Guess who's "writing" a memoir? (April 29 edition)

Baba Booey. Yes, a guy they call "Baba Booey."



From Publisher's Marketplace:
Howard Stern Show regular Gary Dell'Abate's THEY CALL ME BABA BOOEY, written with Cha Millman, for publication in November 2010.

Pico Iyer's essay on the comma

I love how this is written.

Thanks to the fine folks at Brevity for passing it along.

A great obit

Of course I read page B2 of The Mankato Free Press every day. Sometimes there is just a great, well-written obit on the page. This was one of those days.

Warren Harding Latourelle

"...Warren was born on the family farm in Danville Township, Blue Earth County, Minnesota on April 4th,1921. His parents were Sherman and Edith (Schultz) Latourelle. Doctor Carl Lembke of Minnesota Lake was the attending physician. 'Doc' told his parents he was such a fine baby boy that they should name him after the President, and so they did."

I love it!

30 years, and finally success

I'd been reading good reviews of Karl Marlantes' MATTERHORN, and heard a little about the backstory--that he had served in Vietnam and basically had been working on this book ever since. But I just read a great story in Poets & Writers that filled in the details. This is a guy who once worked as a lumber salesman. He was a guy, like so many of us, who bought books on the writing process and read them voraciously. He went to college before he served in the war and was a writer there, but other than that from what I can tell he was a self-taught writer (like so many of us). He endured rejection after rejection, but always plugged away on the novel. As the story says, "...he didn't really think about why he perservered in the face of so much rejection; writing this book was just a part of his life." I can identify with that. I'm very much enjoying crafting my story and playing with the creative nonfiction form--that alone brings me a lot of satisfaction. Of course, some wider recognition would be nice! :)

I'm going to buy MATTERHORN, even though my reading list is pretty long. I love the idea of supporting a guy who seems like "one of us," those self-taught writers who put butt in chair every day to get it done, even if it takes 30 years.

CNF writers=Ginger Rogers

I went to the Minnesota Book Awards last night to support a most awesomely talented writer in my writer's group, Kirstin Cronn-Mills, who was a finalist in the young adult category for THE SKY ALWAYS HEARS ME AND THE HILLS DON'T MIND. Most of our writer's group was there. As one woman put it, "it was like our Oscar night." So true! I'm so proud of Minnesota's literary community. It's filled with so much talent, yet it's not too huge--everyone knows everyone, it seems, and if you don't know someone, someone will introduce you!

Catherine Friend introduced the general nonfiction finalists with a great way of thinking about nonfiction. She said that Fred Astaire got all the credit for being a great dancer, but Ginger Rogers was just as great and not only that, she danced backwards and in high heels. Friend compared nonfiction writers to Ginger Rogers--they have to create a story and structure just as fiction writers, but they have to add the extra detail of working with the facts. In essence, they're dancing backwards and in high heels. I loved it! I love working with the facts, thinking about how I can arrange them for greatest impact. But it certainly is difficult. Thank goodness I've never tried to write fiction (nor have I had any desire to), because I've never been tempted to say, "hey, maybe I should just fictionalize this"!

Guess who's "writing" a memoir? (April 7 edition)

From Publisher's Marketplace:

"TV stars, newlyweds and hopeful parents, E! anchor Giuliana Rancic and Apprentice winner Bill Rancic's I DO . . . NOW WHAT?: Stories and Advice from America's Favorite Couple, a window into their love affair, first year of marriage, and their intimate struggles to have a baby, a mixture of memoir and advice..."

Um yeah, I've been married more than 15 years. Sign me up to buy this book of their marriage advice.

Prediction: Remainder shelf in two years after their divorce.

Guess who's "writing" a memoir?

About once a week, I roll my eyes after reading the latest memoir deals on Publisher's Marketplace. I often find myself asking people, "Guess who's writing a memoir?" I think it could become some sort of parlor game. Yes! Match the blurb with the "author"--I think I'm on to something!

I will update this blog regularly (probably once a week, seriously) to list people who are able to secure book deals based on their celebrity (or usually, quasi-celebrity) alone.

Here are a few from the past couple of weeks, with the Publisher's Marketplace blurb:

Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints quarterback (two-book deal): "chronicling his journey from a shoulder injury that almost ended his career in 2005 through the Saints come-from-behind victory in the Super Bowl, including a look back at Brees' childhood and his years at Purdue, also highlighting the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans of the Brees Dream Foundation"


Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints coach: "detailing the Saints' remarkable season and how it lifted the entire city, including intimate stories about the players and coaches who were key to the team's success, and paying tribute to the everyday local heroes he met along the way"

Duff McKagan, Guns 'N Roses bassist: "a story of an ordinary guy who met with extraordinary circumstances, and the circumnavigation through these situations."