Repost: Voice can make me fall for a memoir. Like love, voice is very tricky to describe but undeniable when present. Like love, voice belongs to the ineffable. While I […]
“Big-hearted, keen-eyed, lyrical, precise…Cheryl Strayed reminds us in every line that if defeat and despair are part of human experience, so are kindness, patience, and transcendence.” ~ George Saunders “Cheryl […]
Interested in getting started writing memoir? Enroll in Theo Pauline Nestor’s Memoir 101 course, a five-class teleseminar that will teach you the fundamentals of memoir writing and guide you through […]
In 2008 (that sounds so long ago), I interviewed Lisa Dale Norton about her book Shimmering Images. I think she has some really important ideas about memoir’s potential as a […]
Great submissions! Thanks, everyone! There were nearly 400 submissions. Wild Mountain Memoir Retreat is thrilled to announce the winner of the Writer.ly Six-Word Memoir Contest. The randomly drawn winning name […]
Today I’m talking to Kelsye Nelson and Abigail Carter, the creators of Writer.ly, the sponsors of our Six-Word Memoir Contest. Interested in entering the contest to win a full-ride scholarship […]
Wild Mountain Memoir Retreat and VIDA are thrilled to announce that Valerie Due has been selected as the Cheryl Strayed/VIDA Memoir Scholar and will be attending Wild Mountain Memoir Retreat […]
Can you write your memoir in six words or less? If yes, you just might win. Wild Mountain Memoir Retreat is thrilled to announce the Writer.ly Scholarship, a full-ride scholarship […]
I’m really excited to be interviewing Melanie Bishop from Alligator Juniper today. Alligator Juniper was one of the first places to publish my writing. In 2002, I entered their annual […]
Post by Theo Pauline Nestor: When How to Sleep Alone in a King-Size Bed came out, people would sometimes say to me, “Writing this must have been very therapeutic for […]
On the heels of our announcement of the Cheryl Strayed/VIDA Scholarship last week, today I’m talking to Erin Belieu, Co-founder of VIDA, the organization who will be choosing the scholarship […]
THE APPLICATION SUBMISSION TIME HAS NOW PASSED. Wild Mountain Memoir Retreat is excited to announce a call for applications for the Cheryl Strayed/VIDA Scholarship. This scholarship, funded by an anonymous […]
Whenever Claire Dederer comes to visit my memoir class at the University of Washington, I remember the early excitement of being a new writer, of being hungry to write. She […]
Post by E.J. Levy, (retreat faculty): The essayist Pico Iyer once said that, “Writing can be learned, but not taught.” Beneath this skeptical pronouncements lies, it seems, a niggling doubt […]
Post by Natalie Singer: Breast-pump malfunction, sexual fumblings, the truth about my in-laws, insecure angst: All things I have written about, for familiars and perfect strangers alike to read. For […]
Post by Theo Pauline Nestor I like to think of memoir as a genre in its adolescence. Before the publication of Mary Karr’s The Liars’ Club (1995), Frank McCourt’s Angela’s […]
Post by Ariel Gore: I’m thrilled to be a part of this retreat and look forward to sharing what I know about voice in memoir-writing and bringing elements of the […]
Post by Candace Walsh For the past 20 years, I’ve made my living playing with words, and if you want to do the same, I will be happy to guide […]
Post by EJ Levy: I think of writing workshops as akin to Buddhist transmission, passing along ancient wisdom about how writers can seduce audiences into empathy and out of egoism, […]
I am very pleased and terribly excited to be part of the Wild Mountain Memoir faculty, where I will be teaching two classes in the areas of expertise I feel […]
Fifteen years ago, Mike Medberry and I studied fiction writing together in the University of Washington’s MFA program. Not long after that Mike and another writer from our program, Doug […]
“…I’ve schemed and plotted to get C. into my house—inviting four other people to camouflage the architecture of my designs…” Prologue of Licking the Spoon (Seal Press, 2012) I have […]
Post By Suzanne Finnamore: At the upcoming Wild Mountain Memoir Retreat, I’ll be teaching a course in Overcoming Rejection: Press On Regardless. In this class I offer tools on how to […]
Want to finish and publish your memoir this year? Here are four resolutions to knock your writing up a level to create a memoir of enduring value that readers want […]
What if your first published personal essay were in the New York Times? What if your memoir proposal was snatched up by a publisher in your first round of submissions? […]
A few years ago, Wild Mountain Memoir Retreat participant Wendy Staley Colbert left a corporate position to pursue her dream of writing. Transforming experiences of loss into poignant personal essays, […]
Hi All, Most of my memoir students through the University of Washington’s Professional and Continuing Education department come to writing after having already established themselves in other fields. Katy Horan, […]
Recruit friends to join you at the retreat Win Two Hours of One-on-One Writing Coaching from host & writing coach, Theo To win two (2) hours of free one-on-one writing […]
Hi All, I wrote this post for my blog Writing Is My Drink when I was reading Cheryl Strayed’s WILD in April. I wanted to share it with you here […]
“…By the time Long for This World was published, I was 37, and I was somewhat startled to find that, according to a number of awards and other fellowships, I […]
Hi All, Wild Mountain Memoir Retreat is open to writers of all experience levels. Some attendees will be “emerging writers” at the beginnings of their exploration of how to bring […]
Click elk image to read Chapter One excerpt: Hi Readers, I’m excited to share my interview with E.J.Levy with you today. One of the most amazing aspects of writing conferences […]
Suzanne Finnamore and Candace Walsh are interviewed by Theo Pauline Nestor about divorce memoirs. Suzanne Finnamore later added that her memoir Split was legally vetted by the same lawyer that […]
Hi Readers, I’ve been enjoying reading the works-in-progress from our teachers over the last week and was inspired to share a chapter from my upcoming memoir, The High Dive: A […]
“Everything is freedom and everything is loneliness. Make your choice and let the rest fall away.” —Ariel Gore, Lung Cancer Noir I have a very visceral memory of the weekend […]
This ICICLE TV video highlights Sleeping Lady’s commitment to local growers. The Kingfisher Restaurant, location for all the retreat meals as well as Ken our Executive Chef, can be seen […]
The Icicle Creek Center for the Arts is adjacent and somewhat indistinguishable from Sleeping Lady Resort, your retreat venue. This might have something to do with the two having been […]
Anyone who’s ever felt a twinge of rage when assaulted with one of those “20 under 40″ lists can appreciate the sentiment behind Bloom, a new site highlighting the work […]
If one Googles the Leavenworth area, our retreat location, one will find a consistent historical account that begins with white settlers moving into the Icicle Flats area in the later […]
I read and loved her book The Zygote Chronicles, but as I wrote in this post, Suzanne Finnamore really came to my attention when I found out that her divorce […]
