Insecure Writers Want to Know
A creative activity? I like to take photographs in nature. I create scrapbooks of my many adventures with the family, filled with snippets from brochures and travel booklets and family stories. I love to decorate my home for each season. I love the change of color, of homemade decorations from the children, and symbols of the season.
But primarily, I’ve been focusing on a mock college memoir book cover. Instead of my wheeled bookbag, I now have ten college books stacked to signify the ten years it took me to obtain the degree. I placed a photo of my five children atop the stack of books to signify how they were always first in my mind. Please offer any insight. It would be greatly appreciated.
I’m also looking for a “Street Team” to help me spread the word about my college memoir. You would receive a PDF or eBook advanced reader’s copy of the memoir to read and leave reviews on Goodreads to help with the buzz. I’d ask you to share links, posts, and interviews I will do, or book jacket copy through your social media networks before and after publication day. Although I don’t have a firm date, I hope to publish this memoir in the winter of 2025.
If you would like to help, please let me know by email at authorvmlees@victoriamarielees.com, using “Street Team” in the subject line.
But what will you get for helping this new book writer market her college memoir?
I will create an intimate newsletter just for you. You will be the first to receive deleted scenes and photos from my college journey, many of which will not be published elsewhere. I’ll send you a yet-to-be-written thank you poem for helping a new writer. I’ll set up zoom meetings and field questions about my college and writing experience. And I’ll read and critique twenty pages just for you.
My most recent Business Insider essay about building extra days into travel in case you miss your connection can be read here.
The Pocono Liars Club Writing Workshop went well. Kelly Jensen spoke about plotting a novel. She says plot needs causality—how one event leads into the next, driving the story forward. The inciting incident is the event that changes the course of your character’s journey.
I helped participants understand the importance of backstory. Backstory explains why the character acts the way he does, why what’s happening in the story matters to the protagonist, the main character. Backstory comes into play when the protagonist is trying to make sense of story present by remembering her past. The character sees or experiences something in the present story and thinks back to a previous life event. Then something about the flashback sparks an action in the protagonist to carry forward in the story.
Ian Randal Strock discussed the Elevator Pitch: the twenty seconds you have to pitch your story to agents or publishers, to make them want to know more. Gosh! Is it difficult to do. We need to hook the agent with as few as fifteen words. Grab their attention. Keep our pitch fresh. And gear the pitch to the market we wish to capture.
I tried a college memoir pitch:
“A mother won’t let authorities take the dream of college from her special-needs daughter, but to help her daughter, she must face her own personal demons first.”
From Ian’s silence, I know I need to work on this. What do you think about my pitch? Does it have a hook? Any comment is greatly appreciated.
Thank you for stopping by my little spot on the web. Please come again! And please sign up for my newsletter to find tips on writing and camping. It’s greatly appreciated.
This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. I’d like to thank our co-hosts for November: Diedre Knight, Lisa Buie Collard , Kim Lajevardi, and JQ Rose!
Please visit them if you can.
Our group posts on the first Wednesday of every month. To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.
I actually love that cover with one thought: I didn’t immediately get the “ten books ten years”. I’m not sure how to fix that. Maybe you don’t need to because that cover made me want to click through.
Thank you for this insight, Jacqui. So “Ten Years” is at the top right side of the stack of books. Readers can count the books or not. I’m not sure how important that is. Of course, the book jacket copy will help with what the book’s about. Next on my to-do list.
Truly appreciate your comment. Happy Thanksgiving!
The cover is good but all you need is the title and your name. The other stuff is confusing. Be good to use as the tagline for the back of the book though!
Thank you for this, Alex. Yes, I think the tagline is: Five Kids, Ten Years, One Diploma. You think it would be better on the back of the book with the jacket copy? Truly need to consider this insight.
Thanks again! Happy Thanksgiving!
I like the Five Kids, Ten Years, One Diploma is a great tagline. I think it could go under the title. That’s where I often see taglines. I think your pitch needs to focus more on your own journey to getting a college degree rather than your daughter’s journey. It’s exciting that you’re getting closer to publishing your memoir.
Thank you so much for this insight, Natalie. I truly appreciate it. As for the pitch, I was focusing on the mother aspect. My daughter is why I started this college journey at this time in my life. She was the impetus. But you are right. The memoir story is MY college journey and not my daughter’s, although she is in the memoir.
Yes, it is exciting to move forward on publishing my memoir. Still, I’m terrified all the same. Happy Thanksgiving!
Your photography hobby sounds very nourishing. The college memoir idea is great and this will be super inspiring, but I agree with Alex that you should just stick to the title and your name (for the front), and I’d personally prefer a more conventional, bold font rather than the scrapbook feel. But I appreciate if that’s what you’re going for.
Thanks for this insight, Nick. I’m truly considering putting the tagline: Five Kids, Ten Years, One Diploma on the back cover with the jacket copy. A bolder font for the title sounds like an excellent idea. What font do you consider “conventional”? I used Arial on this mock cover.
Thanks for the assistance with this mock cover, Nick.
I quite like the stack of books with the photo, but would probably remove the labels for a more subtle affect. Congratulations!
Yes, Liza, I think I will move my tagline to the back jacket of the memoir. Thank you so much for sharing your insight here at Adventures in Writing. It’s appreciated more than you realize.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I like to take photos as well. I have the prettiest lake near my house which lights up at sunrise and sunset.
Ooo, Kim, that sounds gorgeous! Although, I can see myself taking hundreds of photos of that beautiful lake just to be able to choose one to keep.
Thanks so much for sharing that. Happy Thanksgiving!
I like the cover. It caught my eye, made me question long enough to explore the significance of the images you chose.
Thank you so much for your kind words, Nancy. And thanks for offering your insight here at Adventures in Writing.
Happy Thanksgiving!