I'm Not Sure What I'm Doing; or Working on Non-Fiction

I just like the picture... also,
used to be home.
From here, photo by Paul Bica.

Though I love fiction and I've been steadily writing short stories for a long time, I've decided to write something different.  I have a story I want to tell and it's about me.  Why am I writing a story about myself?  Well, after some stuff happened to me last year, and after discussing these events with my Hubby, I felt like I should share it.  I couldn't have made it up.  I thought about using it as inspiration for some fiction, but decided against it.  I might still change my mind once the piece is finished.  Getting to the point of this post... since I've never written non-fiction before, I decided I should look up some non-fiction rules.  After all, what I'm working on will be about my life, I've interacted with people, and I wanted to know what the rules were for writing about other people, as it affects me and my work.  I want to stay out of trouble.  But I also don't want my desire to stay our of trouble to affect the quality of the piece I'm creating.  I wanted to share some of the helpful links I found in my research.  

Six Guidelines for Writing Creative Nonfiction

http://www.writingforward.com/creative-writing/writing-creative-nonfiction

Creative Nonfiction: How to Stay Out of Trouble

http://writenonfictioninnovember.com/2009/11/04/creative-nonfiction-how-to-stay-out-of-trouble/

Writing Creative NonFiction

http://davehood59.wordpress.com/2010/02/17/writing-creative-nonfiction/

In trying to classify my creative non-fiction work in progress, I would guess it to be most like a memoir.  So these are memoir specific links:

7 Mistakes To Avoid When Writing Your Memoir

http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2012/03/14/7-mistakes-writing-memoir/

Tips on Writing a Memoir

http://freelance-writing.lovetoknow.com/Tips_on_Writing_a_Memoir

Can You Tell Your Own True Story Even If It Impinges on the Privacy of Your Lovers, Friends, and Family?

http://www.rightsofwriters.com/2011/01/can-you-tell-your-own-true-story-even.html

I found all of these links helpful and insightful.  They told me things I didn't know, which I suppose was the point of the research.  Any suggestions for writing non-fiction?  Rules I should know?

Links I'd Like to Share

Is this becoming a weekly thing?  Maybe.  Here's some interesting links about writing etc. that I've found on the internet in the last week....

Writing an outline from Writer Unboxed:
http://writerunboxed.com/2013/01/16/writing-an-outline/
I think this is very helpful with a good balance of advice.

Writing a query letter from Huff Post Books:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/09/query-letter-_n_2434095.html?utm_hp_ref=tw
I've read similar advice before, but it's nice to be reminded.

Same Cover, Different Book

I noticed this today on Goodreads while taking a break (goofing off) at work. They're the same!  They were right beside each other in the new releases. Opal and Allusive Aftershock are two different books, by two different authors, with two different plots. How did they end up with basically the same cover?  Seriously though, how does this happen?  Both books are released in the same month and they're in the same category, so I see them beside each other and I have to do a double-take.

Here's their info:

Opal
Published - December 1, 2012 - Entangled Teen
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13362536-opal

Allusive Aftershock
Published - December 18, 2012 - Amber Glow Books
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15796396-allusive-aftershock

Word of the Week!

Dante and Virgil

From “The Man In The Black Suit” in Everything’s Eventual, by Stephen King:

Propitiate (pg 69) - (transitive, dated) To conciliate, appease or make peace with someone, particularly a god or spirit.

(I guess that’s what you do when you think the devil is going to eat you.)

From The Book Mine Set:

Asymtote - In analytic geometry, an asymptote of a curve is a line such that the distance between the curve and the line approaches zero as they tend to infinity. Some sources include the requirement that the curve may not cross the line infinitely often, but this is unusual for modern authors.[1] In some contexts, such as algebraic geometry, an asymptote is defined as a line which is tangent to a curve at infinity.

1. (analysis) A straight line which a curve approaches arbitrarily closely, as they go to infinity. The limit of the curve, its tangent "at infinity".

2. (by extension, figuratively) Anything which comes near to but never meets something else.

(I knew it was some sort of math thing, I just didn’t know what exactly.)

From here

So… a PDF program taught me a word (Win2PDF):

Prepend - (computing, linguistics, transitive) To attach (an expression, phrase, etc.) to another, as a prefix.

(The PDF program asked me if I wanted to Append, Prepend, Replace or Cancel; I had to figure out what Prepend was.)

Thanks for joining me.  Learn anything new this past month (or even year!)?

Links I'd Like To Share

Just a couple items I wanted to share in my wanderings around the interwebs...

From writer Ian Broome, what to do with your unfinished manuscript...
http://iainbroome.com/writing-goals-2013

Wisdom, The Midway Albatross, by Darcy Pattison won an award!  I reviewed it here.  It's a non-fiction self-published children's picture book and it almost made me cry!
http://www.darcypattison.com/picture-books/the-oldest-mother-in-the-world/

All By Myself (Not Anymore?)

White Flower Alone... from HuBoro

I've done something I wasn't sure I'd ever do. I've sent out inquires to two local writers groups. 

I always thought of writing as something solitary. I sit alone somewhere with a notebook or computer and I write. Right? For the longest time, it never occurred to me to join a writer's group. As I have been writing more and more, and reading more and more, I've come to feel that I'd benefit from joining a real life writers' group. I actually considered joining one about three and a half years ago, but I was pregnant and then I had a baby to take care of... Then I got pregnant again and had a toddler and an infant to take care of. I was always writing, but to commit to going to a writers' group even just twice a month was not happening. So I decided to wait and revisit the idea again when my babies were a little older. They're older now and so here I go... Or at least hope to go. I'm waiting for replies from each group. I'm not sure exactly how they work, what the specific rules are.  Can I just show up?  This is new territory to me. I'll actually be able to talk to other writers in person about what I'm working on. I might even be a little excited.  Will I join one?  Both?  Neither?  I wonder what the next few days will bring.