Invitation to Writers
Generosity is the Key to Abundance
I wrote my first memoir to learn how to write memoir. I had only written stand-up, a few Moth-style stories and essays prior. I wanted to mine the icky stuff of my early life, running away from prep school and becoming a stripper in NYC, to see if there was any gold there. I trusted Mary Karr who said something like,
'If they trust your voice, they will follow you through all sorts of tangent and assholery.'
I knew I could be honest and funny. I knew I could also be disingenuous and tediously 'in my head'. I did not know if I could be judicious looking at the past. Who can? Ask a sibling. They have a different take.
For eyeballs besides my own, I relied mostly on Mike and Nan, friends from the 80's.
Every weekend for almost five years now, I’ve met with the whip-smart stand-up and writer Mike Langworthy, who generously mentored me in stand-up comedy back in the day, and Nancy Pasternack, a gem of a writer with whom I first 'trauma-laugh-bonded' at the famous Catch a Rising Star in NYC.
These guys have become my accountability partners. I remember getting fed up with myself one day and promising them I would have a vague structure for my book up on my wall on 3X5 cards by nightfall and I did.
I am inviting others to join us for free. With no snobbery. Well, a little snobbery. I tend to dislike sci-fi and romance as genres. I prefer that Bukowski-esque, slit-your-wrists-and-bleed writing. I prefer a voice that has the coffee-with-a-friend, ka-ching of truth. But we've had all sorts of stuff in my writing group, even graphic novels and stand-up. I ask participants to 1. show up on time, 2. bring under 1 k words to read, and 3. pay full attention when others read, giving encouraging feedback if they got any.
Come see if it's a fit. Message me if you think it is and I'll give you the link.
I keep the groups small so they usually run no longer than an hour and a half. If it gets too big, I’ll have to make another time slot.
And buy my book if you haven't. Take this indie writer out of indie writerdom.





Hi! Just curious, are these meetings on Zoom? I might be interested. Thanks for the opportunity!❤️