Happy December! I hope you are all have a lovely holiday season and are embracing the winter solstice. I do like the dark; it’s a good excuse to get the fireplace going, turn on the Christmas tree lights, and light candles. It’s also a good time to reflect on the last year, the accomplishments as well as the things you learned from. 

 

Thank you again for subscribing to my mailing list for writing-related tips and info and news about my forthcoming book, tentatively titled Breaking Point: One Woman’s Transformation from Activist to Radical in 1970s America. I aim to always keep these newsletters brief. Please pass this along to anyone you think may enjoy it, and tell them they can subscribe at www.rachaelhanel.com.

 

Here’s what you can expect in this month’s newsletter:

Have you ever thought about writing a memoir? It can be intimidating to think about writing a whole book. So to start, make a list of everything you would include in the book. These are just jottings, words or short phrases. Mary Carroll Moore calls them “islands.” Then, tackle the list. Write about each word or phrase. Devote a day to each item on the list, or a week, or a month—whatever it is, put a time limit on it. Don’t worry about the writing; this is your working draft. Before you know it, you’re off to a good start toward your goal of writing a book. Let’s say you had a list of 20 things and you wrote 1,000 words about each item. That’s 20,000 words—a very good start toward something larger. And you’ll find that once you start writing, other ideas will branch off from your original ideas. 

My reading list reflects my obsessions. Through the years I’ve devoured books on the Vietnam War, self-improvement, and true crime. My current obsession is prison life and incarceration. I just finished my first semester teaching in a men’s prison, which has been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my teaching career. So I’ve turned to books to educate myself. In the past week I’ve finished This Is Where I Am by Zeke Caligiuiri and This Is Ear Hustle by Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods. Caligiuri’s book takes place in Minneapolis, where he grew up. He commits a crime and is sentenced to prison for more than 20 years. He wrote the book while in prison, a major accomplishment. It’s a beautiful meditation on life before and during prison. This is Ear Hustle is a book that came out of the popular podcast of the same title. These are stories from the inside. Again, a huge accomplishment, because I have seen just how difficult communication is between those on the inside and those outside.

I was writing something about literary citizenship and I thought of The Golden Girls episode in which Dorothy befriends a writer named Barbara Thorndyke. Barbara is an intellectual snob. So I wrote this blog post, “Don’t Be a Barbara Thorndyke.” 

Things are moving! After Thanksgiving I revised my first two chapters on the advice of my editor. I also created an author’s note that better explains my approach to the book and how the reader will experience it. I sent a few dozen photos to my editor, and he picked about 15 that likely will be included in the book. I just wrote captions for them this week. It’s so exciting to see this thing coming together.