I heard a great quote yesterday from Jennifer Gilmore, author of Golden Country. “Touch your book every day.” I love that. Touch your writing every day. Stay in tune with the work, live in that world and allow that world to live within you. My year began with a knowing that I will work on a very tough book. One that I have attempted to outrun for a couple of years now. It is a book written in truth but hidden in fiction.

With all the memoir lies, I had the perfect excuse to create my world as I remembered it within a story. Stories and memoirs. What makes them different? I personally think nothing. We can right a truth into our work. God, lets hope we are writing truths because otherwise our work is flat and careless.

So today I was allowed to touch this mess of a book I’ve decided to tackle. I sent the first portion, polished of course, into my writing group. I really hoped they’d hate the work, and I would escape the effort. But they loved it, saw themselves in it, took it home with them.

Ah so much for self sabotage.

Ann