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🌀 How to Build a Compelling Narrative Arc for Your Memoir
By Jill Carlyle, M.A., MFA When I sit down with a new memoir client—whether they're just beginning their story or knee-deep in their...
Jill Carlyle, M.A., MFA
Aug 6, 20243 min read
10 views

The Strings That Tie Us Together
The shape of her hairline matches mine. I turn and face the mirror hanging over her vanity and pull my salt and pepper bangs away from my...
Jill Carlyle, M.A., MFA
Jan 3, 20245 min read
75 views


Jill's Prose & Cons: The Fine Print by Lauren Asher
I happened upon this book because I picked up the second in the series first, and being the obsessed reader I am, I couldn’t fathom...
Jill Carlyle, M.A., MFA
Jan 2, 20243 min read
3 views


Jill's Prose & Cons: Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow
“Cutting is a fence you build upon your own body to keep people out but then you cry to be touched. But the fence is barbed. What then?”...
Jill Carlyle, M.A., MFA
Jan 1, 20242 min read
12 views


Jill's Prose & Cons: Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
"The painful things you were certain you'd never be able to let go? Now you're not entirely sure when they happened…" I was so excited...
Jill Carlyle, M.A., MFA
Dec 4, 20232 min read
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Jill's Prose & Cons: The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
“There have been so many times when I was scared to speak up because I was afraid somebody would think I was crazy. But I’ve learned that...
Jill Carlyle, M.A., MFA
Dec 4, 20232 min read
8 views


Searching for Celia: Chapter Four of Finding Fifty...A Memoir
The mother-daughter bond may give rise to the deepest mutuality and the most painful estrangement. It is an intense yet uneasy affinity...
Jill Carlyle, M.A., MFA
May 7, 20218 min read
94 views


I'll Start Next Monday...How the Keto Diet Saved My Life
This post feels fitting at the moment. I was reminded of this essay that I wrote last year by a friend who is doing some research for a...
Jill Carlyle, M.A., MFA
Sep 15, 20207 min read
56 views


The Starting Line
“Just get yourself to the starting line, from there, the possibilities are endless.”-JWC The hard cement floor was crowded with...
Jill Carlyle, M.A., MFA
Jun 16, 20203 min read
34 views
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