Listen:
Sitting and speaking with Abigail Thomas is life-changing and life-affirming. She is a revered memoirist with the most curious mind of anyone I’ve ever met, and I have had the pleasure of meeting many creative people in my career in publishing. As I told Abby, I felt as if we were sitting at a cafe having coffee together, and our conversation has extended far past this initial one. It is an honor to spend time in her presence, and I think you will also feel what I felt when you listen to this episode where she talks about what inspires, drives, informs and engages her, and how she transforms it into mesmerizing stories.
In This Episode
• Finding inspiration in unlikely places [4:13]
• The allure of getting older [10:49]
• Deciding on writing from a side door to deal with difficult material [18:18]
• Abigail’s go-to source for analyzing words [23:49]
• Tips for editing your work [28:29]
• Writing exercises she gives to her students [36:40]
• The requirement of ruthlessness in memoir [40:59]
Watch on YouTube
About Abigail Thomas
Abigail Thomas has four children,12 grandchildren, two great grandchildren, eleven books, and a high school education. She was asked to leave Bryn Mawr freshman year when she told the Dean she was pregnant, and she never went back. She had always wanted to be a writer, but for a long time the closest she came was bopping around her kitchen to Paperback Writer, by the Beatles. When she was forty-eight, after an interesting adventure, when she got home, she left her ego outside, and began to write a story. It didn’t work, but instead of crumpling it up saying “who do you think you are?” sat in a different chair, and another, and at the end of the afternoon, she had written a story. It was published in the Columbia Journal of Poetry and Prose. She had learned you have to keep at it. Writing is work of the best kind.
She has written two short story collections, one novel and four works of non-fiction, including the memoirs Safekeeping; A Three Dog Life; What Comes Next and How to Like It; and a book about writing, Thinking about Memoir. Still Life at Eighty: The Next Interesting Thing is her latest memoir.
Connect with Abigail Thomas
Photo Credit : Jennifer Waddell
For another episode focused on a top memoirist, episode #81 The Art of Shaping a Compelling Story Featuring Maggie Smith
Connect with Estelle
Writing That Gets Noticed: Find Your Voice, Become a Better Storyteller, Get Published: https://estelleserasmus.com/books/writing-that-gets-noticed/
ANNOUNCEMENT: Writing That Gets Noticed is now in Poets & Writers “Best Book for Writers” and was a recent book pick in the Time is Now newsletter for Poets & Writers. I’m so honored. Thank you!
Sign up for my Substack (with craft advice and writing opportunities). My latest for subscribers is Why Taping My Podcast Reminds Me of Working in Magazines
Latest Blog Post: A View From the Erma Bombeck Writer’s Workshop
Estelle’s Latest Articles
I’m Learning to Listen in New Ways (
What to Do PreLaunch to Get Your Book Noticed (Writer’s
How to Resist the Temptation of AI When Writing (Wired)
This article ended up being on the home page of Google and is cited in the Merriam Webster’s dictionary under heart disease. Thank you William Dameron for pointing this out.
New Interview
I was interviewed for Hippocampus Magazine by Interviews editor Lara Lillibridge. I think she did a great job bringing forth my background and experience in publishing and the mission of my book. Read it here.
New Podcast Appearance
Loved talking about my days traveling through the country doing beauty and fashion makeovers when I was at Woman’s World magazine plus other stories with Brianna Avenia-Tapper for Writing Stories. Check it out here.
New Newsletter Mention
Thank you to BooksUplift for this fabulous review of Writing That Gets Noticed. I saw this when I was checking the Google Alerts on my name (a tip I give in my book).
Events/Classes
May 23rd: Sign up for Estelle’s Micro Memoir Workshop with Writer’s Digest on May 23. Sign up here.
Sign up for my NYU class Writing Parenthood. I’ll work with you on articles, essays and pitches, plus share advice on working directly with editors (and not getting ghosted by them). Sign up here.
Sign up for my Personal Essay Class for Writer’s Digest here.
