title: Why We Write About Ourselves: Twenty Memoirists on Why They Expose Themselves (and Others) in the Name of Literature
author:  Meredith Maran 
description: &ldquo;Memoirists tell the truth and expose their beating black hearts in <i>Why We&#160;Write About Ourselves.&rdquo; &mdash;&#160;Vanity Fair</i><br> &#160;<br> &ldquo;A terrific compendium of insight into the practical craft and philosophical dimensions of how and why the magnetism of memoir works over us and works us over, featuring contributions from masters of the genre&hellip;[pair it with]&#160;Maran&rsquo;s previous anthology, the marvelous&#160;<i>Why We Write</i>&#160;&mdash; a compendium of twenty celebrated writers&rsquo; reflections on why they do what they do and an excellent addition to this&#160;evolving archive of timeless advice on the craft.&rdquo;&#160;&mdash;&#160;<i>BrainPickings</i><br><br> "This is a book designed to be dipped into. Because there is so much wisdom in these pages. So much is distilled. The very act of creating a memoir requires so much writing, sifting, considering, and more analysis&hellip;Bravissima."&#160;&mdash;&#160;<i>East Hampton Star</i><br><br>&ldquo;Memoirists have long faced the same set of questions: How much truth should you tell? How many secrets can be exposed? What if the truth is&#160;not as you remember it? They're all valid questions without easy answers, because it all depends on who you ask&mdash;and Maran (Why We Write)&#160;asked some heavy hitters.&rdquo;&#160;&ndash; <i>Library Journal</i><br><br> &ldquo;Reading memoirs, I have often wondered what leads someone to write something so intensely personal about not only themselves but&#160;those around them. I have often wondered what impact a public memoir has on an author's personal life and relationships...These essays, to varying degrees, answer these questions.&rdquo; &ndash; <i>Memories from Books</i><br><br> &ldquo;The book features twenty well-known authors candidly disclosing the origins of their memoirs. In response to Editor Maran&rsquo;s probing questions, a&#160;chorus of diverse voices and varied motivations emerge from writers including Cheryl Strayed, Anne Lamott, Nick Flynn and James McBride.&rdquo; &ndash; <i>AuthorLink</i><br><br> &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not exactly sure what I was expecting from this book, but, wow, it blew me away. In <i>Why We Write about Ourselves</i>, twenty popular authors&#160;share their experiences of writing their own memoirs. They speak about revealing themselves, of being painfully honest, of protecting (or not) the&#160;ones they love (or don&rsquo;t)&hellip; After reading this book, oh man, my to-be-read list just&#160;grew, like, exponentially.&rdquo; &ndash; <i>Bug Bug Book Reviews</i><br><br> &ldquo;Read this book if you have any designs on writing a memoir. &#160;It's a quick read (less&#160;than a week), it's entertaining, and it should help put you in the right frame of mind to accomplish your task.&rdquo;&#160;&ndash; <i>Flying Houses</i><br><br> &ldquo;You shouldn&rsquo;t have affairs. But definitely don&rsquo;t have one with a memoirist.&#160;That&rsquo;s one of the few real conclusions I can draw from&#160;&ldquo;Why We Write About Ourselves,&rdquo;&#160;a collection of&#160;reflections and justifications from 20 practitioners of the memoir art. You know they&rsquo;re going to tell everyone&#160;about it. &#160;It&rsquo;s what they do. It&rsquo;s all they do&hellip;Aren&rsquo;t those deepest intimacies precisely what we&rsquo;re after when we pick up a&#160;memoir?&rdquo; &ndash; <i>Washington Post</i>
zlib_text: Table of Contents
  Someone to Call My Own
  Copyright
  Dedication
  Prologue
  Part One
  One
  Two
  Three
  Four
  Five
  Six
  Seven
  Eight
  Nine
  Ten
  Eleven
  Part Two
  Twelve
  Thirteen
  Fourteen
  Fifteen
  Sixteen
  Seventeen
  Eighteen
  Nineteen
  Twenty
  Part Three
  Twenty-One
  Twenty-Two
  Twenty-Three
  Twenty-Four
  Twenty-Five
  Epilogue
  Other Books by Aimee Nicole Walker
  
  Acknowledgments
  About Aimee Nicole Walker
  
   
   
   
   
   
  
  Someone to Call My Own
  (Road to Blissville, #2)
  Copyright © 2017 Aimee Nicole Walker
   
  aimeenicolewalker@blogspot.com
   
  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s
  imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to the actual person, living or dead, business
  establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
   
  Cover photograph © Wander Aguiar – www.wanderaguiar.com
  Cover art © Jay Aheer of Simply Defined Art – www.jayscoversbydesign.com
  Editing provided by Pam Ebeler of Undivided Editing – www.undividedediting.com
  Proofre