Memoirous

Soooooo after writing last week about a perception that things were slowing down in regards to acceptances—I got another acceptance. This time from Ink in Thirds . From their website: Established in 2016, Ink In Thirds is a boutique literary magazine that publishes Poetry, Prose, and Photography/Art. The focus is on the emotive, visceral layers of the human condition, bringing artists and writers together in cohesive fluidity. The prompt asked for a prose poem and I had something on hand, in my portfolio. A piece originally written as a free verse poem and that I’d worked on to revise into a prose poem—about cycling at night on an October night along the Chicago Lakefront. I write this to again reinforce the potential for all writing and keeping a portfolio of work on your computer or folder/notebook. You never know when a call for submissions will draw out a certain piece. Along with this I’ve been revising a piece of flash memoir about Opening Day (deer hunting) and have had i...

You’ll likely see this plea for the month of December. My books are available for download through Amazon Kindle and Smashwords (click on either to go to those pages). Also through Amazon you can order paperbacks of most of my titles. Through month of December Smashword downloads are 25-50% off. Highlight of this post: Flash Memoir: Writing Prompts to Get You Flashing We begin with a sudden memory, follow it to see where it leads. Yet so many of us tend to ignore these flashes. We think later yet later on we might have forgotten or lost the relevance of the moment, the urgency that led us there. I recommend a process I call write right now. In the amount of time it takes you to brush your teeth, you can jot down the memory and an outline which can be filled in later. The prompts in this book are designed to spur memories, to get you writing. I’ll also direct you to resources, authors to read and study, and places to submit. What reviewers are saying: StalkyReader 5.0 Stars While Jane...

Today you hardly ever see kids outside, let alone walking around by their self. I was maybe 5 years old and coming home from a friend’s house. I might’ve been carrying skates or dragging a sled. It was nearly dinnertime, the sun was sinking and the light on the snow had gone purple. Lights were on in the windows I passed, little squares glowing. I wanted desperately to be inside, warm and cozy. But, I had a ways to walk—today I imagine it being no further than a few blocks. Nevertheless, it seemed far to a kindergartner with snot running down from her nose. I might have contemplated quitting, lying down in a snow bank like some character from Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates or the Little Match Girl in Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale. Anyway, I knew that wouldn’t work. I might have considered knocking on a stranger’s door, begging admittance, but again that was creepy—who’d want an extra mouth to feed! No, I just needed to keep trudging, one boot in front of the other. And, ...

I remember as a kid in the middle of the night suddenly deciding I wanted to lie down in an intersection of a busy road beneath a street light—just to see what would happen. This memory might need some context. I might have been out with friends doing stupid stuff. I wasn’t into drugs or drank. Nevertheless, we never ran out of dumb ideas. It might have been the randomness or a sense of power, of baiting fate that made me think lying down in a road was cool. It might have also played into my sensibility surrounding ruins, abandoned spaces. The sudden shift in a four-lane road now seemingly empty of traffic that called to me to occupy it. The feeling that the street lights still worked, still did their job despite the fact that whatever they were designed to do was not necessary at that moment in time. It was about time, this encapsulated “now”, an invitation to step inside. I took it. I can still recall the heat of the blacktop, the textured tarmac, the flashing colors of the s...

I said I would try this year to put out some writing prompts. I’;ve been reading Peter Orner’s Still No Word From You, a collection of essays often inspired by books he’s reading, so in a fractured mirror or multi-layered memory where I’m prompted by something Orner’s written in response to something he’s reading: I give you—ticks. Again, a memory involving my father. I had a propensity to walk in the woods near our house (the woods was eventually plowed under for a highway bypass), and with all this walking I’d take a rest and lie down under the trees staring up at the sky or the underside of leaves. Later, at home in my bed after a shower trying to fall asleep, I might notice a lump behind my ear or attached to my skull. I’d go downstairs and there would be Dad reading by the light of a lamp or the glow of the TV—Hey, what’s this? I’d ask. A tick. This is before Lyme disease or the fear of catching anything from the bloodsucker. He’d get out his tweezers, maybe light a match ...

It has occurred to me that many writers cannot help but point out either in the text of their book or in the acknowledgements how the pandemic impacted their work. I hold this thought with also something else I heard/read on a forum: Publishers are not looking for books on the pandemic. Uh, okay. But it was global, everyone on the planet was affected by it in one way or another. How can one not mention it, at least in passing? I’m struck by how people can recall exactly where they were when the lockdowns came. At dinner the other night a couple mentioned their favorite breakfast spot in Traverse City—and how since the lockdown they haven’t been back. They had the date memorized: March 20. I can remember what I was doing when the program I was listening to on the radio was interrupted by a special announcement from the Illinois Governor that all schools, restaurants, etc would shut down. I was in the middle of waxing my floor. A bit of spring house cleaning. Good thing—I wouldn’t be lea...

  https://www.amazon.com/Flash-Memoir-Writing-Prompts-Flashing-ebook/dp/B0714K6B41/ a review at Amazon 5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Create Without It! Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2017 While Jane Hertenstein’s book Flash Memoir is ostensibly geared toward writers, this book is a must-have for anyone who is creating art of any kind. Filled with amazing historical factoids (check out Hemingway’s lost valise or Wordsworth’s almost-permanent houseguest, Samuel Coleridge) as well as the writer’s personal examples of following her own advice, the main thrust of the book is to get the reader’s creativity flowing, and boy howdy, the author succeeds at that. Each little chapter or section describes something that can be used as a prompt for creativity, be it old postcards, newspaper headlines, websites filled with breathtaking photos, or basic, evocative stimuli such as certain smells or sudden memories. The author then gives an example of how this prompt can be used, frequent...

 then consider buying/downloading (whatever you prefer both a book and an e-version) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Q5KBNNC/ref a review at Amazon 5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiration Galore Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2015 Verified Purchase This book is a miracle of inspiration for writers. I highly recommend it to anyone who even dabbles with the thought of getting stories down on paper. It may be the only encouragement you need to begin. A good book for writers Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2015 This is a lovely and helpful book. Sometimes just the right quote is all it takes to remind me that we writers are in this together--that it's hard for all of us, but that a writing life is a considered life and a terrific life. I came across a number of quotes in this book that I had never read before, almost all of them provocative and useful. I recommend this book to other writers to dip in and out of, for that little bit of inspiration and affirmation wh...

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Still on the theme of Remembering/Memories, John Legend Remember Us John Legend, Rapsody This song is a playful reminder of past times, better times It is also a soulful, slow groove, a romantic song Perhaps a good WRITING PROMPT might be to layer some sentences that follow this pattern, build a memory   Oh, I remember this: I remember you and I was like lightning and thunder (lightning and thunder) 'Member that night you met my daddy and mama? (Daddy and mama) Got drunk for the first time, we laughed all summer Laughed at Martin, we starved, it was part of the come-up Actin' juvenile to Juvenile, backin' it up Actin' a nut in the Acura, the number one stunna (oh, yeah, yeah) I remember you the same, you made me laugh 'til we cried Had knots in our stomachs (that's right) You remember parties, nights up at the skating rink? (Oh) Goin' crazy, watchin' Kobe win another ring (goin' crazy) We would argue, kiss and ma...

StalkyReader 5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Create Without It! November 21, 2017 Format: Kindle Edition While Jane Hertenstein’s book Flash Memoir is ostensibly geared toward writers, this book is a must-have for anyone who is creating art of any kind. Filled with amazing historical factoids (check out Hemingway’s lost valise or Wordsworth’s almost-permanent houseguest, Samuel Coleridge) as well as the writer’s personal examples of following her own advice, the main thrust of the book is to get the reader’s creativity flowing, and boy howdy, the author succeeds at that. I would highly and enthusiastically recommend Flash Memoirs for writers, artists, photographers, fabric-art creators, poets, gem artisans, musicians, and everyone else who is using their creativity to explore and understand the world. Creating is tough. It’s hard. But Ms. Hertenstein hands anyone who reads her book a skeleton key to the treasure chests of imagination that all of us possess. Mich...

Notes on a Flash Series col·lab·o·ra·tion / noun the action of working with someone to produce or create something. "he wrote on art and architecture  in collaboration with  John Betjeman" synonyms: cooperation ,  alliance ,  partnership ,  participation ,  combination ,  association ,  concert ; I’ve always dreamed of working in collaboration with another artist. Writing is such a solitary discipline. But what would collaboration look like? My friend and fellow bootcamper Colleen Davick is a Renaissance woman in that she has her hand in many pots. An avid Gaelic speaker, a spooky flutist, green room hostess, booker of concerts, likes to hang out, always ready for a road trip, and takes awesome pictures with her camera. What if we did a thing together? So here we are in the second month of 2019 and I feel it’s time: We collaborate. Starting next week for one week she will post a pic on F...

Flash Fiction and the Holidays The Yuletide season is a perfect time to write flash memoir. 1)       We have no time to write a gajillion words, so keep it simple and small, haiku Christmas! Remember Dicken’s A Christmas Carol was one of his shortest and MOST popular stories, The best things come in small packages. 2)       So MUCH material is generated by dysfunctional families, Christmas feast disasters, Gift of the Magi moments. We all have memories conjured by this festive/unfestive time of the year. So I have some ideas I’ll share with you this week as we head into Thanksgiving—which launches us into Black Friday and the Advent Season. My first tip is to come to a class I’ll be facilitating at OCWW in Winnetka. Jane Hertenstein - Holiday Flash When December 20, 2018 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM Location Winnetka Community House, 620 Lincoln Ave., Winnetka IL Registration Guest – $20.00 Member – $10.0...

Freeze Frame: How to Write Flash Memoir, will inspire you and keep you writing. *The link takes you to Amazon, but also available through Apple Baker & Taylor Blio Baker-Taylor Axis360 Barnes & Noble Diesel Flipkart Gardners Extended Retail Gardners Library Inktera (formerly Page Foundry) Kobo Library Direct Odilo OverDrive Oyster Scribd Sony Tolino txtr Yuzu

Flash Memoir: Writing Prompts to get you Flashing available EVERYWHERE.  Oder it today .* *The link takes you to Amazon, but also available through Apple Baker & Taylor Blio Baker-Taylor Axis360 Barnes & Noble Diesel Flipkart Gardners Extended Retail Gardners Library Inktera (formerly Page Foundry) Kobo Library Direct Odilo OverDrive Oyster Scribd Sony Tolino txtr Yuzu

Often wonder how to get started--sometimes the idea of writing a memoir can be overwhelming. Here is a way to isolate and breakdown your memories so that you can tackle them one at a time. The process is freeze-framing. Available wherever you download books. Good luck and see you in the New Year!!

Start off easy by tackling your life story in small, bite-size pieces. Here's a how-to on how to get started. Wherever you download books!

Writing is a journey. Every time we sit down to begin a piece or write the first chapter or the first line we are venturing into uncharted territory. We never know how it is going to turn out. Oh, we have a certain idea, like most pioneers or explorers. But, these journeys can take detours; we have to react to circumstances and often go with our gut. 365 Affirmations for theWriter is about listening to those who have gone before us and letting them guide us with their insight, their own trials. They know the terrain, how harsh it can be; they know where we can find water, shade, and rest along the way. By reading what others have said, we can survey the path before us, count the cost, and plunge ahead. My motivation for compiling 365 Affirmationsfor the Writer is to offer light along the way. From day to day, week to week, we are getting further inside our writing, further down the path. The book is 365 days of inspiration—quotes from writers and writing prompts. Here is ...

Click on the book at the side panel to order a copy. Also available from: Apple Baker & Taylor Blio Baker-Taylor Axis360 Barnes & Noble Diesel Flipkart Gardners Extended Retail Gardners Library Inktera (formerly Page Foundry) Kobo Library Direct Odilo OverDrive Oyster Scribd Sony Tolino txtr Yuzu

Available wherever you download books. Apple Amazon Baker & Taylor Blio Baker-Taylor Axis360 Barnes & Noble Diesel Flipkart Gardners Extended Retail Gardners Library Inktera (formerly Page Foundry) Kobo Library Direct Odilo OverDrive Oyster Scribd Sony Tolino txtr Yuzu