Book Talk and Memoir Workshop

Sunday, October 25th 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
2772 NW Thurman St.
Portland, OR 97210


"At age 61, I was earning a Masters in Teaching degree. As part of my student teaching I taught a section on memoir writing to 8th graders. I thought 'Hey this is fun,' and so I began Some Days Chicken, Some Days Feathers. Part of my mission is to get readers started on their own story. I will conduct a fun-filled, hands-on memoir workshop that will get you scribbling! Join us at The Clearing Cafe for a no-host nosh or glass of Chablis. I promise you some laughs along with giving you the tools to put your history into a format that will impress your family and friends."
-Bob Ferguson, Author of: Some Days Chicken, Some Days Feathers

Accomplishments

2007 Wordsmith winner of The Columbian Newspaper
2008 Hillsboro Argus article about two retired teachers taking students to Korea
2007 Argus article reference to a football great.
2006 Roseburg News review article about 40 years of successful coaching from a wheelchair.

Industry Trend Spotlight: Out with the Memoir

Sales-wise, the memoir’s heyday is over. A recent panel of librarians at this year’s BookExpo America (http://bookexpoamerica.com/) pointed out that the market is saturated with memoirs right now, and readers just aren’t reading them. Though some publishers continue to publish memoirs, new memoir manuscripts are likely to be rejected unless the author is Barbara Walters or is running in the presidential election. Memoirs became overwhelmingly popular a few years ago after the release of A Million Little Pieces and Bob Dylan’s Chronicles.

Book trends come in tides. Given time, publishers and readers will once again be eager for memoirs. In the meantime, continue working on these projects on your own and with your editor, focusing on edits and revisions so your manuscript is ready when the time to submit to publishers or agents returns.

Instead, you might consider sending out how-to manuscripts that match the current economy—how to save money, live on a budget, decrease gas consumption, become a bicycle commuter, etc. Watch the news for more insight. See a problem/current event that you think you can help others solve or cope with? Write it down and submit to keen publishers!

Industry Trend Spotlight by Adriel Gorsuch, Indigo Editing, LLC

New Release Spotlight: The Geography of Bliss

The Geography of Bliss, by Eric Weiner

Are you happy?

This is the question Eric Weiner, a self-described “unhappy” reporter, travels the world asking people in his humorous, philosophical travel-memoir, The Geography of Bliss. Weiner visits ten different countries, from Bhutan to Iceland, to discover if happiness is indeed a location.

The results?

“I am no philosopher, so here goes: Money matters but less than we think and not in the way that we think. Family is important. So are friends. Envy is toxic. So is excessive thinking. Beaches are optional. Trust is not. Neither is gratitude.”

This list is a paltry substitution for Weiner’s travels, which is what makes this book worthy of a full reading—statistics only tell so much. Weiner’s book is the story behind the studies. For example: “Happiness is more than animal pleasure.” Duh. But couch this line in a story comparing Swiss rats to middle-aged foreign men living in Bangkok and you’ve got something interesting.

Reading this book is like traveling the world, one country per chapter, meeting people and immediately getting beyond the small talk. Conversational and informed, Weiner is also an expert at creating inside jokes for his readers. (One gem is about the fruits and vegetables in Moldova. They’re very fresh.)

Each person—and each country—presents a new part of the happiness equation. For the Swiss, it’s related to clean toilets. In Iceland, happiness is a choice (according to Weiner, Icelanders choose to be drunk and happy, whereas the Russians choose drunk and miserable.) For Thais, it’s the mai pen lai attitude, or the ability to “let it go.” In the end, Weiner concludes, “All miserable countries are alike; happy ones are happy in their own way.” Learning about all those different ways makes reading this book…well, blissful.

Review by Mel Wells, Indigo Editing, LLC

ISBN-13: 978-0446580267
Publisher: Twelve
Pub Date: January 2008
Hardcover: $25.99

New Release Spotlight: Foreskin's Lament

Foreskin's Lament by Shalom Auslander

To say that Shalom Auslander is not religious would be a gross misunderstanding of his memoir, Foreskin’s Lament. Despite focusing on his departure—or rather, recovery—from Orthodox Judaism, Auslander acknowledges God’s hand in every minuscule aspect of his life. “It’s been a real problem for me,” he repeats.

Peppered with Hebrew vocabulary and Old Testament stories, Auslander’s narrative pulls readers into an insular—even paranoid—worldview where God is a twisted jokester waiting to rain thunder and brimstone for even the smallest mistakes. In his Rabbi-led classroom, they sang, God is here, God is there, God is everywhere!

“I’m doing my best to lose Him,” writes the adult Auslander. “I’m failing miserably.”

God’s anger is matched only by that of Auslander’s father—surly when sober, abusive when drunk—who threatens to break his sons’ hands on a disturbingly regular basis. The cliché is broken by Auslander’s ability to feel empathy for his father. “I wondered what it would be like if no one in your family wanted to walk home with you from synagogue.” So Auslander walks with him. His father doesn’t say a word.

The most painful part of Auslander’s story is his acute consciousness of his own imperfections. It is this knowledge, as he begins shoplifting, eating non-kosher, and delving into pornography, which leads him to vacillate between hopelessness and rage against God for demanding perfection in the first place. But for every curse Auslander launches at God (and there are lots—just a warning to those averse to the f-word) there is an apology, too.

Thankfully, the book is not all doom and gloom. The story is book-ended by the birth of his first child, and his wife, Orli, is stable and refreshing. Also, Auslander possesses incredible wit. He’s funny enough that furtively reading this book in class is impossible—people keep asking what’s so funny. I imagine Auslander’s response would be a sarcastic, “God.”

Review by Melissa Wells, Indigo Editing, LLC

ISBN-13: 978-1-594489-55-6
Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover
Pub Date: October 2007
Hardcover: $24.95