5 Memoirs to Read for Canada’s Day of Truth and Reconciliation

I’m committing myself to writing a list for Truth and Reconciliation every year. Feel free to hold me accountable.  Here are my top picks for 2023: 1. One Native Life by Richard Wagamese: For all the reasons I wrote about in a previous post, Wagamese’s memoir must receive top billing on my list. I could read this

An Adoption Fragment

Originally, this piece was part of my work-in-progress, a memoir that traces my biological parents’ relationship and the ripple of consequences that followed. As I write, I look for segments that can be plucked from the manuscript and submitted to literary journals.  Some time ago, Beyond Words Literary Magazine put a call out for 250-word pieces that fit

Sit Down and Listen: Why I Identify As an Adoptee

I hadn’t started to think of myself as an “adoptee” until recently. I was just me. My biological father died before I was born. My biological mother showed varying degrees of interest and disinterest in me at variable intervals throughout my life. My grandparents though, by the time they were legally able to adopt me

5 Books to Read If You’re Writing a Memoir Pt. 4: A Promise of Salt (2/3)

If you haven’t read the first part of my post on A Promise of Salt, you might want to start here. 3. Use of whitespace A hermit-crab story is one that appropriates an existing form such as a how-to article or a math exam. Brenda Miller and Suzanne Paola write this: [The hermit-crab essay] deals

5 Books to Read If You’re Writing a Memoir Part. 4: A Promise of Salt (1/3)

A Promise of Salt is a book I assign every time I teach Creative Nonfiction. It’s the sort of book that students will remark to me about years after they’ve taken my class. “I loved that book” is the common refrain.

A Peculiar Perseverance

“The writing landscape is moving faster than a starship at warp speed.”

3 Things I Did to Restart My Memoir Pt. 2

If you haven’t read the first part of this post, you can find it here. Listen here: 2. Write/expand scenes: A few months ago, I attended a workshop on long-form journalism taught by Canadian journalist Richard Warnica. The workshop was helpful in many respects, but one of the highlights was discussing a piece he’d written

3 Things I Did to Restart My Memoir Pt. 1

I began writing my memoir during the summer of 2017. I set myself a gruelling schedule in the hope that I’d finish a rough draft before the fall course load hit. I didn’t reach my goal, but I did pretty good. Listen here: I was 40,000+ words in, and I was sure I’d be able

5 Books to Read if You’re Writing a Memoir Pt. 3: Of This Earth — continued

This is a continuation of my last post, which you can read here. Listen here: 3. I fell in love with braided writing when I read Wiebe’s memoir, and I’ve been obsessed ever since. I don’t know if I can write any other way any longer. Here’s how he does it: I’m seven. I’m big.

5 Books to Read if You’re Writing a Memoir Pt. 3: Of This Earth

Of This Earth: A Mennonite Boyhood in the Boreal Forest by Rudy Wiebe The first time I read Rudy Wiebe’s Of This Earth, I knew I would come back to it when I was ready to write my own memoir, and I did. Listen here: Wiebe writes mostly on subjects related to Canadian history. He