Writing Class: Shot Of Confidence

A second piece of mine was critiqued during my memoir writing class. Again, it went very well. My classmates and teacher had a lot of positive things to say about my work; a couple of people even thought that I should fictionalize the incident and use my scene in a novel.

I was especially pleased when one of the older women walked with me on the way out of class and said to me quietly, "You're a fine writer. So far, I've enjoyed your piece the most." This woman is well-known in the journalism world and has had a lot of experience in writing herself so her compliment means the world to me. She's written for newspapers and magazines all over the world and has had quite the career -- so she knows what she's talking about!

Even though I published a novel, I still have many doubts about my writing abilities. My novel hasn't become a best seller and I never rose as high in the ranks in the magazine world as I would've wanted. Getting laid off certainly hurt. So there are times when I wonder if I'm crazy, if I'm a fraud, if I really have any business sharing my work with others. Hearing the feedback from this class has given me a shot of confidence that I really needed.

I realize that when it comes to judging an author, everyone is going to have different opinions. Rejection and criticism come with the territory. Still, it's nice to have a diverse group enjoy your work for different reasons. Though this class isn't a professional venture for me, it's still giving me an opportunity to put myself out there.

When I began the class, I freaked out. I wasn't sure I'd be able to handle the deadlines or even handle the idea of sharing so many personal details about my life. I'm really glad that I stuck it out and forced myself to do something I'm not entirely comfortable with. I feel like I've learned a lot in these past few weeks and am happy I gave this class -- and myself -- a chance.

Please read and review my YA novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Tales From My Memoir Writing Class: My First Critique

Last week, I went through my first critique in my memoir-writing class. I'm happy to say it went very well!

In class, we call these critiques "booths" because it's supposed to be as if the person getting his or her work reviewed is in a booth. Therefore, only one person is allowed to speak at a time and the person getting critiqued can't say anything until the end of the session. This can be tough when you want to defend a point or clarify something, but it really forces you to actually listen to what's being said.

For the most part, my booth was a very positive experience. I'd written a piece about an embarrassing childhood memory and wasn't sure it was "deep" enough for this class. Everyone liked it, though! I was surprised by how many of my classmates could relate to my pain and I was floored when some compared my work to Margaret Atwood and Judy Blume. I adore both of these authors and Blume's writing inspired me to get into YA. So to have it said that my work made people think of these women is a huge deal for me.

However, the session wasn't all gushy and my classmates/teachers had many valid suggestions. My teacher said I tend to use cliche phrases and encouraged me to come up with new ways of saying old things. She also said I overuse the word "that." Last year, I laughed when someone reviewed BAND GEEK and said the same thing. I mean, it's a word... and a tiny one. But I guess I really do overuse it!

My instructor also challenged me to use all 15 pages which are allotted for our booth pieces. I'd handed in five pages, but she believed I could've said a lot more. I'm used to having to condense in order to fit magazine pieces into a particular space, but she urged me to write more. I did, and managed to fill all 15 pages for my next booth.

What's really nice is how my classmates and teacher were so invested in my story. They wanted to know what happened to everyone involved, so my latest booth piece is the sequel. It's about yet another embarrassing childhood incident. I have plenty of those, unfortunately!

My latest piece gets critiqued next Monday. I feel like it's pretty solid, but I really opened up and shared some humiliating (and gross) information. I hope my classmates and teacher enjoy it as much as they liked my first booth.

Meantime, please read and review my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Tales From My Memoir Writing Class: Character Study

Today's memoir writing class was a lot less intimidating than the first session. For one thing, the class crazy dropped out so we no longer had to deal with her. In our last class, she'd flipped out over our instructor's (rather mild) critique. Apparently her anger went further than that; after class, she literally cornered and threatened our teacher. Yeesh! I hope this woman never decides to submit her work to agents because she's in for a rough road if she can't take the slightest constructive criticism. Needless to say, I'm happy that she's gone because I dreaded having to comment on her work.

Next week we'll begin critiquing each other's work, but today we discussed the introductions of two memoirs: Stitches, a graphic novel by David Small and Seeing Ezra by Kerry Cohen. I'm not a big fan of comics or graphic novels, so reading a memoir in that form took some getting used to. But it's a compelling story about a boy's horrific child and I'm interested in reading more. Seeing Ezra, which is about a mother coming to terms with her autistic son, was less gripping in my opinion, but still very well written.

I really enjoyed participating in the discussions of these books. Everyone had different opinions and interpretations of the stories, but we were all fired up and eager to share our views. I felt as if I were back in a college literature class! It was fun and very invigorating.

After, we talked about the "characters" in our memoirs and how we can present them and flesh them out. I'm still not sure if I'm going to actually write a memoir for publication, but I feel that I took away many ideas that could be used for my novel. Even though I took a memoir writing class, it's really a course about simply writing well.

I handed in my first assignment today so we'll see what the teacher thinks of my work. All I know is that throughout the class, I kept wishing that I could go back and edit some things. I'm sure that whatever suggestions I'm given will be helpful.

Meantime, please read and review my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.