198. Discovering and Believing in Our Own Voice featuring Michael Jamin

Michael Jamin joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about his career as a TV writer, moving from mimicking to discovering and trusting our own voice, allowing our style to evolve,

making sense of ourselves through art, imposter syndrome and feeling displeased with our work, comedy writing, performing staged readings to test out material, building a bridge between separate sections of our story, infusing comedy with drama, asking permission from children before we write about them, breathing life into relationships on the page for readers to witness, showing up generously for newer writers, getting a moment to land, and his memoir A Paper Orchestra.

Also in this episode:

-doing stand up

-debunking writing myths

-having a spouse as trusted reader

Books mentioned in this episode

-Books by David Sedaris

-David Bowie making art video YouTube

Michael Jamin is a TV writer/author. His many television credits include King of the Hill, Beavis and Butt-Head, Just Shoot Me, Wilfred, Maron, Rules of Engagement, Brickleberry, and Tacoma FD. His debut collection of personal essays (a cross between David Sedaris and Neil Simon) was just named one of Vulture’s “Best Comedy Books of 2024.” 

Connect with Michael: 

Website: michaeljamin.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MichaelJaminWriter/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/michaeljaminwriter/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@michaeljaminwriter

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/MichaelJaminWriter

Threads https://www.threads.net/@michaeljaminwriter

A Paper Orchestra: michaeljamin.com/book

Catch Michael Jamin on tour: michaeljamin.com/upcoming

Mining Your Life for Stories: (memoir writing course) https://michaeljamin.com/sp/mining-sales/

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Ronit’s writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories. 

She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book.

More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com

Subscribe to Ronit’s Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank

Follow Ronit:

https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/

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https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social

Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash

Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography

Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers