Have you heard the joke about the professional writer and the surgeon?
Surgeon: What do you do?
Writer: I’m a writer. I wrote … (best selling book)
Surgeon: Really? I’d love to take six months off someday and write a book like that.
Writer: That’s a coincidence. I’d love to take six months off and perform surgery.
Most people don’t realize how much work is involved in learning how to write well. Stories that move people. But I believe writing good stories does take work, just as doing anything else worthwhile does. After years of plugging away at writing, I’ve learned a few things.
I don’t have a background in fiction writing. I didn’t major in English lit as an undergrad and I don’t have an MFA (Master of Fine Arts). A lot of people consider the MFA to be the professional degree for fiction writers. I think the Iowa Workshop is considered the mother of all MFAs especially because that program produced so many great writers. Nowadays, there are hundreds if not thousands of MFA programs around, all eager to train the next big best selling author. But I decided not to pursue that most important credential for writers because of what happened way back in 2007.
My world was falling apart that year. I was getting divorced from my husband of 18 years and putting my three kids in turmoil. The recession hit and there were no decent jobs. An OMG year. My mother, an immigrant from Japan, was probably at her wits end watching her eldest child’s life implode. Although I studied Japanese and worked in Tokyo, my conversations with my mother were fairly limited. Some of the communication problem was my fault, but I believe now that my mother suffered from PTSD. She grew up in WWII Japan. It was very difficult for us to have deep conversations. So she did the only thing she could think of to help me - she told me about a Japanese memoir she loved. A riveting account written by a young mother of three who barely survives as a refugee fleeing from Russian invaders. An OMG experience to dwarf my own situation. To my mother’s surprise, I proposed I translate that memoir.
Tei, a memoir of the end of war and beginning of peace was the result seven years later. I self-published that book and made no money but that experience introduced me to literary writing. Going through that book, line by line, word by word taught me as much as an MFA could. Simple short chapters take the reader to another world. My greatest pleasure is hearing readers say how moved they were by Tei’s story. In other words, I’m so happy Tei’s voice is still there after I processed her words. What started off as a distraction from life’s disaster ended up being a gateway to the joy of writing.
The North American Post, a newspaper based in Seattle recently published excerpts from the book Tei.
I loved the book so much, I narrated Tei’s memoir and put it up on Audible. Here’s Chapter One, the same one in the North American Post.
Hello
I am mark from Montana.
I did get my MFA from U of South Carolina.
When I got my degree in 1986 the jobs were gone. The " College Arts Association " handbook went from 10,000 jobs to not many.
Your ability is not connected to a degree hanging on a wall.
I had to start the same thing i used to do. Building.
Tell me you read this message.
I wish you the best.
Lets communicate please.
I enjoyed reading your intro and agree with your comments about MFA's. Highly educated writers may know the formula but they don't always have the talent to tell good stories. Having said that, if you are talented, an MFA can add to the recipe that makes a good book great. Kudos to you for doing what your heart said and also for listening to your mother and publishing the memoir!