tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post2640975266540989997..comments2024-03-18T09:09:59.625-04:00Comments on Janet Reid, Literary Agent: Non-commercial memoirJanet Reidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00615380335938685231noreply@blogger.comBlogger58125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-91749667181169356682017-08-04T14:14:21.310-04:002017-08-04T14:14:21.310-04:00Interesting approach, and some fascinating comment...Interesting approach, and some fascinating comments. I'm starting to delve into the personal historian world - a friend of a friend was a convicted bank robber, fell in love and went straight, etc. And wants to tell his story. In his case there will definitely be some exciting bits, and maybe even commercial potential. But for many people, their life just was, with little ups and downs. As you say, the importance is in helping them document what life was like when they grew up. <br />My mother had documented the first few decades of her life - when in her 80's so a little fuzzy in places- but we still have her tapes and notes from then. You've reminded me that I need to gather this all up so that her family and friends can add to the story, while we're all still here. Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04631797915121524407noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-59904362679355517522017-08-02T16:24:27.674-04:002017-08-02T16:24:27.674-04:00Thank you for such an honest analysis of the publi...Thank you for such an honest analysis of the publisher attitude to memoir and such a positive view of the future.<br />Jean Gillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14423822543543008594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-38545656855521502022017-07-31T02:43:25.053-04:002017-07-31T02:43:25.053-04:00This is a great blog Jane and I am interested in t...This is a great blog Jane and I am interested in the discussion about non commercial memoirs. Like David Carr's comments, my latest manuscript, Vaguely Indecent, is a clear eyed report of what happened in one family over 50 years ago. The external journey is into the social history of other times and places while the inner journey seeks out reconciliation and forgiveness of self. There is therefore a two fold interest; social history and the philosophical debate of what is right and what is wrong. I do hope I find a publisher who sees it as sufficiently commercial to publish. <br />Bette Guy Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16486303924913647014noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-56600712444389679622017-07-28T09:43:22.467-04:002017-07-28T09:43:22.467-04:00Thank you for this post. Many years ago, I wrote a...Thank you for this post. Many years ago, I wrote a freelance article about a woman who provided that service for people. While it certainly isn't the same as writing your own memoir, I was struck by how important it was to record these personal histories. Life is changing so rapidly that it's easy to forget the past. In addition to being a recorded history, the writing of a memoir can be cathartic. All the best to those who have a story to tell.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05613585900686451925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-43182472981141315392017-07-28T08:03:46.317-04:002017-07-28T08:03:46.317-04:00For anyone who is interested.
My grandfather'...For anyone who is interested.<br /><br />My grandfather's WWI journal is now online at the Museums on the Green in Falmouth MA. I need to get them some of the photos from the scrapbook I found.<br /><br /> http://museumsonthegreen.org/wp-content/uploads/From-Heaven-to-Hell-via-Hoboken.pdfSharyn Ekberghhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11987304898246173619noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-34284464268715435312017-07-27T23:03:48.025-04:002017-07-27T23:03:48.025-04:00Love to you too, 2Ns! Congrats on the new addition...Love to you too, <b>2Ns!</b> Congrats on the new addition.Karen McCoyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02640324898284007337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-88673680868340425172017-07-27T22:51:17.733-04:002017-07-27T22:51:17.733-04:00Janet, you are one of my favorite people I have ne...Janet, you are one of my favorite people I have never met. You blow me away over and over again.<br />One of my uncles wrote his memoir. My aunt typed it. She played editor, beta reader, context adder, and more. And he rewrote and she retyped. The finished product is close to a ream of paper, but it's double spaced and includes lots of photos (one sided, IIRC).<br />I learned more family history from that than I had heard most of my life- not counting all I learned just about Uncle G.A., Aunt Marjorie, and their children. I also got insights not only into the time, but into West Palm beach, the insurance industry, and polio.<br />We haven't been able to convince our dad to do this, but I am encouraging my siblings to share the stories we've all heard or lived in writing. Among other things, we have pieced together (with a bit of help from a stranger's memoir my daughter found!) things about the Korean war that would curl your hair. I'm seriously amaze that so many who survived that trusted our government at all.<br />Write. It. Down. Get others involved. Please.roadkills-r-ushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14029861300358380117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-49567847459038244942017-07-27T22:21:01.107-04:002017-07-27T22:21:01.107-04:00I think everyone must have stories like the ones s...I think everyone must have stories like the ones shared here. Another wonderful morning of reading.<br /><br />My Nana loved poetry, but what we didn't know until after she had gone was that she had composed poetry herself. We found just a couple of poems with a letter she'd obviously drafted to submit her book of poems for publication (complete with pen name). We don't know if she ever did submit those poems, or what happened to the rest of them, but the few poems we do have are now a treasured family possession.<br /><br /><b>Elissa</b>, I'm sorry to hear of your loss (((hugs)))<br /><br /><b>2Ns</b>, congratulations on your newest grandbaby. AJ Blythehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04529233142099749005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-80521725047012832672017-07-27T22:14:39.400-04:002017-07-27T22:14:39.400-04:00Ditto what everyone said about your philosophy on ...Ditto what everyone said about your philosophy on this, Janet. Although I am curious what the difference (if there is one) is between a memoir and an autobiography?<br /><br />But the thing that has my rodent wheel racing is this: <br /><br />>>no I can't sell cozy mysteries without a craft theme<<<br /><br /><b>Janet</b>, was this a serious comment? Do they have to have a craft (or I assume cooking) theme? Mine has a theme/hook, but not crafty (not this series, nor the next, nor the one after that). I do have recipes (of food eaten in the book) to be included, but they don't relate to the theme.AJ Blythehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04529233142099749005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-88128542440448742342017-07-27T21:39:27.573-04:002017-07-27T21:39:27.573-04:00Circling back in to just simply say... LOVE. All o...Circling back in to just simply say... <b>LOVE</b>. All of this. Everything all of you wrote. And the stories you've shared. Melanie Sue Bowleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11820711791019410116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-16394479996097469342017-07-27T20:52:02.012-04:002017-07-27T20:52:02.012-04:00Your post today, Janet, is one of the reasons why ...Your post today, Janet, is one of the reasons why I love you.<br /><br />This reminds me of "Everybody Has A Story" with Steve Hartman. It's true, each one of us has a story and even if some have led more exciting lives than others, it doesn't mean one life is more important than the other. Back in the the 1990s here in Paris I was working on Steven Spielberg's the Shoah Project, I had the privilege to tape the lives of people who had survived the concentration camps. Each story was a testament of the human spirit to survive. Believe me when I say I felt blessed to not only hear their stories, but to record them for future generations.<br /><br />My ex's uncle was part of the French Resistance and was captured when he was 19. He was taken to Auschwitz where he later died. After the war, my ex's mother and grandmother went to Poland to find out what they could and found a photo of him. More importantly (I don't remember how, this was over 30 years ago) they had many of his writings. Letters and poems he wrote talking about the evil and despair of life in the camp, but he also wrote about good and beauty and his hope for the future if he would be lucky enough to survive. Unfortunately, he did not.<br /><br />Susan, all you have to do to get first hand information about how life was in France during WWII is have Sunday lunch with several generations present and the conversation will inevitably turn to that period. When I first arrived in Paris I was amazed how the French still talked about WWII like it had happened yesterday, 46 years later it hasn't changed. <br /><br />On a different note, there are still days (not many) when my mum remembers things from her past that we didn't know about. Little golden nuggets of her life, and life with my dad, that would've otherwise have been hidden/lost to us forever. I cherish them.<br /><br />Elissa, my condolences about your father.<br /><br />Carolynn, congratulations on your new grandson.<br /><br />(The cycle of life. Sorry, Janet, for going way over the 100 words.) <br />LynnRodzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10796099106913990163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-76201351678188003632017-07-27T20:05:07.981-04:002017-07-27T20:05:07.981-04:00Just got home from the hospital, maternity, my old...Just got home from the hospital, maternity, my oldest daughter had a little boy today, a second child. All fine, actually all grand. Birth, a true miracle.<br /><br />I wasn't going to comment again but after being away all day and now jumping back on I have to say...<br /><br />Look at what we have written today !<br />Have you read the comments. We are amazing people, amazing writers, 'write' up there with the best.<br />I love this bunch, truly I do.Carolynnwith2Nshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18394998702410764388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-36808641237578339402017-07-27T16:56:12.110-04:002017-07-27T16:56:12.110-04:00Elissa: I'm so sorry about your father. (((hug...Elissa: I'm so sorry about your father. (((hugs)))<br /><br />My grandmother used to tell me about growing up poor. I enjoyed our talks, and tried to remember them, but my memory has been a sieve for a couple decades now, and things are now lost. She would talk about wearing her brothers' shoes, about how her step-father didn't want her around because she was a girl - the boys were okay because they could help around the farm.<br /><br />She never talked about her own father, except that he died when she was very young.<br /><br />It wasn't until my dad's younger brother died that my grandmother's step-sister spoke up to say that 'Anne's father was hanged for murder.' My grandmother was mortified, but it opened up a whole new view into my grandmother's family's past. I'm still learning more about this event, even 21 years after Grandma left us.BJ Muntainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12977414826388000094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-80661437116596501642017-07-27T16:35:28.027-04:002017-07-27T16:35:28.027-04:00One sentence (or two) that makes my blood run cold...One sentence (or two) that makes my blood run cold is "Everyone tells me I should write a book," followed by: "Can you help me write it?" Sadly, I have had to fend off a couple of people because I know how difficult it is for memoir to sell. I feel very fortunate that my first, and now I think my second, are going to be published. It was never a question of making money, just the compulsion to write it all down. I love that quote about remembering things you can live with. Can certainly relate.Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11166776565191771729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-83989913649179263322017-07-27T16:03:26.991-04:002017-07-27T16:03:26.991-04:00To all who wrote their condolences (or even just t...To all who wrote their condolences (or even just thought them): Thank you. I wasn't looking for acknowledgement, but you're all too kind to let my family's loss slide under the radar. My father is now with my mother, where he's wanted to be ever since she passed 6 1/2 years ago. The story of how they met was one of his favorites (blind date with a coworker's sister).<br /><br />Still, I want to re-emphasize the point I was making: it's up to us writers to make sure people's stories aren't lost. <b>Dan Phalen</b>, what you're doing for those seniors is wonderful.Elissa Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10727748060605823895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-8612883806073263752017-07-27T15:59:04.612-04:002017-07-27T15:59:04.612-04:00Bravo, Janet, for writing this post and sending su...Bravo, Janet, for writing this post and sending such a caring response to those writing non-commercial memoirs. I want to echo those who've already said it: You make us feel like our work matters, and we are so grateful!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00057611467208638753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-67488231455283006502017-07-27T14:32:55.477-04:002017-07-27T14:32:55.477-04:00It has been awhile since I read about this, so I d...It has been awhile since I read about this, so I don't know if I have the terminology right, but what you are talking about is what historians call the Little Story.<br /><br />If someone who is of no significance whatsoever is born to money (I think you know whom I am referring to), said individual's story is the Great Story. People who are born to no money live the Little Story.<br /><br />Only the Great Story gets recorded. Thus we have fair records of what it was like to be an English aristocrat in the eighteenth century and have some peasants strung up because he got up on the wrong side of the bed one day. We can only guess what it was like to live with someone's boot on your neck and have the boot replaced with a rope when you were only twenty.<br /><br />The Little Story needs to be told. As a history buff I can understand why the Duke of Wellington wanted to shoot at Napoleon's men and thereby preserve England's system of class privilege. I do not understand why the duke's soldiers shot at the French and not at the duke himself.<br /><br />Methinks they aimed their guns in the wrong direction.<br />Steve Stubbshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13421775912951050610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-5659830832296009292017-07-27T14:05:37.304-04:002017-07-27T14:05:37.304-04:00Wonderful post and comments today. Thank you for s...Wonderful post and comments today. Thank you for sharing, everyone. The stacks and stacks of letters and postcards written by family members that I've kept are my treasured possessions.<br /><br />Andrea St. Amand: brilliant idea to give caregivers the memoirs of those under their care.<br />Dan Phalen: also brilliant to do the bios for your community newsletter. What a gift for people to learn about their neighbors.<br /><br />Elissa: So sorry to hear about the passing of your dad. <br /><br />Claire Bobrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15666082441972111293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-55507776776713051152017-07-27T13:31:45.906-04:002017-07-27T13:31:45.906-04:00This is why we love you Janet! You are always try...This is why we love you Janet! You are always trying to figure out how to make a human know s/he matters. <br /><br /><b>2Ns</b> - that is bittersweet. People have so many layers. It is different when it's your mom, but I felt the same way about my grandfather. He was always very strict with us grandkids, always chastising us for not leaning over the table, or talking too loudly, etc. etc. He had a super gruff voice and SEVERE eyebrows. We used to avoid him in the house (like, sneak around and whisper) when we'd visit Grandma & Grandpa. It wasn't till I was older that I started catching his dry sense of humor. Then after he passed (when I was 14), I learned so many things about him that I never knew. Now I play the accordion and ride the unicycle and my sister flies a plane like him. I feel like if he had lived a few more years, we would have had a kindred spirit. <br /><br /><b>Dan</b> - "I'm sitting on a gold mine with a toothpick and a spoon." Well said. My favorite people think this of every person they meet. I always try to think more like them!<br /><br /><b>Elissa,</b> I am sorry to hear that. He does sound incredible. Lennon Farishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03570629350169504234noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-43309617604791703782017-07-27T13:01:39.785-04:002017-07-27T13:01:39.785-04:00Kudos to those who can write memoirs! I find that ...Kudos to those who can write memoirs! I find that putting memories to words cuts too close to the bone - even though I have essentially lived a beautiful life. Funny thing - a few days ago I woke from a dream in which an entire Mac Davis album from my childhood had played all night long. I had completely forgotten these songs, and when I googled the album I saw that its release date was in 1974. I would have been 9! I spent that day remembering what it was like to be a child in the seventies - party lines and garden tomatoes, the green slant of light in a never-ending summer. But how to share? What words to capture the essence? I couldn't do it. Ditto on my first marriage, my children. Double ditto on the house fires I have seen in my career, the dying girl in the mangled car who held my hand and broke my heart forever. I'm a writer; I use my words. But I find I don't have the right tools in the box for this sort of thing. That said - the few times I have broken through and written a truly personal blog, the response has been far and above what I normally get. I think people love to connect. In this age of technology *sigh* they like to see the wizard behind the curtain, don't they? And was "To Kill a Mockingbird" a memoir of sorts? Because I have read a trillion other books and never loved one quite as much as I do that one.<br /> Lucy Crowehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16763986083601056597noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-90756218324679489942017-07-27T12:45:35.175-04:002017-07-27T12:45:35.175-04:00I've often thought it would be a fun collabora...I've often thought it would be a fun collaboration, to create historical fiction from the stories of someone who was there. It may be like making movies from novels. The end result isn't exactly what the author wrote, but the underlying story is there, and entertaining.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03581361783795436259noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-35397534206781359952017-07-27T12:13:21.711-04:002017-07-27T12:13:21.711-04:00In memoirs, even more than in commercial fiction, ...In memoirs, even more than in commercial fiction, it is all about the writing. I have put down many more memoirs than I have read for just that reason. Too many try to set a mood by being overly descriptive.<br /><br />Even if a memoir is not commercially viable, there is a big market for many of them. There are support groups of every kind out there. If you can write a memoir that is cathartic to any of those groups you might find a home.<br /><br />Finding such a home might be as profitable to the health of the writer's soul as it is to their wallet.Craig Fhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07157301156577795781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-81819000159610545212017-07-27T12:10:01.653-04:002017-07-27T12:10:01.653-04:00A highly recommended (by me) well-written, honest,...A highly recommended (by me) well-written, honest, memoir that records and brings into focus a critical time in American history is “The Newspaper Boy: Coming of Age in Birmingham, AL, During the Civil Rights Era.” <br /><br />Excerpts from the Kirkus review:<br /><br />A white Southerner describes his teenage journey to racial tolerance in this debut coming-of-age autobiography.<br /><br />Attorney Isom grew up and attended college during the 1950s and ’60s in Birmingham, Alabama. . . . That backdrop makes Isom’s personal story even more remarkable. As a teenager, he was fired up by the racist views of his society, particularly those of famous segregationist and Klansman Asa Carter. However, he was slowly swayed the opposite way by the kindness and “question everything” philosophy of the Millers, two Yankee transplants on his paper route.<br /><br />A touching, heartfelt, and amusing book that provides a wonderful personal perspective on a period of historical and cultural change.<br /><br />Joseph S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07437663031050410028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-13280871164281055742017-07-27T11:52:13.958-04:002017-07-27T11:52:13.958-04:00Some perspective. I live in a community for active...Some perspective. I live in a community for active seniors. We have a monthly newsletter and I'm one of four writers who produce a one-page bio called Know Your Neighbor. On every setup call I get the response "my life isn't interesting". Let me tell you, when it finally comes to the "one-hour" interview, invariably we're at it for two. <br /><br />As I condense the salient experiences of an octogenarian couple onto a single page, I'm constantly frustrated by that limitation. What comes out from these intelligent, well-spoken, lively people are vivid vignettes of the history they've lived. I wish I could include more, but space is limited.<br /><br />My last interview, the 82 yo gentleman was part of the rocket age, was in the NASA command center when Columbia blew up. Things like that could be embellished with fascination first-person details. <br /><br />I'm sitting on a gold mine with a toothpick and a spoon.Dan Phalenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08321581224681887645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-18048461851630792442017-07-27T11:52:10.948-04:002017-07-27T11:52:10.948-04:00I’m sure I’m not alone in this, but friends and ac...I’m sure I’m not alone in this, but friends and acquaintances who are readers but not writers keep encouraging me to write a memoir or a family biography, usually with conclusions like, “That’s the story you were meant to write” or “People would want to read that” or “It’d be interesting.” <br /><br />The most intriguing being about my mother. She was a young girl at the beginning of World War II and lived in the part of Italy-Yugoslavia where the rebels engaged in violent battles with the Italian Army. The rebels killed my mother’s sister for flirting with an Italian soldier, and my mother had to hide so they wouldn’t kill her too. When my mother was in the fifth grade, her village was burned to the ground and she and her parents were taken as forced laborers to a Bavarian farm in Germany. They had to stand naked in line with hundreds of other going through sheep dip on their way to Germany. She’s told me of killing and eating a chicken right there in the field because she was so hungry. And hating the mean woman whose husband owned the farm. And watching that woman being killed during by a bomb dropped during an American bombing run over their town. <br /><br />I bought a recording device a few years ago to record my mother’s story. She was then in intermediate memory loss stage but could recall her childhood vividly. I asked people visit her to get her to tell her story. Alas, the device disappeared within a week.<br /><br />I may use part of my mother’s story in a novel somewhere down the line, but I’d never be able to write a good memoir or biography about it.<br /><br />Joseph S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07437663031050410028noreply@blogger.com