author highlight: samantha irby

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I “discovered” Samantha Irby in 2017. Her book, “We Are Never Meeting in Real Life.: Essays” caught my eye somewhere. Maybe it was at McNelly Jackson or Strand. Regardless, I bought a kindle version of her book and breezed through it.

Her openness peppered with hilarious commentary was my kind of jam. Within thirty-six days, I read and bought all of her three books available at the time. I didn’t quite finish “Meaty” — currently at 96% — and trying to take my time with her craft as I wait for her next book. Read More »

author highlight: karen chee

As I try to get back into humor writing, I thought that it’d be best to start compiling links of hilarious works and note how I should emulate them (read: copy) their work.

First up is Karen Chee, who I “discovered” while watching Late Night with Seth Meyer’s. I enjoyed this segment and had no idea that she was also a writer until I stumbled upon Keep Scrolling Till You Feel Something and saw that Karen Chee was listed.

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notes from “how to write a memoir”

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Stumbled upon “How to Write a Memoir” article via the comment section of Austin Kleon’s blog.

Below are my notes for another “someday” bucket list of writing a memoir.

Writers are the custodians of memory, and that’s what you must become if you want to leave some kind of record of your life and of the family you were born into.

Custodians of memory — it’s the second time I’ve read the term, “custodian” to describe a writer this week. Think the first one was from a book review of someone’s memoir. How fitting.

Too often memories die with their owner, and too often time surprises us by running out.

How many memories will be lost with my parents? What’s the best way to get stories from my parents?Read More »

questions to have in your back pocket when interviewing

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One of the things listed in my “some day” bucket list is interviewing people that I respect and want to learn from.

To make that a reality, I’ve been paying a lot of attention to how podcasters interview their guests. I’m slowly learning that asking smart and engaging questions is half the battle.

Of course, research into the subject critical, but there is certainly value in compiling interesting and insightful questions that I can use for future interviews.

Below are list of questions that I would love to ask to my future interview subjects. This isn’t by all means a complete list and I’ll continue to add to the list.Read More »