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.