tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214489875213933536.post9082846686882138682..comments2024-01-13T22:42:35.981-06:00Comments on Motherhood & Words®: struggling with structurekate hopperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08761820572827505993noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214489875213933536.post-37470399789116940932007-12-07T15:21:00.000-06:002007-12-07T15:21:00.000-06:00Did you order MOONRISE already? If not, I can sha...Did you order MOONRISE already? If not, I can share my copy with you. I'd love to, in fact. It's a beautiful book and shouldn't be sitting on my shelf!jennifergghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07554958327305178534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214489875213933536.post-46605040779434906202007-12-07T10:45:00.000-06:002007-12-07T10:45:00.000-06:00Suzanne, I absolutely agree about Without a Map. I...Suzanne, I absolutely agree about Without a Map. It was marketed as a memoir because a collection of essays is so much harder to sell. I know Hall put the essays in chronological order, but you can tell that each one was a stand-alone essay at one point. So I guess it is hard to go the other way, as well.kate hopperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08761820572827505993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214489875213933536.post-35577679770522171562007-12-04T20:16:00.000-06:002007-12-04T20:16:00.000-06:00I agree with Vicki. Although it's tempting to car...I agree with Vicki. Although it's tempting to carve up longer works to make them marketable and go for that instant gratification, it's pretty hard to do. Once, when I was trying to excerpt a friend's novel for an anthology and having a hard time, the friend said that he was glad because a novel should be well-integrated and not easily picked apart. I think the same goes for memoirs.<BR/><BR/>The reverse is true as well. I had some thoughts about stringing my essays together into a memoir - instant book! - but there would be too much repetition, and each essay would have to be imploded to make room for all the other stuff that I didn't put in (stuff about cerebral palsy in the deaf essays,for instance). <BR/><BR/>I'm good at focusing, but I'm not sure how I focus. Maybe that's one of my strengths. I'm always pondering essays that sort of meander (in a good way) or have material that I wouldn't have automatically included. I sometimes wish that I could write like that.<BR/><BR/>A propos, I recently read Without a Map. I loved the book, but in my opinion, it's a collection of linked essays, not a memoir.Gaijin Mamahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13268842213024777679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214489875213933536.post-87846903215454350462007-11-30T09:42:00.000-06:002007-11-30T09:42:00.000-06:00I'm so glad I'm not alone in this struggle. Vicki,...I'm so glad I'm not alone in this struggle. Vicki, I think you're absolutely right that the best essays begin as essays. All my "essays" from the book feel like excerpts. I wish I had the time and focus to begin new essays, from scratch.kate hopperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08761820572827505993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214489875213933536.post-21125350759564014772007-11-28T22:18:00.000-06:002007-11-28T22:18:00.000-06:00very fitting post for me today as i got a very hel...very fitting post for me today as i got a very helpful constructive criticism on some words i had submitted. "rambling" was like a sucker punch. but she was right. and i took the challenge instead of shying away from it. i'm learning.<BR/><BR/>i often think of how it would be to write a book to write a book. not to write essays and then sew them together trying to match threads and similiar fabrics. i doubt that either way is easier.<BR/><BR/>thanks for the links and titles!<BR/>meredith*camerashymomma*https://www.blogger.com/profile/18287098210744261600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214489875213933536.post-64293660670555560432007-11-28T17:03:00.000-06:002007-11-28T17:03:00.000-06:00Hi Kate,I hate editing my own essays. It reminds ...Hi Kate,<BR/><BR/>I hate editing my own essays. It reminds me very much of the process of deboning a fish. Even days into it I continue to find little bones, sometimes even nearly invisible, see-through ones. . . and if I pull too roughly or in the wrong direction the whole shape of the fish is lost. It becomes a pile of mangled mushed of fish flesh. <BR/><BR/>I never re-read an essay I have written without thinking how one word should be altered, dropped, replaced. . . I don't like editing but it is a compulsion. I often find that what I thought was one essay is really two or three, waiting to be untangled.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the morning thoughts and I will definitely look up those essays that you mentioned. <BR/><BR/>Have you read Amy Tan's new collection of essays, "The Opposite of Fate"? Another blogger I read was recommending it today. <BR/><BR/>Lauracoarse gold girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06004484019542589905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214489875213933536.post-70118888519283242112007-11-28T15:07:00.000-06:002007-11-28T15:07:00.000-06:00Hi kate,I found your blog through pinwheels and I ...Hi kate,<BR/><BR/>I found your blog through pinwheels and I am so glad I clicked on. I have a pile of essays and I am trying to figure out how to put them together in a book. I will be checking back often. Please, continue to ponder and I will continue to glean.ukrainemomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12293215537360278094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214489875213933536.post-75869940825767904582007-11-28T09:52:00.000-06:002007-11-28T09:52:00.000-06:00Hey Kate,My two cents--and this is a fascinating t...Hey Kate,<BR/><BR/>My two cents--and this is a fascinating topic to me, one I will definitely reference and share with my students--is that the best essays start as essays. I've been wanting to pull excerpts out of my own memoir, but they still feel like excerpts, and not complete. I'd love to hear what Suzanne has to say about The Sound and the Fury, and how that one came about (which is a beautiful essay, thanks for reminding me). Again, very provocative! You've got me thinking about writing at 7:52 in the morning. Bravo!Leightongirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01995668005241526484noreply@blogger.com