Sonic Memories

A collection of life essays by Cija Jefferson

By Mairin Rivett

Cija Jefferson, Baltimore resident and author, recently self-published her first book, Sonic Memories/and Other Essays. The inspiration for Cija’s collection of personal essays came from an assignment at the University of Baltimore's Creative Writing & Publishing Arts MFA program in which graduates were required to design and write a book. Although the collection began as a class project, Cija says that “the process of pulling essays and putting them together was very organic.” On the main floor of The Creative Arts Alliance for Cija’s book launch party, where I met Cija, chairs are set up facing a screen that has a slideshow of pictures from her life—her as a baby, she and her sister wearing matching dresses, her with a group of friends from college. It’s a surreal experience to see the characters from Cija’s essays suddenly come to life.

Cija initially planned to focus this collection on her post-college years when she lived in California. Her original working title for the book was, “Which Way Home.” However, guided by her mentors in the MFA program, Cija decided not settle on a fixed theme. Instead, she let her writing take her along for the ride. The result was a coming-of-age story told through a wide range of essays that span from her early years as a trouble-loving child, to her young-adult years when she struggled to find her place in the world, and ultimately, to the place she is today— where she says she’s beginning to let go of the negative voices in her head and pursue her true purpose in life: writing.

It’s hard to reconcile the outgoing, infectious, and confident Cija, who is standing across the room from me, with the timid girl in her essay, “The Whisper from Within.” In this piece she admits to purposefully waiting to tell her friends and family about a reading she was performing until the last minute—hoping, successfully, that if she told everyone at the last minute, no one would be able to show up. Although the reading in this essay occurred long before she completed Sonic Memories/and Other Essays, Cija admits that the nerves she felt that day are still very much present: “I still get butterflies when I step to the mic and share any of my work,” she says. “I've definitely gotten better about not allowing my nerves to take over, which is easier said than done—depending on the subject matter. Stories like ‘The Whisper From Within’ are tough to read aloud because the content strips away any artifice and reveals my fears and insecurities; it makes me feel exposed.”

As she reads excerpts of her essays at the book launch, Cija’s voice is loud and projects confidently. Wearing a chic white dress with her hair pulled back—an open and friendly smile on her face—Cija begins the reading by talking a little bit about the process of writing her book. Like many writers, the idea of publishing a full book initially seemed like a far-off, far-fetched dream. “I always thought of writing a book as some sort of lofty goal not made for mere mortals,” she says. “Honestly I don’t know that I would have ever attempted to self-publish a book, had it not been a program requirement.”

The process of self-publishing was long, and she admits there were many late nights and bouts of tears (mostly over the publishing software InDesign). In the end, however, Cija claims self-publishing proved to be infinitely worth the work. “This process taught me that I can self-publish without having to rely on templates…it’s like when people say driving a stick-shift gives you more control over [the car] than an automatic; self-publishing and designing your own work gives you more control over how the final product looks, and I’m really happy with what I’ve created.”

At 105 pages, Cija’s book is an emotional roller coaster. Separating humorous anecdotes from gut-wrenching pain by little more than a page or two, Cija’s book is a raw exploration of growing up, and on how the choices we make in an instant—looking back at a hospital bed or stealing a piece of candy from a local store, for example, have lasting impacts on us even years after the they are made.

Creating Great Articles for Web and Print with Lee Fleming

Speaking of "great articles," check out the details on Lee Fleming's upcoming workshop:

“Creating Great Articles for Print and Web” is based on the idea that fine writing is fine writing—whether your piece is fiction or nonfiction. The same principles of focus, organization, color, texture and balance should apply as much to blogs and articles as to short stories and novels. In the ideal world, we would astonish readers with our gem-like style and unique insights. But even experienced writers forget to take the time (or just don’t have it) to delve deeper into the elements that take good writing to a higher level. Helping people do this is where I come in.

As a successful freelancer and award-winning editor who has been both side of the writing/editing fence for more than 30 years, I know what sells, what won’t—and why. Giving participants my professional editor’s perspective on story ideas, article organization, blog topic interest and the rest adds another dimension to a workshop exploring publishing’s realities.

How do you begin, if you have never really written articles or blogs before? And how do you take your pieces to another plane, if you’re currently creating articles for print or Web? These questions drive this workshop. It takes nothing for granted, whether you’re a beginner who only writers papers for work, or a seasoned pro looking to brush up your skills or make a transition from one medium to another.

For example, the first session tackles that most persistent of problems, choosing one aspect of a broad subject that will make the best story idea for a particular site or publication. I like to tell participants about a friend who once proposed a history of Latin America to his editor. Luckily for him, the editor responded, “Not Latin America—just Noriega,” and a bestselling book was born. We aim for that in the workshop—breaking an overwhelming topic into facets that can become differently angled stories.

Later sessions touch on timing story pitches and negotiating fees with editors. After all, they’re people, too—grumpy in the morning, harassed by their publishers, but always looking for the killer idea. It’s easy to forget this, thinking of a Web site or print publication in monolithic terms rather than a something put together by people who might not have had a good morning when you call them. So we discuss how to approach editors, even down to what time of day to call someone on a daily versus a weekly, or how long to wait before following up on an e-mailed Web story idea.

And all along, we revisit and refine the basics: how to choose a subject, how to narrow a huge idea so that it becomes a manageable article or blog concept, how to pitch the story, how to organize and balance a piece and make it declare its message with your voice. Henry James, that consummate stylist, once said that style is defined not by what you can do, but by what you can’t—which makes perfect sense: if you shine at dialogue, it may be because you’re weak at describing, and vice versa. We work to discover your stylistic strengths and capitalize on them.

This is a tall order for a relatively short workshop, but somehow, the approach works. Over the years, participants have been published—often for the first time ever—on Web sites such as Slate and ask.com, and in newspapers and magazines including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Harper’s, The Nation and Washingtonian. They’ve been kind enough to tell me that the workshop helped. Perhaps it will do the same for you.

Lee Fleming is teaching "Great Articles for Web and Print" Mondays at 7:00 P.M., starting October 3. You can register here.

Lee Fleming has been writing, editing, and teaching for more than two decades. Her articles have appeared in The Washington Post, City Paper, and The Washingtonian, as well as other national newspapers, magazines, and Web sites. A former senior editor at Museum & Arts and Garden Design magazines, and managing editor/editor in chief of Landscape Architecture, Fleming has received a number of fellowships and awards for journalism and fiction.

K.C.’s Corner: Candid Tips on Book Reviews

A couple brief posts (with links) by Kelley Coyner this month:

You cannot go to every event especially one that isn’t even in town. But you can listen via podcast. Thanks to Erica Dreifus and The Writer’s Institute at the City University of New York you can hear eight top New York Book Review editors discuss how they came to book reviewing and what they look for in book reviews.

Nonfiction Publication a Tweet Away
The Writer’s Center’s friend Creative Nonfiction is sponsoring Tiny Truths: CNF's Daily Twitter Contest. Submissions accepted year-round. Winners retweeted daily and 10-12 winning tweets appear in every issue of Creative Nonfiction. Read a feed of CFNs Tiny Truths.