Publishing Memoir Can Start with Short Prose and Poetry
Everyone has a story to tell. But who wants to read your story? If you’re a someone famous or you’ve endured something shocking or unusual; it can be relatively easy to find a commercial publisher for your memoir.
For the rest of us writers, seeking to communicate and share our unique experiences, the path to publication is not so straight forward. Rather than writing a several hundred page narrative overview of your life, consider a different approach.
There is a marketplace for what is called CNF flash prose as well as poetry. The road to publication, while still challenging, is faster. With hard work and tenacity it is possible to see your work published within two months, although it may take a year between acceptance and publication, whereas is the world of book publishing the process can take two to three years or longer.
We experience our lives in moments. Small triumphs and joys as well as disappointment, hurt and doubt can be powerfully conveyed within a few lines. Compiling the work together can yield a partial view of your life and provide insight and feedback. The response from readers can help guide you as to whether you’re on the “right track.”
Most of us, who seek to craft work that draws from our personal experiences, have a desire to share what we’ve learned with our readers. Thus if it resonates with others, that’s a good sign.
The opportunity to publish more, is what drives me to urge my blog followers to read my new chapbook, RECIPES FROM MY GARDEN. Many of the poems and short essays included, were first published in small literary magazines. To learn more about the backstory to how I came to publish this slim volume of Memoir, Short Prose and Verse and my writing process, I am posting the links to two interviews. First off here is my Q & A with (Writer/Editor/Publisher) Dianne Pearce on Author’s Electric and second my Q & A with (Writer/Editor/Publisher) Gill James on her blog Author’s Write.
I’d like to conclude with a WRITING PROMPT related to the idea that those two powerful senses of taste and smell can enable a writer to quickly access an important memory. THINK OF A FAVORITE FOOD YOU HAVE NOT EATEN IN A LONG TIME. Why haven’t you eaten any of it lately? Is it hard to find or are you on a restricted diet or is only for special occasions? Think of it, describe it using all five senses, and share what makes this one of your favorite foods. Think about how it relates to your friends, family or a place you once lived. See where the story takes you and what you’ve learned. Try focusing on only the most powerful lines and condensing your word count.
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Published by Nadja Maril
Nadja Maril’s prose and poetry has been published in literary magazines that include Change Seven, Lunch Ticket, Thin Air, and The Compressed Journal of Creative Arts.. She is the author of Recipes From My Garden, a chapbook published by Old Scratch Press that includes both poetry and creative nonfiction prose. Author of two children’s books illustrated with paintings by her father Herman Maril, as well as Who IS Santa? for which she did her own illustrations, Nadja is also the author of two reference books on antique American Lighting, published by Schiffer. A former journalist and magazine editor, Nadja has an MFA in Creative Writing from the Stonecoast Program at the University of Southern Maine. To read more of her work and follow her weekly blog posts, visit Nadjamaril.com https://nadjamaril.com/ View more posts
Originally published at http://nadjamaril.com on September 11, 2024.
