Episode 221 #FeelingExposed in Memoir and Fiction
07/24/20 • 43 min
This week, Jess got a message from some family members who’d read the draft of her forthcoming book, The Addiction Innoculation. They had ... thoughts.
Those thoughts turned out to be nothing drastic—but the emotional roller coaster Jess rode while waiting to hear more was a doozy, and got us all thinking about how much of ourselves is exposed when we write non-fiction with a memoir element, how real memoirists do it, and how often readers—especially those closest to you—read our fiction looking for hidden truths. It’s a fun conversation that also covers pool floats, parents, dream offices we probably wouldn’t use and more.
Links from the Podcast
Don’t Kill the Birthday Girl by Sandra Beasley
Mrs. Everything by Jen Weiner
#AmReading
KJ: Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
Jess: Notes on a Silencing by Lacy Crawford
Sarina: Don’t You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane
Thanks to everyone who supports the podcast financially. To join that team, click the button below:
But it’s all good. The pod is free as it always has and always will be. This shownotes email is free, too, so please—forward it to a friend, and if you haven’t already, join our email list and be on top of it every time there’s a new episode.
Find more about Jess here, Sarina here and about KJ here.
KJ Dell'Antonia 0:00
Hey there. Before we embark on a new episode, I get to tell you about our new sponsor, Dabble. I wrote my last book in a mad combination of Word and Scrivener and it worked fine. But putting the whole thing together in the end was hard. And I accidentally left a chapter out of a draft, confusing everyone. With Dabble the whole book is always just sitting there, already compiled and together as a unit, but still easy to navigate around in using chapters or scenes. It's magical, and I can't wait to make full use of it this time around. Give it a spin at dabblewriter.com and let us know what you think. Is it recording?
Jess Lahey 0:38
Now it's recording. Go ahead.
KJ Dell'Antonia 0:41
This is the part where I stare blankly at the microphone and try to remember what I'm supposed to be doing.
Jess Lahey 0:45
Alright, let's start over.
KJ Dell'Antonia 0:46
Awkward pause. I'm gonna rustle some papers. Okay, now one, two, three.
I'm KJ Dell'Antonia and this is #AmWriting, the podcast about writing all the things - fiction, nonfiction, memoir, essays, proposals, pitches. In short, as I say most nearly every week, this is the podcast about sitting down and getting your writing work done.
I'm Jess Lahey. I'm the author of The Gift of Failure and the forthcoming Addiction Inoculation that'll be out in April 2021. And currently writing some stuff for The Washington Post and Air Mail. And yeah, I guess that's about it.
Sarina Bowen 1:31
And I'm Sarina Bowen, the author of 35 romance novels. And I'm currently writing nothing and it is glorious.
KJ Dell'Antonia 1:41
I'm KJ Dell'Antonia. I'm the author of How To Be a Happier Parent and the novel The Chicken Sisters, which is coming out this December look for it in bookstores near you if you can be in them and goodness knows I hope you can, but I'm not holding my breath. I am the former editor of The Motherlode Blog at the New York Times where I sometimes still contribute. And I write things for other places. But I am primarily now focused on fiction, kind of, mostly, more about that in a minute maybe.
Jess Lahey 2:12
Speaking of being able to go into bookstores, I was able to go into one for the first time recently, they're limiting their customers. I went to the Phoenix Bookstore in Burlington, and I was able to ...
This week, Jess got a message from some family members who’d read the draft of her forthcoming book, The Addiction Innoculation. They had ... thoughts.
Those thoughts turned out to be nothing drastic—but the emotional roller coaster Jess rode while waiting to hear more was a doozy, and got us all thinking about how much of ourselves is exposed when we write non-fiction with a memoir element, how real memoirists do it, and how often readers—especially those closest to you—read our fiction looking for hidden truths. It’s a fun conversation that also covers pool floats, parents, dream offices we probably wouldn’t use and more.
Links from the Podcast
Don’t Kill the Birthday Girl by Sandra Beasley
Mrs. Everything by Jen Weiner
#AmReading
KJ: Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
Jess: Notes on a Silencing by Lacy Crawford
Sarina: Don’t You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane
Thanks to everyone who supports the podcast financially. To join that team, click the button below:
But it’s all good. The pod is free as it always has and always will be. This shownotes email is free, too, so please—forward it to a friend, and if you haven’t already, join our email list and be on top of it every time there’s a new episode.
Find more about Jess here, Sarina here and about KJ here.
KJ Dell'Antonia 0:00
Hey there. Before we embark on a new episode, I get to tell you about our new sponsor, Dabble. I wrote my last book in a mad combination of Word and Scrivener and it worked fine. But putting the whole thing together in the end was hard. And I accidentally left a chapter out of a draft, confusing everyone. With Dabble the whole book is always just sitting there, already compiled and together as a unit, but still easy to navigate around in using chapters or scenes. It's magical, and I can't wait to make full use of it this time around. Give it a spin at dabblewriter.com and let us know what you think. Is it recording?
Jess Lahey 0:38
Now it's recording. Go ahead.
KJ Dell'Antonia 0:41
This is the part where I stare blankly at the microphone and try to remember what I'm supposed to be doing.
Jess Lahey 0:45
Alright, let's start over.
KJ Dell'Antonia 0:46
Awkward pause. I'm gonna rustle some papers. Okay, now one, two, three.
I'm KJ Dell'Antonia and this is #AmWriting, the podcast about writing all the things - fiction, nonfiction, memoir, essays, proposals, pitches. In short, as I say most nearly every week, this is the podcast about sitting down and getting your writing work done.
I'm Jess Lahey. I'm the author of The Gift of Failure and the forthcoming Addiction Inoculation that'll be out in April 2021. And currently writing some stuff for The Washington Post and Air Mail. And yeah, I guess that's about it.
Sarina Bowen 1:31
And I'm Sarina Bowen, the author of 35 romance novels. And I'm currently writing nothing and it is glorious.
KJ Dell'Antonia 1:41
I'm KJ Dell'Antonia. I'm the author of How To Be a Happier Parent and the novel The Chicken Sisters, which is coming out this December look for it in bookstores near you if you can be in them and goodness knows I hope you can, but I'm not holding my breath. I am the former editor of The Motherlode Blog at the New York Times where I sometimes still contribute. And I write things for other places. But I am primarily now focused on fiction, kind of, mostly, more about that in a minute maybe.
Jess Lahey 2:12
Speaking of being able to go into bookstores, I was able to go into one for the first time recently, they're limiting their customers. I went to the Phoenix Bookstore in Burlington, and I was able to ...
Previous Episode
Episode 220 #ComedicMemoir with Kari Lizer
Kari Lizer is best known for her work in television, as writer and co-executive producer of Will & Grace and the creator of The New Adventures of Old Christine. When her essays about parenting took the shape of a book, she found that her real life provided more than enough material for a comedic memoir. Aren’t You Forgetting Someone? has it all - chickens, Kate Middleton’s bangs, psychics, and the promise of happy endings.
#AmReading
Jess: Beach Read by Emily Henry
Sarina: The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa
Kari: Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout
Subscription links and a transcript follow—but first, a preview of the #MinisodeMonday that will be dropping into #AmWriting supporter inboxes on Monday, July 20th: How an Editor Considers an Essay. Not joined that club yet? You’ll want to get on that. Support the podcast you love AND get weekly #BonusContent with actionable advice you can use for just $7 a month.
As always, this episode (and every episode) will appear for all subscribers in your usual podcast listening places, totally free as the #AmWriting Podcast has always been. This shownotes email is free, too, so please—forward it to a friend, and if you haven’t already, join our email list and be on top of it with the shownotes and a transcript every time there’s a new episode.
To support the podcast and help it stay free, subscribe to our weekly #WritersTopFive email.
This episode was sponsored by Author Accelerator, the book coaching program that helps you get your work DONE. Visit https://www.authoraccelerator.com/amwriting for details, special offers and Jennie Nash’s Inside-Outline template.
Find more about Jess here, Sarina here and about KJ here.
If you enjoyed this episode, we suggest you check out Marginally, a podcast about writing, work and friendship.
Transcript (We use an AI service for transcription, and while we do clean it up a bit, some errors are the price of admission here. We hope it’s still helpful.)
KJ Dell'Antonia 0:00
Writers it's KJ here. Before we get to the interview, which is Jess and Sarina talking to the very funny Kari Lizer I wanted to share a little about our new sponsor, Dabble. I wrote my last book in a mad combination of Word and Scrivener and it worked fine. But putting the whole thing together in the end was hard and I accidentally left out a chapter of a draft confusing everyone. With dabble, the whole book is always just sitting there already compiled and together as a unit and easy to navigate around in as chapters or scenes. It is magical and it can't wait to make full use of it this time around. Give it a spin at dabblewriter.com and let us know what you think. Is it recording?
Jess Lahey 0:43
Now it's recording.
KJ Dell'Antonia 0:45
This is the part where I stare blankly at the microphone trying to remember what I'm supposed to be doing.
Jess Lahey 0:49
Alright, let's start over.
KJ Dell'Antonia 0:51
Awkward pause. I'm gonna rustle some papers. Okay, now one, two, three.
Jess Lahey 1:02
Hey, this is the #AmWriting podcast with Jess Lahey and Sarina Bowen, KJ is off this week. This is the podcast where we talk about all the things - all the writing things, the researching, the editing. I'm just about to start editing today, actually. So we'll probably slip in and mention of that - writing romance, writing fiction, writing nonfiction, writing all the things we love to talk about. And this is definitely the podcast though, first and foremost, about getting the writing done. I'm Jessica Lahey I'm the author of The Gift of Failure and the forthcoming The Addiction Inoculation that will be out next year, April 2021. And you can find my work at the Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other lovely places like Airmail recently...
Next Episode
Episode 222 #HomagetoJane: Talking Jane Austen with Sonali Dev
Hey campers—I hate reading you all a canned intro to our authors every time, so I’m winging it with our guest, Sonali Dev. I’m a fan of hers, so I feel like I know all the things. She’s the author of four straight-up romances, but her last-book-but one is the start of a series written in homage to Jane Austen, as is her latest, both set among the members of a politically ambitious Indian family in California. Why Jane Austen? Because, as Sonali says, “those were the first books I read about women wanting things and getting them. Instead of ending up crazy or dead.”
We talk the pros and cons of writing from such revered material, whether readers are “looking for Lydia,” the need to make your heroine “likeable” (pro tip: the female Darcy is hard sledding) and supplying recipes for hungry readers.
Links from the pod:
Newsletter with a recipe booklet, recommendations, and a really bad joke.
#AmReading
Sonali: Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall
The Kingmaker by Kennedy Ryan
KJ: The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory
Perfect Happiness by Kristyn Kusek Lewis
Sarina: Pale Rider by Laura Spinney
The Great Influenza by John M. Barry
Thanks to everyone who supports the podcast financially. To join that team, click the button below:
But it’s all good. The pod is free as it always has and always will be. This shownotes email is free, too, so please—forward it to a friend, and if you haven’t already, join our email list and be on top of it every time there’s a new episode.
Find more about Jess here, Sarina here and about KJ here.
KJ Dell'Antonia 0:00
Hello fellow writers, we have an interview for you with Sonali Dev whose Bollywood romances have always reflected her love of all things Jane Austen, and whose latest books are all in on that passion. If you're all in with books, reading, and writing, you might want to check out the latest book from Jennie Nash at our sponsor, Author Accelerator - Read Books All Day and Get Paid For It: The Business of Book Coaching. You can find that and more at authoraccelerator.com. Is it recording?
Jess Lahey 0:30
Now it's recording.
KJ Dell'Antonia 0:33
This is the part where I stare blankly at the microphone and try to remember what I'm supposed to be doing.
Jess Lahey 0:37
Alright, let's start over.
KJ Dell'Antonia 0:38
Awkward pause. I'm gonna rustle some papers. Okay, now one, two, three. Hey, I'm KJ Dell'Antonia and this is #AmWriting the weekly podcast about writing all the things, fiction, nonfiction, short pieces, long pieces, proposals, pitches, you are allowed to start to write things that do not start with P, although I may not list them here. And in short, we are the podcast about sitting down and getting your work done.
Sarina Bowen 1:14
I'm Sarina Bowen, I am trying to get the work done this week on romance novel number 36. And you can find more about me at sarinabowen.com.
KJ Dell'Antonia 1:25
And I am KJ Dell'Antonia. I'm the author of the novel The Chicken Sisters, and you heard it here first, I don't know when it's coming out. We've just delayed that puppy from this summer into the future. Not the indefinite future, but I don't know what kind of future. So everybody's talking me off the ledge because I'm not super happy about it, but it is what it is and when it comes out, it's gonna be great. It really is. I'm also the author of How to Be a Happier Parent, which did come out in paperback this summer. I'm a former editor of The Motherlode blog at the New York Times and still sometimes a contributor there. And you'll find me bookstagramming on Instagram at kjda. And we have a guest today that I'm really excited about. So I hate reading everybody the canned intro to the authors all the time, where I sort of just suck pieces off of their ...
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