Read to write
After several hours of structuring my story for Invictus, I realized that writing about my own personal memories would not suffice. I knew I had to explore a different perspective on the theme of...
View ArticleWords don’t come easy
As a writer, you spend a lot of time by yourself, thinking. Staring at the ceiling with your feet propped on the walls, thinking. Driving around town alone at night with the radio on, thinking. People...
View ArticleThe other
It’s easy to write a memoir when all it takes is spilling your guts out onto a blank page to tell your extraordinary life story as you know it. Before I began talking to people who I chose to be...
View ArticleThere’s more than one side to every story
It takes a lot to understand that when you’re writing a memoir everything is not about you. The dozen other people in your story all have their own sides to share too. The trouble with writing this...
View ArticleThe Record Skip Manifesto
There are times, especially when I'm involved with this masochistic art we call memoir writing, that I feel stuck. I feel as if I keep harping on the same bad memories over and over again.
View ArticleThe challenge within
When I found out about Invictus, I was super excited to write about myself. I don’t normally do that. I’m a journalist and I write about others. The only times I’ve written about myself was when I was...
View ArticleAloud
Invictus writer Jessica Pettengill writes about her preparations for The Downtown Writers Jam, where she'll be presenting her story live for the first time.
View ArticlePutting together the pieces
Invictus writer Sara Narhwold: But soon my naïve self realized something: It's not just my story. It's their story as well. I wasn't prepared to hear the secret conversations they had behind my back. I...
View ArticleMy bittersweet relationship with the memoir
Taking a break from what you love can be the greatest test to prove its significance. It did for me.
View ArticleCourtship of the Past: Falling out of love with your memoir
The thing that starts to make you absolutely sick the longer you sit and work with this thing that was once such an intricate and secret part of you is that you become disgusted with your own story.
View ArticleMy Imaginary Life
If human beings were equipped with the tools or knowledge to be prepared for any obstacle in their path, there would be no conflict, ever.
View ArticleTunnel Vision
As I've written more and discussed the story with the other people involved and heard their side of it, I've realized my story is about something else: Depression.
View ArticleNobody’s Fault: An open letter to the people I write about
While you heal your wounds in your own way, this is how I heal mine. Just read the context between every line on the page, and know that the entire memoir says one thing, "You will always be in my heart."
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