UPDATE, October 18, 2013 9am: It’s working!  Your preorders have pushed WRITING IS MY DRINK’s Barnes and Noble rating to #462 (of all books!) and Amazon to #2050.  Thank you so much, readers, for preordering and sharing this post.  Any further efforts between now and the pub date (Nov 5th) to keep these numbers and my publisher’s interest up are greatly appreciated.  Theo

Dear Readers,

I just got off the phone with my agent, and she confirmed what I already knew and haven’t wanted to think about:  Preorders make a huge impact on how publishers promote a book.  (And frankly, I need to make an impact on my publisher).

So, here I am hitting you up.  If you think you’re going to buy DRINK, it would be a big help if you would buy it today.

Preorder here: Amazon

Or here: Barnes and Noble

Thanks, guys, as always for reading my blog! And please find below some FAQ’s on Drink answered.

Love,

Theo

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About WRITING IS MY DRINK:

 What’s Writing Is My Drink about?

Writing Is My Drink is a chronologically told story of my journey from self-doubt to confidence in my own voice as a writer—and by extension, as a person.  Starting with the narrator as a failing journalist on a student newspaper, Drink follows the narrator through numerous adventures from what I consider “my creative history,” the events that contributed to my need to write and my long road to finally getting to what I’ve thought of as my “real writing.” Throughout this story, advice on how to trust oneself as a writer is woven in, and at the end of each chapter, you’ll find writing activities designed to help you find your own writing voice and material.

What’s the significance of the title Writing Is My Drink?

I got the idea for the title from something I’d heard in Al-Anon meetings.  In Al-Anon, a 12-step program for friends and family of alcoholics, sometimes people will say something like “Worry is my drink.”  In other words, “worry” is the thing they obsessively and compulsively return to—the equivalent of the alcoholic’s drink. This phrase inspired me to think about the surprisingly positive impact of my family’s history of addiction on my writing career.  I realized that my family’s thirst shows up in me in my rather obsessive general interest in all things literary and a very particular intrigue with literature that serves as a means of self-expression. And then it dawned on me: Writing is my drink.

How did you get the idea to write this book?

I teach a nine-month memoir writing course, and in teaching the craft of writing memoir, the importance of  learning to hear and rely upon one’s own voice became starkly vivid to me.  The most powerful memoirs, in my opinion, are the ones in which the writer’s personality is palpable on the page—in everything from word choice, to syntax, to the types of stories being told and their themes. 

I also realized in teaching this course that the apprenticeship period to becoming a writer who can actualize one’s vision is often a long one and writers need encouragement along the way.  As an aspiring writer, I was very inspired and calmed by three encouraging books—Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, Julia Cameron’s The Right to Write and Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones—and those books inspired me to write Writing Is My Drink in the tradition of solace they established. 

What’s the central message of Writing Is My Drink?

I want readers to know that their power as people and more specifically as writers lies in claiming what is very particularly their own, no matter if “their own” is uncool or not valued or even perceived by others. Your juice as a writer lies in your obsessions, your passions, your history, your gender, your hometown, your race, your identity, your favorite music, art, movies, and books. Do not try to adapt to what “real writers” are like; head fiercely towards your own quirky self.

What advice does Writing Is My Drink offer aspiring memoirists?

1) Push yourself to be vulnerable on the page, 2) Don’t shy away from underscoring the drama of your story,  3) Share your wisdom in your personal narrative, 4) Highlight the universal aspects of your individual story and 3) Limit the scope of your story; don’t confuse memoir with autobiography.