Listen:
I am so excited and thrilled to announce my 100th episode of Freelance Writing Direct with such a special guest for me — the one and only Beth Ann Fennelly.
I use her fantastic book Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs as reading material for my NYU classes, and she is just such a talented and versatile writer. We have such a fascinating discussion here, including the reason why she came up with the number 52 for her book title. Thank you, Beth Ann!
At the end of this post, I have an important Save the Date and info on registering (capped at 100) for an AMA with a recent guest. Don’t miss reading it.
Now back to my 100th episode with Beth Ann Fennelly! And thank you to my husband, Werner, and my producer, Hayleigh Hayhurst, for sending me flowers to commemorate this important milestone!
In This Episode
- Beth Ann’s writing journey [5:29]
- Coining the concept of micro memoir [8:00]
- Taking personal anecdotes and making them resonate [8:37]
- The evolution of how Beth Ann structured her book [9:00]
- Crafting through lines with purpose [15:28]
- The art of collaborating with a partner on a novel and how Beth Ann made it work [15:28]
- Why you can’t ignore the concept of fun when it comes to writing [19:43]
- Why transitions need to be addressed carefully [24:42]
- Establishing an effective writing practice [28:00]
Watch on YouTube
About Beth Ann Fennelly
Beth Ann Fennelly, Poet Laureate of Mississippi from 2016-2021, teaches in the MFA Program at the University of Mississippi where she is a four-time teaching award winner. She’s received grants from the N.E.A., the United States Artists, the Academy of American Poets, and a Fulbright to Brazil. Her work has won a Pushcart Prize and three times been included in The Best American Poetry Series. Fennelly has published three poetry books: Open House, Tender Hooks, and Unmentionables, and a book of nonfiction, Great with Child, all published with W. W. Norton. A novel she co-authored with her husband, Tom Franklin, called The Tilted World, was published by HarperCollins. Her sixth book, Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs (W. W. Norton), was named an Atlanta Journal Constitution Best Book, a Goodreaders Favorite for 2017, and the winner of the Housatonic Book Prize. Fennelly and Franklin live in Oxford with their three children.
Connect with Beth Ann
Listen to her TedX Talk: How Literature Can Help Us Develop Empathy
See Her Talk for The Moth: The Proper Time to Eat
https://themoth.org/stories/the-proper-time-to-eat
Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs and The Tilted World on Estelle’s Bookshop
https://bookshop.org/shop/EstelleSErasmus
Connect with Estelle
Estelle’s New York Times Essay Singing My Dad Back to Me
Episodes Referenced Here
Episode #87 Joanna Rakoff: Writing Memoir That Reads Like a Novel and Captivates on Every Page
Episode #81 Maggie Smith: The Art of Shaping a Compelling Story
Episode #95 Ann Hood: The Catalysts and Craft for Charting and Plotting Novels
Episode #35 Ann Hood: Flying High with Storyteller Ann Hood
Sign up for Estelle’s Personal Essay Class for Writer’s Digest
Sign up for her Memoir, Essays and Articles Class at NYU
Get Her Award-Winning Book: Writing That Gets Noticed
Order Estelle’s Audiobook for Writing That Gets Noticed
Sign up for her Substack (with craft advice and writing opportunities). Paid subscribers receive opportunities for pitch reviews, plus bonus clips from Freelance Writing Direct guests.
Estelle’s latest Substack post on Micro Memoir (plus an offer for paid subscribers)
Follow Estelle on Social Media
Save the date!
Aly Walansky recently appeared on the podcast in episode #99. Our lively chat covered a variety of topics from finding a niche in writing and how best to use Substack in our industry (especially when it comes to time management!) to the secrets to building sustainable relationships…and so much more. SO much more, in fact, that we decided to do a joint AMA for our Substack audiences soon! Tune in Thursday, September 5 at 4:30 PM ET for a Mental Margarita AMA Chat with Journalists Aly Walansky and Estelle Erasmus (yes, we’re going for happy hour format on this one!), where we’ll open the floor to questions from journalists and PR and anyone else who wants to stop by. We are limited (by Zoom’s attendee cap) to 100 participants, so sign up now and register your questions in advance! As a reminder my substack is Estelle Erasmus/Writing That Gets Noticed
RSVP: Email at [email protected] if you are interested in attending and we’ll share the Zoom link when we confirm. Priority for this Zoom event will go to paid subscribers for our subscribers but we’ll open the velvet rope to all subscribers if space allows! And if you have questions you want to send in advance, feel free — but you can always ask them live day-of! Can’t wait for this with Aly!
