Susan Shapiro joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about the smart way to get meaty bylines, how to think like an editor, placing small pieces, getting tough criticism and listening to it, productive writing schedules, taking care of ourselves and setting boundaries, when to bring editors into the mix, putting work away for a while, filling your cup so you can give generously, some publishing case studies, a special speed round, her popular workshops, and her books The Byline Bible and The Book Bible.

Also in this episode:

-feelings of competitiveness 

-being provocative, being timely

-doing mitzvahs

Books mentioned in this episode:

-The Byline Bible by Susan Shapiro

-The Book Bible by Susan Shapiro

-Docile by Hyeseung Song

-The Chair and the Valley by Banning Lyon

-Black American Refugee by Tiffanie Drayton

-The Bosnia List by Kenan Trebincevic and Sue Shapiro

-The Queen of Gay Street by Esther Mollica

-How to Murder Your Life by Cat Marnell 

Susan Shapiro is an award winning writing professor and the bestselling author of many books her family hates, like the memoirs Five Men Who Broke My Heart, Lighting Up and The Forgiveness Tour, out in paperback July 23. She's coauthor of Unhooked, The Bosnia List and American Shield. She's freelanced for the New York Times, WSJ, Washington Post, Newsweek, Wired, Elle, The Cut, Oprah and New Yorker magazines online. She lives in Manhattan with her scriptwriter husband and uses her publishing guides "The Byline Bible" and "The Book Bible" for the popular classes she teaches at NYU, The New School, Columbia University and now online. You can follow her on Instagram at @profsue123. 

Connect with Susan:

Website: https://Susanshapiro.net

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/susanshapironet

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/profsue123/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Susanshapironet

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-shapiro-9171755/

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Ronit’s writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories. She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and lives in Seattle with her family where she teaches memoir workshops and is working on her next book.

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Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash

Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography

Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers