Taking a girl’s voice is the same as taking her power. Petals of Rain: A Mother’s Memoir by Rica Keenum is a memoir about love and loss, secrets and lies. When a young girl from a broken family meets a charming man, she attempts to build a new life. But after a whirlwind marriage and the birth of two sons, their love story rips apart at the seams. Exploring the impact of parents’ sins on the lives of children and the fates we endure for the chance to be loved, the story follows a mother navigating motherhood and womanhood – an abuse survivor emerging and learning to speak, to scream, to sing to her own wounded heart and to finally understand what it takes to be whole after breaking to pieces. Weaving the present and past together, Rica Keenum reveals her truth in hauntingly evocative scenes. Rica Keenum’s journey toward publication began in June of 2018 when Jill Swenson provided an assessment of the first draft of her memoir, and starting in September of 2018, coached her through the revision process. Rica completed a variety of meta-writing exercises, including character sketches, timelines, and the emotional weighting of scenes over the course of one year to strengthen the narrative arc and provide a satisfying story for readers. Because memoir is a fiercely competitive market in the top commercial publishing houses, Rica Keenum decided to shop around for an indie publisher. She received three offers and chose to work with Book Reality, which…

Will you read what I’ve written? As soon as I think I’ve finished writing a new piece, there’s that irresistible urge to get feedback from a reader. What do you think, eh? It’s more than yearning for instant ego gratification. That’s pretty nice, too. But it won’t help me take my writing to the next level. The sense of accomplishment from getting it down on paper and nailing? It isn’t enough. My inner editor kicks in and creates self-doubt. That’s a good thing and keeps me humble. No, really. Tell me what you think. Always be open to revision. Or don’t ask. After a half century of putting pencil to paper this much I know to be true. Took me a couple decades for it to sink in. I might not always be right and I don’t know everything. What didn’t work? You need to find those readers who are like your true friends who will tell you there is the spinach between your front teeth or your fly is open. Every writer needs editorial feedback. Editors are a writer’s best friend. Wait, wait! Last week Brooke Warner wrote a spot-on essay published in the Huffington Post on the 5 things she wished every author knew. Brilliant content. Wished I’d written it myself. Filled with typos. Ouch. Her excuse, when she shared it on social media, involved her technical inability to edit within the HuffPo platform. Double ouch. She’s a great editor. I’ve been there. As a writer who writes…

Blame Aristotle.  Blame classical Greek culture. Blame all of Western Civilization. But every story must have a beginning, middle, and end. And more than that. Without narrative structure, non-fiction writing is just a boring recitation of one thing after another. You may think because it is based on your experiences, historical events, scientific experimentation, or natural observations that you don’t need a story to write a book. Think again. Fictio, from the Latin, is the heart of writing: to inscribe, shape and mold an inventive or interpretive explanation. To write non-fiction is to create a coherent tale. For a writer, there are two parts to every telling: story and plot. They are not the same thing. Plot is the structure given to the story. For example, girl meets boy. Familiar story. The plot is that girl gets a new hairdo, leaves salon, drives through traffic looking in rear-view mirror and rear-ends boy in a baby blue BMW. Love ensues. Archetypal stories, myths, and fairy tales provide a cultural pool from which to remix story structure variations, techniques, and stylistic flourishes. Shakespeare, the Bible, Greek mythology and stories in popular culture from The Wizard of Oz to the Minions. Writers need to find their story first and then figure out how best to tell it. Your job is to let the reader know what they need to know when they need to know it. Not an easy task. Some call it writing craft. Following Aristotle’s dramatic arc provides a template. Set…