"Every Time You Start, You Forget What You Know, Which is the Best Way to Start"

An interview with author Abigail Thomas

Readers,

This is the fourth in a series of behind the scenes video interviews with authors, editors, and others in the field about aspects of publishing personal essays, essay collections, and memoirs. Previously, I’ve interviewed Chloe Caldwell about acting as her own agent, Tajja Isen about the limited value of critical acclaim, and publicist Lauren Cerand about aspects of book publicity you can handle yourself.

These interviews are for paying subscribers only. If you’re not a paying subscriber, please consider becoming one. (*If you can’t afford a paid subscription, email me at memoirmonday@gmail.com, and I’ll comp you. )

For this installment, I’ve interviewed author Abigail Thomas about her latest memoir, Still Life at Eighty: The Next Interesting Thing, published by Golden Notebook Press.

You can read an excerpt of the book in

Oldster Magazine

:

My Whole Life Has Brought Me Here

In this conversation, Thomas and I talk about her wonderful book, her spare writing style, beginner’s mind, embracing messiness and imperfection, getting older, and the similarities between writing and making things with clay.

PS You can catch Thomas next Friday night, March 31st, in conversation with journalist Rosemary Armao at this year’s edition of the Woodstock Book Fest. I’ll be taking part in the festival this year—as a judge in Thursday night’s story slam, and as the moderator of the Saturday afternoon personal essay panel, featuring our very own Carolita Johnson, Alexander Chee, and

Gary Shteyngart

. Tickets are still available!

Okay, here’s the interview. Hope you enjoy it! - Sari