Geraldine DeRuiter joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about how being okay with yourself has become deeply radical, the role women have in the home and culinary world, our complex personal and societal relationship with food and feminism, body unkindness and the erosion of body trust, her blog the Everywhereist.com, getting used to imperfection, working with an editor, going viral multiple times, parasocial relationships and creating boundaries, winning a James Beard Award for her writing, and her new book If You Can’t Take the Heat. 

Also in this episode: 

-Mario Batali and his cinnamon buns

-resisting tying everything up with a bow

-Nestle Road Pie

Books mentioned in this episode:

Keys to Great Writing by Stephen Wilburs

Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg

How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James N. Frey

Save the Cat by Blake Snyder

On Writing by Stephen King

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Books by: Mindy Kaling, Phoebe Robinson, Jenny Lawson

Geraldine DeRuiter is a James Beard Award–winning blogger and bestselling author and the voice behind Everywhereist.com. She is the author of ALL OVER THE PLACE: ADVENTURES OF TRAVEL, TRUE LOVE, AND PETTY THEFT (Public Affairs, 2017) and the national bestseller IF YOU CAN'T TAKE THE HEAT: TALES OF FOOD, FEMINISM, AND FURY (Crown, 2024). Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The New Yorker’s Daily Shouts, Marie Claire, and Refinery 29. She lives in Seattle, Washington, with her husband, Rand. They are currently working on a cooking-themed video game and ordering too much takeout.

Connect with Geraldine:

Website: www.everywhereist.com

Get her book: https://www.amazon.com/If-You-Cant-Take-Heat/dp/0593444485

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@theeverywhereist

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywhereist

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

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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.

More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com

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Follow Ronit:

https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/

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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