Joanne Manchin

Here’s a questions I get a lot from clients who want to write books about their lives: “What should I do if I have stories that will make some people in my life look bad? Can I write about my memories without hurting other people’s feelings?” *** Many writers don’t want the blowback from real, live people. So, they attempt to write about their lives, but leave out the stories that might make people—real, nonfiction humans—feel bad. This attempt puts them in conflict with themselves, so they often end up writing along the edges of what they want to say, like a wallflower at a dance club. (hand raised) Which is fine for getting started on a book, but usually there’s a threshold they just can’t cross if they keep their back to the wall. And a lot of memoir writers …

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