At this past Saturday’s workshop, I got the chance to meet Susan Morse. Not only was she engaging and funny, but her writing was really special. When she read an excerpt from her book The Habit, I got a sense of the tone of the book; despite the comedic excerpt, I could still tell how serious the situation was and how hard it must have been. She offered some important advice about how to write memoirs and talked about the decisions she made while writing hers. It was all really helpful to hear.
I’ve personally never been interested in first person or personal memoirs, but while we were doing our group exercise, which was to recall a personal memory, I found it really easy to incorporate what Susan had said about trying to find a memory worth writing about. By the end of the session, I was far more comfortable with the idea of first person, plus I had found a new author’s work to start reading!
- Check out what Susan thought of her experience at Girls Write Now, and what Katherine’s mentor Amy took from Susan’s talk.