All posts tagged: structure

The lovely & Talented Sonja LIVINGSTON talks about her astonishing memoir of growing up in poverty with a single mother and bevy of siblings in GHOSTBREAD

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By Leslie Lindsay  A truly magical, glowing memoir of a life of poverty, told in the most lyrical, haunting prose that will stay with you long after you close the last page. ~MEMOIR MONDAY|ALWAYS WITH A BOOK~ AWP BOOK PRIZE FOR NONFICTION ADAPTED FOR CLASSROOM USE IN THE U.S.  A truly magical, glowing memoir of a life of poverty, told in the most lyrical, haunting prose that will stay with you long after you close the last page. I always have such a hard time reviewing books I absolutely loved. When I finished GHOSTBREAD by Sonja Livingston (U of Georgia Press, 2009), my husband asked, “How many stars?” And I said, “Five.” He nodded, slightly unimpressed. And then I followed up with, “Five GLOWING stars.” He was astonished. “REALLY?!” Yes, really. And I am not in the habit of handing out five-stars unless I really mean it. GHOSTBREAD is about living in the raw corners of Western New York. It’s about a single mother raising seven kids with five different fathers.Here, we are introduced to Sonja and …

Write On, Wednesday: Dealing with Structure

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By Leslie Lindsay  (image retrieved from myhsj.org) I have my novel-in-process right here with me.  Yes, its in electronic form on my handy-dandy lap-top and in binder form sitting on the table next to me.  I have another binder full of hand-outs  hints, tips, ideas, inspiration from from time at the Write by the Lake writer’s retreat back in June.  I don’t want to do anything about it.  Nope.  Nada.  No way.  “It’s hard!” I whine.  (Well, if it were easy, everyone would write a book).  But I know I need to.  Here’s what needs to happen:  I need to take all of my prose and turn into something a little more mangable.  I thought I was a person who could write without an outline…I preferred it that way.  Hey–if I knew every twist and turn ahead of time, what’s the point in writing?  For me, writing is a discovery process.  It’s about being in the moment and seeing where my fingers take me.  It’s pretty darn fun.  But back to structure.  I started out …