Listen:
What if the truest story of your life lives in a single image, like a photo-booth strip, a tarnished bracelet, a goldfish bowl?
I was thrilled to speak with Sue William Silverman for the second time. Here is her previous episode on the podcast #94 Writing Our Stories in Sharp Relief.
In this episode, we discuss her new collection, Selected Misdemeanors: Essays at the Mercy of the Reader. We unpack how flash nonfiction works, why metaphor is your most powerful craft tool, and how to braid the “unaware” and “aware” voices to create resonance—fast.
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About Sue
Sue William Silverman is an award-winning author of nine works of nonfiction and poetry. Her new book, Selected Misdemeanors: Essays at the Mercy of the Reader, is a collection of flash essays. Her book on the craft of writing, Acetylene Torch Songs: Writing True Stories to Ignite the Soul, won the 2024 IPPY Silver Award. Her memoir-in-essays collection, How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences, won the gold star in Foreword Reviews INDIE Book of the Year Award and the Clara Johnson Award for Women’s Literature. Other works include Love Sick: One Woman’s Journey through Sexual Addiction, made into a Lifetime TV movie; Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You, which won the AWP Award; The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo-Saxon Jew; and Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir. She’s co-chair of the MFA in Writing program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her media appearances include The View, Anderson Cooper-360, and PBS Books.
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Get More from Estelle
Webinars:
- New Substack Post (plus an offer for paid subscribers): Why Every Memoir Needs the “Echo Effect”
- Sign up for my free online Editor-on-call NYU event on October 29th Inside Slate: An Unfiltered Conversation with Senior Editor, Rebecca Onion. Register here
- Sign up for my webinar on October 9th in collaboration with Writer’s Digest Mapping Your Memoir: How to TODAY: Find the Heart and Shape of Your Story. JOIN OVER 150 PEOPLE and Sign up here.
New Essay:
Read my latest essay on Another Jane Pratt Thing. It Happened to Me: I Deliberately Ruined My Nasty Co-Worker’s Wedding Video.
I loved telling my story all these years later. And don’t miss the episode with Jane #155, where we dished all about Sassy, XoJane and more.
TEDx Talk: How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond
In my talk I blend personal storytelling with actionable strategies for standing out—starting with a chaotic moment involving Thomas the Tank Engine.
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- 📘 Writing That Gets Noticed – Buy the book | Audiobook
- 📰 Subscribe on Substack: https://estelleserasmus.substack.com
Latest posts: “When Writers Are the Ones Blocking the Page: 6 Ways to Move Forward (and An Offer); Stop Counting Your Words. Start Shaping Your Story” and “How to Get Published in Cosmopolitan or Seventeen” - 🎧 More episodes: Freelance Writing Direct Podcast
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