Today marks the 150th episode of the Life Writers Vlog, which feels pretty amazing to me. When I started, I wasn’t sure if people would keep coming back, but you did, and I’m so grateful.
This month’s featured author is Tobias Wolff, who writes both memoir and short fiction.
I’ve read This Boy’s Life, Wolff’s first memoir, a number of times, taught it, and still turn to it because it shows how to apply tools of fiction—character development, dialogue, plot, setting—to memoir.
Wolff writes honestly, flaws and all, and presents himself just as he was then.
Later, Wolff wrote a second memoir, In Pharaoh’s Army: Memories of the Lost War, about his service in the US Army during the Vietnam War.
Have you heard of or read Tobias Wolff? If so, how did you find out about him and his work?
Have you met authors you admire? What was that moment like for you? Share your experience in the comments section below.
Always remember, the only way to do this wrong is to not do it at all!
Thank you for the vlog, which is always interesting, and for all the book recommendations. I have read This boy’s life and enjoyed it, though it’s been some time ago. When I worked at the Scribner Book Store in Williamsburg, back in the mid to late seventies, we hosted Pamela (P.L.) Travers, known primarily as the author of the Mary Poppins books. My sister had a set of the first four books in the series, and I had loved the stories since I was a child, so it was quite a thrill for me. I remember her as a peppery… Read more »
I’ve never been to a book signing, but while writing my Frazzled Farm Wife column for our local paper, I had the audacity to contact Erma
Bombeck, telling her of my intentions to become her rural counterpart. She answered me, on Field Syndicate stationery, no less! She
couldn’t have been nicer, more down-to -earth, nor more encouraging.
Before your introduction of Tobias Wolff, I had heard of him in name only. When I went to my small-town library, the librarian hadn’t heard
of him either. But, after your introduction, I know I want to check him out.
I took a memoir class shortly after my husband died in 2012, and soon after that, I read about a book signing at a local bookstore. I went and met Judith Campbell (my first in person author). Of course, I was a little in awe of her, but she turned out to be just a “regular” person. 🙂 After her presentation, I got in line to buy her book (A Deadly Mission, an Olympia Brown Mystery). I had learned she was an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister who lived near Plymouth, Mass., pretty jaw-dropping to me at the time. Anyway, when… Read more »
Great! Another book I have to buy. I just finished the situation and the story, a very long read even at 160 pages, and am currently on The Intuitive Author.
You’re gonna bankrupt me.
My favorite book is always the one I read last.
I always say that, too…you last sentence.
150 episodes – Congratulations! I love the book recommendations and your personal insights about a writer’s life. I had not known of Todias Wolff, but now will find a sample or borrow this from the library. Thanks!
Congratulations on the blog!