace Corps? It’s something that college-age students do, is it not? You’re a grandmother?

JG: I am a grandmother. My husband Woody Starkweather and I joined the Peace Corps as an older, married couple in 2004. We were a bit of a rarity, since only 7% of Peace Corps volunteers are married and 5% are over 50. As for going to Kazakhstan, the Peace Corps allows each volunteer to choose their region, but my husband’s desire to teach Engisih limited our choices to Asia and Central Asia. Then using some algorithm, the Peace Corps makes a final determination on the specific country.Th

As for why we wanted to join, let me quote from the book.

“The idea of Peace Corps still had a powerful pull on me. … An even stronger pull was the unexpected patriotism we both felt after the fall of the Twin Towers and the other tragedies of that September day. We both abhorred the patriotism that was measured by flag waving and a “my country right or wrong” mindset. … We found it devoid of compassion. Woody’s Peace Corps suggestion came at the perfect time.”

Except that I loved my life as it was and I didn’t want to give any of it up.

KP: You’ve been working on this memoir since your return in 2006. Why did you set out to write this book?

JG: Oh, that’s easy; I couldn’t NOT write this book.

Of the Peace Corps’ three goals, the third is for returning volunteers to “promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.” But, more than that, I wanted to understand what had happened to me. These are life-changing experiences, for the grandmothers no less than the twenty-somethings.

KP: How did you begin?

JG: I began by putting together the seventeen email updates–as I called them in the days before I knew about blogs–that I had sent home. And, I reread my journals from those two years. I found what Lisa Dale Norton calls “Shimmering Images” to be a useful metaphor for me.

When I began to query agents, I learned that Peace Corps memoirs had earned a bad rap; there just aren’t that many good ones. I knew I’d have to work harder. But I wasn’t sure how. I hired editors, I took a few Writers’ Digest workshops, and I bought books on writing memoir. Lots of books. All helped, but Eric Maisel’s The Art of the Book Proposal got me on track.

Maisel taught me to seek the “universal truth” of my story, something a reader who has never been through Peace Corps could relate to. I needed to sort through what he calls the “many possible meanings” my memoir might offer, select one, and advocate for it.

Then I rewrote my memoir with my reader in mind. To paraphrase someone else, “I wrote the first draft for me, the next ones for my reader.”

KP: So, what is the meaning of your story? It’s ‘Universal Truth?’

JG: I wanted it to be the importance of accepting cultural differences.

While I was living in Kazakhstan, the Danish cartoon controversy hit the news. Misunderstanding grew into violence that eventually reverberated around the world, reminding me just how vital it has become to be able to understand, appreciate, and honor cultural differences. And, I believe, as our world gets smaller, this becomes even more important.

The problem was that actually living in such a very different culture was hard. Whatever book learning I may have had, I found that maintaining curiosity about cultural differences was overwhelming and exhausting at times.

Take the simple act of pointing. During my first semester as an English teacher, I essentially gave my students “the finger” each time I pointed to words on the board as I would in America. I know how I’d feel if a new teacher “flipped me the bird” on a regular basis. I was mortified when I learned.

When I tried to use a pointer, as instructed, I felt pompous, like I was putting on airs. Through my discomfort, I came to appreciate how deeply rooted my American sense of informality, casualness runs. It’s the gift of cultural clashes like this one, to help us understand our own culture better.

By the way, my students and my colleagues were universally welcoming and accepting of me, no matter how many cultural faux pas I made. And there were many.

KP: So, cultural difference is the theme of your book?

JG: Well, yes and no.If “cultural differences” was all the book offered, it would read like an academic tome. Or worse, a moralistic lecture. I’d get mostly yawns, at best.

I wanted to hold my readers through to the end. To do that I had to give them a real story, with enough tension to keep them turning the page.

I had to let myself be vulnerable. By including my own insecurities — not just with the newness of Kazakh culture in which I was immersed, but with the unexpected struggles and doubts I faced about my young marriage –I found a path readers could relate to. Who hasn’t, no matter how stably married, wondered how well you really knew the person you’d married? Even better, I’ve not found a sub-theme of marital tension in any of the Peace Corps memoirs I’ve read.

KP: What has been the greatest challenge for you?

JG: I’m currently at the “weasel word” stage in my edits–finding all the “just” and “all” and “really” that sneak in without me realizing. The challenge is that I love this phase; I love how changing or deleting one word can make a huge difference in the tone of the sentence,or the emphasis or even the meaning. I can see me tinkering with my manuscript for months to come.I need to find a balance between my simmering perfectionism and my desire to get my story out.

Before this, I struggled for years with how to include my husband. In all external ways, this was a shared experience. But when we got back home, I kept hearing him say, “Janet had a really positive experience. But mine wasn’t so much so.” As a result, I consciously kept him out of my first few drafts. I feared his more negative experience would dilute my ultimately positive one. And of course, I didn’t want to admit how angry and disappointed I was that his experience didn’t mimic mine.

KP: What changed your mind?

JG: Editors changed my mind. The professionals I I’ve hired at various times over the last seven years all came back with the same message. “He’s conspicuous in his absence.” I struggled with how to include him without sounding like I was just complaining.”

KP: Has writing this book changed your life in any way?

JG: Once I learned the need for a good old-fashioned narrative arc, even in memoir, I began reading fiction again. I needed to see how great novelists developed their characters, what was it that made me like the protagonist, what made me care, and most important, what kept me reading? I tried to weave the answers I found from reading fiction into my story of living in Kazakhstan. I’m still learning (of course) and always will. I love the process, particularly the rewriting. I’ve found how much I love words, how much power they have, even the little,tiny ,short ones.

I also learned I needed to show as much compassion for the characters in my story, including myself, as I did the honesty I was so wedded to in the beginning. I’ve recently discovered the writer Dinty Moore, who writes, “Compassion requires that we understand, even if we disagree.”

That is, it turns out, may well be the real theme of my book.

###

First month in Zherzkazgan celebrating 56th birthday

***

Author’s Bio:

Janet Givens, M.A., is a practicing psychotherapist and sociologist who gave up her career to join Peace Corps at age 55. She writes of life, cultural differences, Kazakhstan, friendship and peace in the Vermont Countryside with her white shepherd at her feet and a stash of dark chocolate within her reach.

In addition to At Home on the Kazakh Steppe, Janet co-authored the textbook Stuttering, which was included in Choice Magazine’s “Best Textbooks of 1997″ list, the first in its field to win this award. She has a middle school work, Grandma Goes to Kazakhstan and a picture book/adult fable, Two Bunnies, in need of an illustrator.

Contact Information:

Website: Janet Givens, write

Facebook:

PROFILE at Janet Givens

PAGE: Janet Givens, Author

Twitter: @GivensJanet

Google+ at Janet Givens

Goodreads at Janet Givens

***

Thank you Janet for sharing your memoir writer’s journey with us. In showing us how writing your Peace Corps memoir is a process of self-discovery, you provide us with many valuable memoir writing tips. Best wishes on the launch of At Home On the Kazakh Steppe. Be sure to keep us posted on the release date.

How about you? What has your experience been with cultural difference? Do you have any tips to add to Janet’s about writing a memoir? Any Peace Corps memoirs you’d recommend?

Next Week: “Writing with the Reader in Mind”

Journaling, memoir-writing, Mother's Day 2013

Reflections on My Mother’s Circle of Love: A Memoir Moment

May 13, 2013 Kathy Pooler 46 Comments

Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler

” All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth president of the United States.

Mother’s Day has come and gone and I feel blessed that I shared it with my own mother this year. She lives 200 miles away but I managed to convince her to come for a two-week visit and she agreed.

Mom is 90. She still lives in her own home of 57 years, goes to the local senior center for Zumba classes twice a week, volunteers at the local food bank and visits the “elderly” in the neighborhood.

Truth be told, I have a hard time keeping up with her.

Mom getting ready for the "Pie & Glove 5k" in 2012 where she place 3rd in the 70+ division — Mom getting ready for the
“Pie & Glove 5k” in 2012 where she placed 3rd in the 70+ division. Even grandpuppy, Sadie, looks on in amazement.

When my husband Wayne and I walk through her front door after a four-hour trip to visit her, the pungent aromas wafting from the kitchen entice us to walk right over to the oven where steaming trays and pans reveal the delicious meal that awaits us. No matter how many times we offer to take her out or make the meal, she insists on preparing a feast.

Is it any wonder that hunger strikes as soon as any of us steps foot into her home?

My three siblings and I look on in gratitude for how well she is doing and how fortunate we are to still have her with us. Her ten grandkids call her “Grambo”, her four great-grandkids call her “GiGi”, and her four kids call her amazing.

We all know things can change in a heartbeat. That makes our time with her now all the more precious.

When my dear father died in November of 2010, she lost the love of her life. We didn’t know how she would handle not having Dad around. Married for 67 years, they were high school sweethearts who were genuinely devoted to one another for their entire married lives. My siblings and I are the beneficiaries of their love and devotion. It wasn’t that they never had problems or disagreements; it was how they always seemed to work together to make it work.

How do you let go of a love like that?

fall 2010 003 — Dad & Mon at their 67th wedding anniversary celebration two months before Dad died, 2010

After Dad died, I noticed she started writing notes to him on pieces of scrap paper stuffed inside the books or magazines she was reading. Here’s a short excerpt ,with Mom’s permission, from 11/28/2011:

” My Darling,

Yesterday marked a very sad and memorable day. One whole year of being without you. I miss you more now that time goes on. We both didn’t realize what a beautiful relationship we had…”

With all my love and memories,

Kay”

So I bought her a journal with a pastel vintage print cover and a pink rhinestone clasp. Now she writes to her “Prince” updating him on family events and pouring out her thoughts and feelings.

IMG_20130501_114212_504-1 Mom journaling — Mom’s journal

One day during her visit, I saw her on the front porch, deep in thought, as she wrote in her journal:

She writes when she’s happy. She writes when she’s sad and lonely. She shares her longings and frustrations.

I know she has bad, sad, lonely days like we all do but the journaling helps her to honor the love they shared and move on.

***

Mom has taught me so many life lessons that guide me through each day, not the least of which are:

Unconditional love…”I’ll always be in your corner.”

Boundaries … ” If you don’t respect yourself, no one else will respect you”

Grace in the face of loss…” What will be , will be. Accept it and move on.”

Faith...” Your faith will get you through.”

Coping… “ A nice, hot bath can cure just about anything.”

This poem written and read by my daughter, Leigh Ann for my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary (1993) sums up the circle of love Mom nurtured in our family:

I Love You Because…

I love you for who you are because you are you and

that’s what makes you special.

When you laugh, I love you because you make me laugh.

When you’re sad, I love you because I hate to see you sad.

When you’re around, I love you because my heart opens for you.

When we’re apart, I love you because when I think of you, I smile.

Never forget, I will always love you

because you have taught me to love.”

Love,

Leigh Ann

11/92

2011-10-02_12-41-03_872 leigh & GiGi at marathon — Leigh Ann with “Grambo” after completing a marathon in her Grandpa’s memory, 2011

Thank you, Mom, Grambo, Gigi. You are a treasure and we love you!

Your circle of love ripples out from you to all of us.

You have taught us all how to love.

How about you? What lessons have you learned from your mother?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please leave a comments below~

Announcement: Congratulations to Susan Weidener. Your name was selected in a random drawing to receive a copy of Nancy Stephan’s memoir, The Truth About Butterflies.

This Week: I’m also over at Pubslush with an interview about Memoir Writer’s Journey. Hope you’ll join me over there too.

Next Week: Memoir Author Janet Givens discusses “The Challenges and Rewards of Writing a Peace Corps Memoir.”

Uncategorized

Ghostwriting a Memoir: An Interview with Sarah Freeman

May 9, 2013 Kathy Pooler 34 Comments

KP: By definition, a ghost writer is a professional writer who is paid to write material in the form of books, reports, articles credited to another person. What made you decide to become a ghost writer and what specific qualifications do you need? Do you have publish your own book to be able to ghost write someone else’s book?

SF: I never set out to be a ghostwriter, but seized the opportunity when it was presented. I am a member of a local writer’s group, and one of the leader’s sent an email to the group about a client seeking a ghostwriter. I responded to the appropriate person, and in a week, I was scheduled for an interview with the client. They hired me after the second meeting.

You need the ability to not only write well, but to edit. Ghostwriting is more editing than writing because the clients are the authors. They create the story, while you create the written page.

Another qualification is the ability to communicate. You’re facilitating the work, so if anything is unclear, it’s up to you as the ghostwriter to clarify. Don’t wait for the client to make things clear. That’s your job. Employ your listening skills. I record our interviews, so I have a resource to refer to. Yet, I still find myself asking follow-up questions or clarifying something. .

Have great organizational skills. You have to organize either hours of recorded interviews, pages of written stories or outlines, then create a well written work. As the ghostwriter, you need to keep track of their material provided, because once the project is finished, you have to return their material. For example, I save the recordings to a flash drive to return to them once the project is finished.

KP: One of the most exhilarating aspects of being a writer is finding one’s voice and infusing it into a story. What techniques do you use to find the voice of the person you are writing for?

SF: I read some books and articles about ghostwriting, and did a few exercises before I started on the client’s book.

I met with the clients in person weekly. I am blessed because we have a great rapport which helps to draw out their personalities. I recorded our meetings and listened to the recordings which is a great resource too. And the clients gave me written passages for the book, another resource. I typed the passages into Scrivener (word processing software for writers) and edited them. After a few months of talking with the clients, hearing them on the recordings and typing their written passages, I was confident I had discovered their voices.

KP: Do you specialize in a ghostwriting a specific genre or do you ghost write several genres?

SF: This is my first time ghostwriting, and it happens to be a memoir. I am open to ghostwriting other genres such as a business/finance book. I have a Bachelors in business and have helped briefly with writing a business manual.

KP: Do you have a specific protocol you follow in working with people on ghostwriting their story? If so, please describe.

SF:

#1: Maintain a great rapport with the clients especially on a memoir. My clients are warm, engaging and understanding, so I was comfortable interacting with them, asking them probing questions, and offering various suggestions. Since they were engaging and transparent, it was easy to capture their values and personalities which I consider important to grasp for a memoir.

#2: Maintain professionalism. I was diligent to be on time, if not early to meetings, made deadlines, researched facts, studies or other helpful information for the book and handled the business aspects such as writing a contract and providing receipts for their payments.

#3: Maintain their privacy: Many things the clients share were confidential; therefore, it’s important to respect their information and not share it with anyone.

KP: What are the pros and cons of being a ghostwriter from your point-of–view?

SF: Pros:

Fun experience: I’ve enjoyed this process especially meeting with the clients. They are an amazing couple, and I’ve gleaned much from their wisdom and knowledge. I have gained a friendship as well.
New adventure. You discover another person’s world and get to “travel” through time to learn their story. While memoirs are traveling through your own experiences, here you get the opportunity to explore someone else’s world.
Sharpens your skills: I have grown as a writer through this experience especially my editing skills. And I’ve learned to be a director and visionary. I had to see beyond the written page, and come up with creative ways the clients can communicate to the readers, and as director, I suggested going in a certain direction with their stories or adding a certain story in a different chapter.
I’ve had to sharpen my communication skills, especially listening. I am learning the how to not only hear what they are sharing, listen for the inside story, things not so obvious. Perhaps listen for their motivations, their passions. Hear their ‘why’. Then translate their heart and spirit in their stories.
It’s a paid job. Unlike writing your own book, you have guaranteed payment. Whether the book is a best seller or not, you are still paid.
Builds your resume. Joe Bunting from Story Cartel says that your writing is your resume. You never know what other doors will open because of this work.

Cons:

You’re not the author of the project. You can’t decide the direction of the book. You can’t add your own voice, for you must be invisible. Even if you have a wider vocabulary, you can’t utilize it at the expense of losing the author’s voice. I’ve replaced words to get efficiency, but knew that the author had either used that word before or familiar with the word.

You don’t dictate the schedule. (This might not necessarily be a “con”, depending on your tolerance for flexibility.) You’re working alongside the clients and their schedule. If a meeting is canceled, then you have to work around discussing items that you had planned to cover in that meeting. You may have completed all your revisions, but need to wait on the clients to read and accept them before continuing the next step. Or you may have to speed up to meet the client’s schedule. Again, you’re not the driver of the project.

KP: What recommendations do you have for people who may be interested in becoming a ghost writer?

SF: Study how to ghostwrite. I read two books and some articles about ghostwriting before I started working on their project. You may either write the contract or the client may present you with a contract. You need to be prepared for either scenario.

Ask yourself if you can enjoy being the facilitator of the project instead of the author. The clients are the authors who decide the content, direction and voice of the book. You help the authors not only write the words on the page, but clarify, edit and polish. You’re working behind the scenes to get the work ready for the public. And then after it’s released, you may not receive any public acknowledgement.

If you enjoy learning new stories, experiencing new challenges as a writer and working with others, then I suggest this type of work.

memoir-writing, Narrative Medicine, Storytelling

Narrative Medicine: A Guest Post by Memoirist Nancy Stephan

May 6, 2013 Kathy Pooler 30 Comments

Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler

“Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.” Theodore Isaac Ruben, MD One to One.

I am very happy to feature Memoir Author Nancy Stephan in this guest post on Narrative Medicine. We met online. Nancy is the author of The Truth About Butterflies, a poignant story about the death of her beloved daughter, Nicole. My reviews are on Amazon and Goodreads. Nancy worked in health care as a nurse for 18 years before pursuing her degree in creative writing.

Welcome , Nancy!

Narrative Medicine, defined as the intersection of medicine and the humanities, is not a new concept. Artists, writers, patients, physicians and caregivers have been combining literature and medicine for as long as people and the arts have existed.

Thanks to Dr. Rita Charon, the founder of narrative medicine, this intersection has been formalized. The roads have been paved, and street signs have been put up. It is no longer just an unmarked thoroughfare;

it has become a destination for caregivers wishing to improve their competency, for sick people wishing to improve their health, and for writers like me to share the stories that have helped us grow.

This is one of my stories from my nursing career:

Narrative Medicine:

A Tale of Two Men and a Four-letter Word

Nobody wanted to work on the 4^th floor. That AIDS man was up there. It was the mid-1980s, and the greatest fear of every nursing student in our cohort was being assigned an AIDS patient. But, eventually, it happened. My fellow student Cleeta and I were both placed on the 4^th floor. We were both assigned our customary one patient. Mine was an elderly lady with dementia who kept putting on the call light, looking for her feet; someone had stolen her feet. My friend Cleeta’s patient was the AIDS man at the end of the hall.

“I’m not taking that man,” Cleeta said. “I want to be reassigned!” But Mrs. Kluth, our clinical instructor, told Cleeta she would either take the patient she was assigned or she would be sent home. Grudgingly, Cleeta grabbed her things, and we headed to the 4^th floor.

As the two student nurses working on the unit, we were taken to the room at the end of the hall and given a full demonstration on how to follow strict isolation protocol. There were gowns to be donned, and masks and gloves to be worn. There was a bleach solution to be mixed and cleaning guidelines to follow. I looked beyond the nurse and her droning voice and into the room where a skeleton of a man lay on the bed gaunt faced and wet with perspiration. The white sheet was pulled up to his waist, his nude, rib-barreled chest rising and falling with each breath.

As noon approached, we quickly passed out the lunch trays. The AIDS man’s tray was the last one left on the cart. Cleeta, having avoided it as long as she could, pulled the tray from the cart and walked with a quick pace toward the man’s room. “Here,” I said as I followed her, “I’ll hold the tray while you gown up.”

“You don’t need to,” she said.

And when we reached the room, Cleeta squatted in the doorway, put the tray on the floor, and slid it across the slick, shiny tile. “It’s not like he’s gonna eat it,” she said. “Look at him; he’s catatonic.” And she walked away leaving me standing there.

The man was lying on his side facing the door. His dark, sunken eyes were fixed on me. “Are you hungry, sir?” I asked from the doorway not knowing what else to do, but he didn’t respond. His eyes were stuporous, his naked body was wet with sweat, and his respirations were rapid and shallow. I donned a gown, mask, and gloves, and held my breath as I stepped in quickly to move the tray from the floor to the bedside table. I held my breath because I feared the AIDS virus might be swirling about in the air. The mask might not have been enough to protect me.

It had all been such a disaster, and I thought about it later that night as I lay in bed. I wasn’t prepared, I thought. It happened too quickly, and I didn’t have time to get my thoughts together. Besides, he wasn’t even my patient. I struggled, unsuccessfully, to justify the events of the afternoon, but the truth was inescapable. I should’ve behaved with more compassion. I should’ve walked into that room and touched him, not the touch that demands something, like a blood pressure or a pulse, not the rattling around of bed rails or the shifting of covers or the other busy work that our hands find to do, but the simple touch of one human being to another. I should’ve offered him a sip of water.

The truth was, even though I was a bit kinder, I was just as chickenshit as Cleeta. I wasn’t afraid of the AIDS man himself. I was afraid of what was killing him. I was barely 20 years old, and the only thing I was certain of was that I didn’t want to die.

Some years later while working for a home-health agency, I volunteered to care for another man who was dying of AIDS. His name was David. Thanks to medical research, we were a little wiser about the AIDS virus and its transmission, but people were still dying from the disease at alarming rates. As such, there were few caregivers lining up to care for people with AIDS.

David lived in a posh, midtown penthouse that was filled with beautiful furniture and exotic artifacts from his many travels. For the six weeks that I cared for him, we talked in great detail about life and death and the unknown. I sat on the side of his bed while he showed me pictures of his adventures in Africa and Europe and South America. I listened to his action-packed stories and outlandish tall tales. And every day we ate plump, juicy oranges that were delivered fresh from the farmer’s market. David insisted that I invest in a Walkman so that on restless nights when I found it difficult to sleep, I could listen to the sounds of nature, which is exactly what he was doing the night he slipped away.

These two men dwell in my memory as a jarring juxtaposition. Even though my experiences with them happened years apart, I view it as one event, one sacred lesson. When, for whatever reason, I miss an opportunity to lay loving hands on someone in need, the universe will provide me with a second chance to get it right.

It’s up to me to take advantage of that second chance and turn it into something beautiful.

Author’s Bio:

Nancy Stephan is the author of The Truth About Butterflies: A Memoir, which earned the Atlanta resident a 2012 Georgia Author of the Year Award. She holds a master’s degree in creative writing from Kennesaw State University and is the Writing Center supervisor at Georgia Perimeter College, Dunwoody. Her first collection of poetry, A Gary Girl’s Guide to Good, was published in 2012. She is currently working on a collection of essays entitled, 24^th Opus.

Nancy’s Blog

Writer’s Bio

LinkedIn (Nancy Stephan)

***

Thank you, Nancy for sharing your heart-wrenching story of caring for AIDS patients. It is reassuring to know that compassionate care has become the focus in health care and that narrative medicine is helping both patients and caregivers experience healing by sharing the stories that matter.

The Truth About Butterflies A Memoir by Nancy Stephan

How About You? Has storytelling brought healing to you? Have you had any experience with Narrative Medicine?

We’d love to hear from you. Please share your stories and comments below~

Nancy will be giving away a copy of her memoir to a commenter whose name will be selected in a random drawing. She is also offering a 20% discount if you order The Truth About Butterflies here.

Announcement: Congratulations to Linda Thomas and Louise Carlini! Your names were selected in a random drawing of commenters: Linda won Slants of Light Anthology by Susan Weidener and the Women’s Writing Circle; Louise won Adopted Reality by Laura Dennis.

This week: I’m over at Nancy’s blog with a guest post, the first in a series on narrative medicine: “Healing Each Other Through Storytelling: The New Face of Narrative Medicine.” I hope you’ll join us there,too.

On Thursday, 5/9/13: An interview with writer Sarah Freeman on ” Ghostwriting a Memoir.”

memoir-writing, Re-visioning Memoir

Re-Launching a Memoir in the Digital Book Age: A Guest Post by Laura Dennis

May 2, 2013 Kathy Pooler 36 Comments

A guest post by Laura Dennis/@LauraDennisCA posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler

“Revision is one of the exquisite pleasures of writing.” Bernard Malamud

I am very pleased to feature Memoirist Laura Dennis again in this guest post on re-launching her memoir, Adopted Reality. My book reviews are on Amazon and Goodreads.

Laura has been here twice before with these popular posts : “Why I Chose to Write a Memoir as Opposed to Fiction” and “Reflections on Trauma in Memoir: A 9/11 Tribute.” This week, she shares her journey of revising her memoir in the Digital Age of publishing

Welcome back, Laura!

Memoir Author Laura Dennwith

All authors revise; we want to, and we have to. Our writing–if it is to be more than a personal journal–is meant to be read.

Before this “New Age of Digital Publishing,” a book was a book was a book. Once it was printed, on paper … pretty much, that-was-that. Publishers would not agree to a new edition mere months after the first one, just so the author could add a few bits. It was cost-prohibitive and generally, simply not done.

All of that has changed. Whether or not we call it a new edition, a re-release, or reprinting, authors are able to tweak their ebooks. Even paperbacks can be updated with relative ease, given the availability of print-on-demand. I use Createspace, for example.

When I first published Adopted Reality, a Memoir, I wanted it proofread and coherent, a good story … but I also wanted it out there. I wanted to be a published author, come hell or high-water. I did absolutely NO pre-launch marketing, social networking, what have you. I had my priorities, and yes, initial sales suffered for it.

Revision. Re-vision. Discovering a new vision.

For this re-launch of the 2nd Edition of my memoir, I had two purposes.

First, I knew I needed to “beef up” the endorsements in the front. I needed back matter. I needed “social media outlets” such as links to Twitter, Facebook and my blog.

I wanted a way to get readers engaged, to keep them as readers–of my blog and of future books. All of that was fairly straight-forward extremely daunting. It required healthy doses of gumption and legwork.

The second, and I would have to say, even more difficult purpose was to revise the memoir itself. I received feedback from readers that they wondered “if I’d made it” ... As in, following my 2001 bipolar breakdown, was I able to remain (relatively) sane and out of the hospital? If yes, then–how did I actually go about recovering?

Darn it, to heck, I thought. Let’s be honest. I may have used more evocative four-letter words.

I don’t know the answer to this. Long-term recovery from a bipolar breakdown is not easy, and I can’t say that I’m completely “cured.” That’s simply not how it works, at least for me. Learning to manage my depression, mania, hypomania, and something I’m only know recognizing as “mixed states”–well, it’s a huge job. I don’t have many insights.

Seriously, writing about my recovery … over the last twelve years? That’s fodder for a whole additional book, and I may need a degree in psychology to figure it all out!

The elusive “satisfying ending”

How I went about discussing my recovery to give readers not only a satisfying ending, but also some knowledge about living with bipolar disorder … it took time to figure out.

I wanted Adopted Reality to continue to exist as a “slice of life” memoir. The fantastical elements of my mental breakdown needed to have a beginning, middle and end. This can be one of the hardest aspects of memoir–finding an ending that feels complete and adequate for the reader … when the main character has a whole lot of life left to live!

Even so, the reader feedback was sound, especially because it came from fellow memoirists! I needed to give more details about how I struggled after being released from the mental hospital, how I succeeded in earning an MFA from a prestigious dance program, as a scholarship student who should otherwise be at the top of her dancing career. [If only it weren’t for this pesky mental illness.] This early recovery aspect needed to be shown with its attendant relapses and setbacks, warts-and-all.

I had to admit to myself was that while writing about delusions was fun and interesting; chronicling the arduous path to stability and sanity was decidedly not. The two years following my descent into madness were some of the most difficult times of my life. While I was supposed to be living my dream in California–reunited with my first mom, pursuing my love of dance–I was broken and beaten-down, physically, emotionally and spiritually.

But, I did it.

I sat down and I forced the writing out of me. I believe the 2nd edition of Adopted Reality is a better memoir for it. I’ve learned so much in the last year from other memoirists, such as Kathy Pooler, and from a social network of writers, fellow adoptees, and bloggers. Kathy was one of the first non-family-members who validated that my memoir was what she called, “a stunning psychological thriller.”

Beyond mere revision, this too is the power of the online digital age–connecting with kindred spirits, finding meaning in our own writing lives, and sharing that knowledge with others.

* * *

Laura Dennis was adopted in New Jersey, raised in Maryland, and learned how to be a (sane) person in California. A professionally trained dancer, Laura also worked as sales director for a biotech startup. With two children under the age of three, in 2010 she and her husband sought to simplify their lifestyle and escaped to his hometown, Belgrade, Serbia. While the children learned Serbian in their cozy preschool, Laura recovered from sleep deprivation and wrote Adopted Reality, a Memoir, available on Amazon.

She currently blogs at Expat (Adoptee) Mommy. Connect with her on twitter @LauraDennisCA, or email laura@adoptedrealitymemoir.com.

Adopted Reality , 2nd edition, Book Cover

Thank you, Laura for sharing your memoir writer’s journey with us and for showing us how writing is rewriting. I appreciate how you kept your reader in mind as you revised.

Laura will give a copy of her memoir to a commenter whose name will be selected in a random drawing.

How about you? What makes you decide to revise what you have written? Do you ask for reader feedback? As a reader, what makes you want to keep turning the pages of a book?

We’d love to hear from you. Please leave your comments below~

Next Week: Memoir Author Nancy Stephan, The Truth About Butterflies, will discuss Narrative Medicine: ” A Tale of Two Men and a Four-letter Word.”

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Monthly Archives: May 2013

Crowdfunding Your Memoir: 6 Ways To Know If Crowdfunding Is For You

Writing with the Reader in Mind: Memoir Writing Tips

The Rewards and Challenges of Writing a Peace Corps Memoir: An Interview with Janet Givens

Reflections on My Mother’s Circle of Love: A Memoir Moment

Ghostwriting a Memoir: An Interview with Sarah Freeman

Narrative Medicine: A Guest Post by Memoirist Nancy Stephan

Re-Launching a Memoir in the Digital Book Age: A Guest Post by Laura Dennis

Revision. Re-vision. Discovering a new vision.

The elusive “satisfying ending”

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