Jami Attenberg is loved for her fiction, but the story behind her journey to becoming a writer is just as interesting as any of the characters she has created. When applied to her own life, Attenberg's frank and funny observational style results in a vulnerable and motivating listen about a woman who defied the societal expectations for her sex, and instead unabashedly pursued the career and life she wanted. Here she discusses what it was like to write a memoir, as well as the community she has cultivated through her #1000wordsofsummer project and Craft Talk newsletter.
What was it like writing a memoir? Did it challenge you in any surprising ways that you hadn’t encountered when writing fiction? Well, I began writing it during lockdown, so it ended up initially being a real lifesaver, a place to put my head that wasn’t in the present tense of the moment. I wrote it using the same process as I would a novel, meaning getting up early, reading, handwriting, taking long walks. I suppose the hardest part was carving out the narrative of my life where there wasn’t necessarily an easy or obvious path. What I learned was that I essentially had to treat myself as the character in the story and let that voice guide me. But it certainly took a while to figure that out.
You’ve talked about how you catalog ideas from different life experiences for your novels. As you were writing your memoir, did you find yourself getting distracted with new fiction ideas? I was happy to not write fiction for a year, I have to say. It was nice to take a break from that kind of thinking. Near the end, when there weren’t any new ideas to generate and I was just in the process of refining what I already had written, I started to hear different fictional voices in my head. My brain likes to problem solve, so it will create those problems for me. Now I’m happy to be back in the fictional world again.
You’re so generous with the writing community at large, particularly with your #1000wordsofsummer project and your Craft Talk newsletter. What do you hope people are taking away from your wisdom, and, conversely, what are you getting in return from these interactions? Gosh I hope they get whatever they need from it all! Whatever that might be. I am happy to hear when people are finishing projects, getting agents, and even getting book deals, but I’m also just as happy to hear people say, “I haven’t written in a long time and now I’m back in it again.” Writing is just a joy that I want everyone to experience. I don’t know what I get back from it exactly. It is certainly an act of service. I’m happy if it’s helping people.
What would you say to the writer who is still struggling to reconnect with their creativity amidst the ongoing pandemic? I just think eventually we will all be able to find our way back to writing again. I certainly have slowed down. I think it’s about creating low-pressure scenarios for yourself. Just writing gently in a journal, setting up small and reasonable deadlines. Setting yourself up for success, whatever that means for you right now.
