The Love and Hate of Memoir
You love them. You hate them . . . You yearn to record their greatness. You seethe to burn them good. The heady month of hearts and [...]
Comments Off
Writing Sensuous Details
It’s winter in Santa Fe now, and the colors are chalk brown and muted green huddled amidst the white of mounded snow. In my fireplace I burn Pinion pine, and [...]
Comments Off
I am in the presence of great art
I said those words today as I walked into the painting gallery of Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum, one of the greatest collections of art in Europe, and then I wept, privately, [...]
Comments Off
October 3: German Day of Unity
I have never been so happy as I was yesterday to see a decidedly Western shopping street replete with all the standard flagship stores. It’s just not the sort of [...]
Comments Off
Living in the former East Berlin
I have been traveling for days, one day on the train, a late night in the new place, a full day exploring, and then back to the train. It’s been [...]
Comments Off
Sunny Brussels, Belgium
I’ve begun again sojourning through Europe searching for the final pieces to complete my new book. It feels different now than it did on my first journey to discover [...]
Comments OffAbout Lisa
Lisa wrote the popular handbook—Shimmering Images: A Handy Little Guide to Writing Memoir—and the acclaimed memoir Hawk Flies Above: Journey to the Heart of the Sandhills, both published by St. Martin’s Press. Lisa blogs for The Huffington Post about story and the way it shapes daily life.
At The Santa Fe Writing Institute you can engage one-on-one with Lisa editing and preparing manuscripts for publication and studying in online classes with Lisa as your teacher.
Lisa earned degrees from Reed College and the University of Iowa. She comes from a long line of Nebraskans including Congressman J. N. Norton, District Judge William H. Norton, and Evelyn Norton Lincoln, President John F. Kennedy's personal secretary.
Lisa splits her time between Santa Fe, Venice, Italy, and a 75-year-old cabin in the Sandhills of the American West.
Contact Lisa.
Subscribe to Lisa’s Newsletter
Editing Services
SPECIAL FOR WRITERS NEW TO THE SANTA FE WRITING INSTITUTE
The first week of each month Lisa reads and evaluates 25 pages (that’s 6,250 words) of fiction or narrative nonfiction at a special rate of $195.
You get swift feedback from a pro on your project.
You get a written critique and a 30-minute follow-up phone consultation.
These services regularly bill at $300. Lisa's substantive edit includes analysis of your writing style, narrating voice, characterizations, structure, marketability, and concrete strategies for improvement of problem areas.
