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I’m thrilled that you will be joining me for my upcoming What's Your Word Workshop event on Monday, December 30th at 12pm ET.

A confirmation email with all the important details you need to know is on its way to you now, so keep an eye on your inbox.

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The world is waiting to hear your story.

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I picked this memoir by Geraldine Brooks up becaus

I picked this memoir by Geraldine Brooks up because I was fondly recalling a session I had with her at the Iceland Writers Retreat. @icelandwriters
I recalled how compellingly she told the small group gathered how she "built" the interests that became her novel Horse. I also recalled that I heard very little (or remembered it this way)...about her husband's death.
This Memorial Days was such a "Patti-book" as my writing pals would say. She goes away to process delayed grief, something that one of the most noteworthy writers of our generation should have ample words for, she is spare in description.
Pain, certainly, but so much love.
Carefully curated, a gold standard for impeccable editing, I drank in Memorial Days in an hour or two (when I had 100 hours of "work" reading to do.)

Lines, simply put, stopped me in my tracks:
"But there was no next day."

My book Loving Large is five years old this week, and I'm mindful of the attempts I made in that book to stop time for people who live believing that something awful can't befall their child, interrupt their life, and alter their trajectory.

One phone call. One slip fall. One symptom ignored.

I picked this one up at @nottawacottagebookstore ... in this week of Independent Bookstore Celebration here in Ontario... pop in to one and grab this special little book. Gift it to someone who is trying to find the language.

@nottawacottagebookstore

#memoiraholic #memoir #writersofinstagram #booksofinstagram #writeon #writer #nonfiction #write #geraldinebrooks #lovinglargebook

This guy … @cooperscanadianlife. Celebrating you

This guy … @cooperscanadianlife. Celebrating you to Cooper from #gotchaday and in all those harrowing days before, to now.

It’s been nine months or so of Cooper in our lives and three times as many hospital visits but this guy is proof that resilience lays in the heart of all creatures. Especially when you’re loved like this.

Trust is still building and anxiety is real for special dogs who deserve to see the best in humans, in order to diminish the size of the memories of seeing humans at their worst. You make us want to be better people, Cooper.

The art is by @catherine.rayner and while it not Cooper per se, I purchased this because it so resembles Coopie on that day when we got our 50 pound very skinny, almost hairless guy.

Enjoy a few pics of Cooper for #NationalPetDay.

On my writing staycation…something I’m thinkin

On my writing staycation…something I’m thinking about.

What’s truth, anyway?

Who’s truth?

What form is well-told truth written in?

Writing creative non fiction means wrangling the truth. Whether personal essay or a mixed genre flow into self help manifesto your honesty and artistry are the tickets to truth telling in a way your reader can relate to. Reminded of these two creative essentials by the wise @endless_stories_jess today. It gives me pause to ponder. Thank you.

Confession. This is one of the most difficult thin

Confession. This is one of the most difficult things I've ever done in business.

I blocked off time to write.

I used an excuse, but... I did it.
I still let a call a day in from clients, but ... I did it.
I didn't go away somewhere, but... I did it.

Online conference days with @cnfcollective , one client call per day to keep momentum for three clients, and my @sheridancwp lecture. But otherwise, I'm invisible.

I put it out in the universe, to my agent, @rfiring that he is getting my proposal in two weeks...and so it shall be.

Without rigorous boundaries, I cannot devote my own time to my own art. I'm ashamed of that. I deliver for my clients, shame myself into completing their edits quickly, but don't devote time to the percolating cauldron of my next books.

I'm posting it here, so I keep my promise to myself and my book.

#writeon #proposal #creativenonfiction #memoir #writerslife #bookcoach #writersofinstagrám

Reading and listening to fiction has been a #stayc

Reading and listening to fiction has been a #staycation this month.

I'm raving about these three books in Substack today (link is UP THERE).

Thanks to @emiliahartbooks @alexhaybooks @ericabauermeisterauthor

#writeon #memoir #nonfiction #bookcoach #readfiction #stayhome #uselibraries #audiobooksforthewin #authorsofinstagram #writerssupportwriters

Vivan Gornick argues that the secret to writing me

Vivan Gornick argues that the secret to writing memoir is finding the narrating self—the voice that shapes experience into meaning. She distinguishes between the situation (what happened) and the story (what it all means), emphasizing that memoir isn’t just a recounting of events but an act of interpretation.

Writers of memoir need to cultivate a clear, consistent persona—not just a recollection of their past self but a consciously crafted narrator who understands what the story is really about.

For Gornick, the success of a memoir hinges on the writer’s ability to sustain this narrative authority, maintaining a balance between emotional authenticity and literary control.

Consider how you sound when you write...

we are called. chosen. picked. poked. shoved to t

we are called.
chosen.
picked. poked. shoved to the head of
the line.⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
and it's tough. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

the only thing tougher
that I've experienced has been
mothering, but that's me.

you can
think of it as taming the beast, or going
into battle, but I'm here to tell you ... it
is an inside job. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
you're up against your mind and nothing else. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

so shove over and make some space for angst, moodiness and self-criticism.

tell your partner that you're likely going to
miss a lot of what they say (sorry Hon)
because writing feels like the spin
cycle and you're the one that turned on
the darned machine. ⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ write it anyway.

Wondering is writing too. I hear the confusion,

Wondering is writing too.

I hear the confusion, and I feel it too. I flounder around wishing I was sure, but I'm not. I'm not sure about my own writing, my book plan, or whether the writing is working.

Not all the time. (I know, and I'm the book coach.)

I remind myself of this...I write in order to figure it out. I learn the meaning of what I've lived by looking at it through another tinted lens. And on the page, with a little perseverence and revision, I get clear.

Oh, this is what it was about.

Wondering made clarity possible.

#substack #wondering #writeon #bookcoach #pattimhall #writersofig #writersofinstagram #write #books #writingadvice

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