I would love to hear your suggestions for writing a compelling pitch and/or cover letter for an essay or submission to a literary journal. How do you catch an editor’s attention when their inbox is flooded with submissions?
Hi Meghan! I have three questions and would be thrilled if even one got answered! First, from a craft perspective, I’m curious about your research process and how you organized the Notes section in The Invisible Kingdom. Coming from academia, I’m used to in-text citations, and I’d love to learn more about making the transition to a notes-based system. Relatedly, when you’re writing a nonfiction book, how do you know when to stop researching? I write alongside research, but I never quite feel like I’ve done enough, and I would love to hear how you find that stopping point. And finally, I’d love to hear how you balance deep writing periods with motherhood. I’m a new mother, lucky enough to have time to write on sabbatical, but as my daughter nears her first birthday and my sabbatical ends in a few months, I can already feel how much trickier it’s getting to “balance everything,” not to mention the shared isolation of new motherhood and long stretches of writing. Thank you for your insight!
I'm interested in how to combine memoir/autobiography with family research. I am discovering back stories of my father and and grandfather that put into different perspective aspects of my family life that I thought I'd understood. It's hard to organize what voices are needed, and how to organize the present narrator (me) with voices and knowledge from the past, found mostly through newspaper articles.
I would be happy with any of the suggestions. I’m throwing structure into the ring. This could look like: structuring writing time, structure within the actual written form (or how to outline for a large project), and organizing research as well as organizing time within a narrative structure.
I’d love to learn a little more about how you figure out what to submit to a publication or literary magazine, how you get started pitching, and how you stay organized with submissions! And also how you learn to evaluate your own work in a more objective way!
I, too, would love to hear your thoughts on editing and revisions. Also, I can’t stop thinking about something a friend said to me about knowing whether you are an “under” or “over” writer. I believe I’m the former, which isn’t so helpful when it comes to attempting first drafts. Curious if you have encountered this and have thoughts.
Would love more posts on editing strategies (self and others), revision strategies, and a live workshop!
I would love to hear your suggestions for writing a compelling pitch and/or cover letter for an essay or submission to a literary journal. How do you catch an editor’s attention when their inbox is flooded with submissions?
Thanks all for these great questions! I've taken a stab at answering some of them. More soon on the rest, including a guide to submitting.
OK, I've fixed this so you can comment even if you are not a paid subscriber. Thanks all!
Hi Meghan! I have three questions and would be thrilled if even one got answered! First, from a craft perspective, I’m curious about your research process and how you organized the Notes section in The Invisible Kingdom. Coming from academia, I’m used to in-text citations, and I’d love to learn more about making the transition to a notes-based system. Relatedly, when you’re writing a nonfiction book, how do you know when to stop researching? I write alongside research, but I never quite feel like I’ve done enough, and I would love to hear how you find that stopping point. And finally, I’d love to hear how you balance deep writing periods with motherhood. I’m a new mother, lucky enough to have time to write on sabbatical, but as my daughter nears her first birthday and my sabbatical ends in a few months, I can already feel how much trickier it’s getting to “balance everything,” not to mention the shared isolation of new motherhood and long stretches of writing. Thank you for your insight!
Yes yes yes to the messy middle. I'm up for any guidance related to that.
I'm interested in how to combine memoir/autobiography with family research. I am discovering back stories of my father and and grandfather that put into different perspective aspects of my family life that I thought I'd understood. It's hard to organize what voices are needed, and how to organize the present narrator (me) with voices and knowledge from the past, found mostly through newspaper articles.
I would be happy with any of the suggestions. I’m throwing structure into the ring. This could look like: structuring writing time, structure within the actual written form (or how to outline for a large project), and organizing research as well as organizing time within a narrative structure.
I’d love to learn a little more about how you figure out what to submit to a publication or literary magazine, how you get started pitching, and how you stay organized with submissions! And also how you learn to evaluate your own work in a more objective way!
I’d love a Zoom live workshop on poetry, your poetry process, resources, revision advice, and how you integrate poetry into your writing life.
I, too, would love to hear your thoughts on editing and revisions. Also, I can’t stop thinking about something a friend said to me about knowing whether you are an “under” or “over” writer. I believe I’m the former, which isn’t so helpful when it comes to attempting first drafts. Curious if you have encountered this and have thoughts.