Cameron Dezen Hammon, essayist and memoirist
On today’s show, Cameron Dezen Hammon tells us how to trick yourself into writing a good book. (Spoiler alert: it helps if you’re already really talented. Tin House workshops don’t hurt.) We get down to the reals about spiritual writing in the age of Trump, why we can still afford to be hopeful, and why Cameron advocates for writing book proposals for books you haven’t yet written.
Also, Jessica and Cameron bond over Russian Jewishness and ugly crying at The Seagull.
Dezen Hammon’s work can be found here:
“Fruit” in The Kiss: An Intimacies for Writers
Words Don’t Bleed, her covers album
Dezen Hammon’s The Ish podcast episode with her brother, singer songwriter Alex Dezen, “Famous-Ish,” but read her essay “Brothers and Sisters” first
Recommendations and Also Mentioneds:
Steve Almond’s collection of essays, (Not that You Asked): Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions
“How to Write Sex Scenes: The 12 Step Program” by Steve Almond
Bluets by Maggie Nelson
Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose
Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative by Vivian Gornick
Lit by Mary Karr
Kristin Dombek’s “Letter from Williamsburg”
Photo credit: Anna Sneed
Follow Cameron on twitter @camerondhammon and instagram @cameron_dezen_hammon. Check out her website for updates on her forthcoming memoir This is My Body from Lookout Books, 2019.