Memoirous

Writing Out Loud Beth Finke Golden Alley Press I probably met Beth Finke a decade ago. We met at a party at the offices for Open Court Publishing, parent company of Carus Publishing, parents of Baby Bug, Spider, Cricket, etc. magazines for children. Beth had just wrapped up a picture book about her seeing eye dog, Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound. Through the years we’ve kept in touch. At certain points living parallel lives. For instance last summer she was attending the IOTA Short Prose Conference on Campobello Island about the same time I was cycling down the coast of Maine to reach the mailboat to take me out to my residency on Great Spruce Head Island (Art Week). In addition Beth is a prolific blogger. But the main thing we have in common is memoir. Beth facilitates 3 or 4 memoir writing groups all over the city. I released an eBook this spring Flash Memoir: Writing Prompts to Get You Flashing while Beth launched Writing Out Loud: What a Blind Teacher Learned from Le...

We’re supposed to get 80 - 85% coverage. If there is no cloud cover. Of course we’re not supposed to look directly at the sun. My friend Beth Finke had an interesting take on all this. Here is her memory of a solar eclipse as a child. “On March 7, 1970 using a pinhole camera our school teachers taught us to make out of cardboard shoeboxes.” She goes on to relate that she is now blind (totally unrelated to the eclipse). And that there is an app for those who cannot see it this year. Here is a link to her blog post and to the app—to give you a virtual experience. NASA (@nasa on Twitter) is also live streaming the eclipse which is set to begin here in Chicago at 11:54 a.m with maximum eclipse at 1:19 pm. I’ve made for me and my friends view boxes. For instructions on how to make one of these is less than 10 minutes go here . AND, more importantly, there is an ambiance soundtrack, NPR has put together a list. So has Spotify https://www.space.com/37823-total-solar-ecl...

All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doer This was such a beautiful book. Every word, every word was just so. But then I read a beautiful review of this book by my friend BethFinke that I asked if I could link/direct my readers to her blog . Yes!! Beth comes to her review from a very unique perspective and has also found Anthony’s writing superb because—well, I’ll let her explain. "I usually avoid reading novels and short stories with characters who are blind. Too many fiction writers portray blind characters one-dimensionally — we’re either heroic or tragic, bumbling or, particularly lately, blessed with super-powers. But Anthony Doerr isn’t like other authors . . . ." CLICK HERE for the rest. “When I lost my sight, people said I was brave. When my father left, people said I was brave. But it is not bravery; I have no choice. I wake up and live my life. Don’t you do the same?”

and Old Friend from Far Away I picked this book up from the library and found it to be a good resource for those of us teaching memoir writing (attention Beth Finke http://bethfinke.com/ ). The subtitle is The Practice of Memoir Writing by Natalie Goldberg best known for writing Writing Down the Bones. With this new book about writing she helps us strip away the barriers preventing us from remembering by providing chapters full of prompts--some as simple as Coffee--now GO, write for 10 minutes. For those not familiar with Goldberg she is a Buddhist and many of her prompts come from a Zen-like center. One lesson she provides early on in the book is that sometimes it isn't about remembering but what is it that we are trying to forget . A great concept, and powerful. Fear can be a huge block as well as a motivator. For a writer to harness it can mean lots and lots of material. Then somewhere along the way in this day I stumbled upon the http://www.happiness-project.com/ From Gr...