Nancy Chadwick, Author at Nancy Chadwick

About Nancy Chadwick

NANCY CHADWICK is an essayist, memoirist, and fiction writer. She got her first job at Leo Burnett advertising agency in Chicago. After a decade there, and later, another decade in corporate banking, she quit and began to write full time, finding inspiration from her years living in Chicago and in San Francisco. Nancy is the author of Under the Birch Tree: A Memoir of Discovering Connections and Finding Home, The Wisdom of the Willow, a novel, and has also written essays that have appeared in The Magic of Memoir: Inspiration for the Writing Journey, Adelaide Literary Magazine, Meaningful Conflicts – The Art of Friction, Writer’s Digest, blogs by the Chicago Writers Association Write City, and Brevity.

white lines on blueprint

On a Saturday morning a few years ago, I responded to a hankering. I needed to free a hall closet in my house of clutter. I understood what faced me – the messiest offender found in three files buckets – as soon as I opened the door. I spied a particular grey one packed askew with folders and paper and [...]

Nancy Chadwick2016-02-24T20:54:10+00:00February 24, 2016|Categories: book writing, home, life lessons, manuscript, memoir, Writing|

let it go

I wrote a memoir – 10 years ago – and then I rewrote it and then rewrote again, yet another rewrite and then wrote more. I acted on 5 professional critiques over those years as impetus for my rewrites. And I use the term “rewrite” loosely. I could easily make these changes – deleting information that has no reason to [...]

Nancy Chadwick2016-02-15T22:09:44+00:00February 15, 2016|Categories: book writing, manuscript, memoir, nonfiction writing, writers, writing life, writing process|Tags: Book Writing, life story, Memoir, Writer, Writing|

Personal answers to a universal writing question

“Why do we write memoir?” This question is posed on many writing blogs, writer websites and to writing discussion groups. I am curious to know my fellow writers’ (of personal stories) responses. I read on. They write “. . . . to wring every possible lesson . . . to learn about my own past . . . I wrote [...]

Nancy Chadwick2016-02-01T21:46:07+00:00February 1, 2016|Categories: book writing, creative nonfiction, home, manuscript, memoir, nonfiction writing, writers, Writing|Tags: Book Writing, life lessons, life story, Memoir, spiritual writing, Writer|

Reading Memoir as Fiction

Nancy Chadwick2016-01-20T18:49:32+00:00January 20, 2016|Categories: book publishing, memoir, writers, Writing, writing life|Tags: Book Writing, Memoir, memoir writing, Writer|

It’s in the details

When it comes to my memoir writing, I am confident I can write one piece of the writing pie well. I implore the power of details. Natalie Goldberg’s, Writing Down the Bones says, “We must become writers who accept things as they are, come to love the details, and step forward with a yes on our lips . . [...]

Nancy Chadwick2016-01-19T22:07:32+00:00January 19, 2016|Categories: manuscript, memoir, nonfiction writing, writers, Writing, writing details|Tags: Memoir, Writer, Writing Exercises, writing life|

I believe

I believe in a lot of things. I believe the sun will rise from the horizon and awaken all that was dormant in darkness. I believe the sparkle in the night skies are stars in the universe. I believe in Christmas. I believe in Santa Claus. I also believe in my memoir and my strength in writing it. I believe [...]

Nancy Chadwick2016-01-05T22:09:51+00:00January 5, 2016|Categories: book publishing, book writing, life lessons, manuscript, memoir, writers, Writing|Tags: Book Writing, Memoir, publish, writing life|

end of the year and 220 pages

I sit down to work on my memoir this afternoon as I do most afternoons. The editing, the rewriting, the tightening, the examination of prose, development and theme consume my focus. The stack of 220 pages is broken in sections. Select pages of my manuscript sit on my reader stand while I transfer my handwritten markings to my Word document. [...]

Nancy Chadwick2015-12-23T21:32:46+00:00December 23, 2015|Categories: book publishing, book writing, creative nonfiction, manuscript, memoir, nonfiction writing, writers, Writing, writing life|Tags: life story, Memoir, writing goals, writing inspiration|

Ten Years and 7 Drafts

I’ve lost count of the number of drafts of my memoir, working title “Under the Birch Tree.” However, I have not lost count of the years my memoir has been in production. Specifically, I have accrued 7 professional manuscript critiques/editorial analyses over 10 years. (I consider my manuscript a draft when it’s ready to submit to a professional and not [...]