Reflections on Creative Nonfiction, Memoir, (Auto)Biography, Life-Writing, and the Essay
15 Feb 2013 at 10:26
Julija Šukys
Blurbs, Canada, CanLit, Editing, Libraries, Marketing, Media, Publicity, Publishing, Research, Social Media, Uncategorized, Writing
OK, so as authors we are told constantly that we have to market our own books. The publishing industry, for better or worse, has largely washed its hands of promotion, except for the lucky and most commercial few. The rest of us are largely on our own. Authors must have a website (check), keep [...]
21 Jan 2013 at 11:59
Julija Šukys
Consulting, Creative Nonfiction, Editing, Funding, Memoir, Services, Uncategorized
As many of you know, I’m an experienced grant writer, and have offered successful group workshops on grant writing. Recently, I’ve had a number of writers approach me with individual requests to help to find funding, and to prepare and edit proposal drafts. In response, I’ve set some parameters for this kind of consultation. If [...]
07 Dec 2012 at 20:53
Julija Šukys
Buddhism, Chris Arthur, CNF Conversations, Creative Nonfiction, E. B. White, Editing, Essays, Interviews, Ireland, Patrick Madden, Paul Valéry, Personal Essays, Structure, Uncategorized, Writing
Chris Arthur, On the Shoreline of Knowledge: Irish Wanderings. Iowa City: Shoreline Books, 2012. This is Part II of a two-part interview with Chris Arthur. Click here to access Part I. Julija Šukys: Like you, I’m obsessed with the writing of ordinary lives. The following passage is marked in pencil and with exclamation marks in [...]
03 Jun 2012 at 13:05
Julija Šukys
Academia, Archives, Biography, Canada, Children, Creative Nonfiction, Domesticity, Eastern Europe, Editing, Epistolophilia, Essays, Exile, Feminism, France, Interviews, Journeys, Language and Multilingualism, Letters, Libraries, Life-writing, Lithuania, Marketing, Media, Mothering, Ona Šimaitė, Publicity, Publishing, Research, Reviews, Uncategorized, Vilna Ghetto, Vilnius, Virginia Woolf, Writing
Here’s an interview I did with ForeWord Reviews, a great publication that focuses on books published by independent presses. You can access the original here (scroll down to the bottom of the page): Conversational interviews with great writers who have earned a review in ForeWord Reviews. Our editorial mission is to continuously increase attention to [...]
15 Mar 2012 at 10:10
Julija Šukys
Countdown to Publication, Creative Nonfiction, Editing, Epistolophilia, Essays, Journalism, Journeys, Personal Essays, Publishing, Rejection, SheWrites, Structure, Uncategorized, Writing
I’m leading a writer’s workshop on the personal essay in the fall. I’m happy about it, because the essay is a form I love. I tend to write essays at the beginning of a bigger project, and use them as a way to test out ideas and to work through central questions of longer projects. [...]
19 Jan 2012 at 04:22
Julija Šukys
Academia, Algeria, Archives, Biography, Catholicism, Children, Christianity, Countdown to Publication, Creative Nonfiction, Domesticity, Eastern Europe, Editing, Epistolophilia, Grad School, Journeys, Libraries, Lithuania, Mothering, Ona Šimaitė, Paris, Research, Residencies and Fellowships, Russia, Saints, SheWrites, Siberia, Silence is Death, Tahar Djaout, Uncategorized, Writing
This is Who-Man. My son and I invented him over breakfast this morning. Who-Man is a superhero whose arch-enemy is a many-eyed monster called “Crime.” Who-Man wears a bumpy suit (as you can see in Sebastian’s rendition of him above). The suit can shoot fire, but our hero rarely has to use this weapon. He [...]
12 Jan 2012 at 05:09
Julija Šukys
Academia, Biography, Canada, Countdown to Publication, Creative Nonfiction, E-books, Editing, Epistolophilia, Memoir, Publishing, SheWrites, Silence is Death, Uncategorized, Writing
For almost ten years now, there’s been growing anxiety in the writing community about the “publishing crunch.” Essentially, what’s happened is this: publishers find themselves in increasing financial peril; they need to make money, so they try to make safe bets. The result for readers is a “narrowing of the breadth and depth and diversity of [...]
29 Dec 2011 at 09:31
Julija Šukys
Biography, Contests and Prizes, Countdown to Publication, Editing, Epistolophilia, Funding, Journeys, Libraries, Poetry, Rejection, Research, Residencies and Fellowships, SheWrites, Uncategorized, Writing, Yiddish
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I couldn’t have written Epistolophilia without writers’ grants and research fellowships. A number of different arts agencies and institutions — these are listed in the Acknowledgements to my book — helped me pay for plane tickets, get paper for printing, buy time for writing, and (perhaps [...]
11 Nov 2011 at 04:27
Julija Šukys
Academia, Autobiography, Biography, Children, CNF Conversations, Creative Nonfiction, Domesticity, Editing, Epistolophilia, Journeys, Libraries, Malta and Gozo, Memoir, Mothering, Siberia, Uncategorized, Writing
I haven’t written much here on the blog lately. In part, this is because I’ve been working surprisingly well. I’m making swift progress, and the energy I pour into my new book (#3) leaves little for writing here. Writing resources, it seems, are finite. Undertaking the writing of a book is daunting. It’s a tough [...]
04 Nov 2011 at 09:15
Julija Šukys
Book Design, E-books, Editing, Epistolophilia, Marketing, Publicity, Publishing, Uncategorized, Writing
A few weeks ago, I finished editing the proofs of my new book Epistolophilia. It was a great feeling to see the text typeset, designed, and looking official (and beautiful). This, in combination with some back and forth about cover design a month or so ago has got me thinking about how books look. And whether [...]
