Kate Meadows is a returning HippoCamp speaker. This year, her proposal fills a widely requested topic that we included in our call-for-proposal wish list. We’re so happy she submitted this. Attendees are so excited about her session, which is all about the “quiet memoir”! We asked Kate a few questions about HippoCamp.
HM: Tell us a little about your involvement in HippoCamp this year. What are you most excited to share during this session?
KM: I’m running a break-out session for all levels of writers who are interested in The Quiet Memoir. In the session, we’ll get to the heart of what constitutes a quiet memoir and how to bring out conflict and points of tension (crucial elements in any piece of creative writing), even if you don’t have a harrowing tale of addiction or sorrow to tell.
Why do you love true stories?
At its very base, writing is communication. I believe we write true stories to better understand ourselves and the world around us. I recently read a quote in Poets and Writers Magazine about how we write to find out what we know, not to record what we know. Every true story is an attempt to communicate a discovery with a reader; it is an invitation for the reader to discover along with the writer. I love what true stories teach us.
What made you decided to participate in HippoCamp this year? Since you’re a returning speaker, how did you past experience encourage you to want to come back?
I attended HippoCamp in 2017 for the first time, and I participated in the lightning round talks on Sunday morning. A recurring question throughout that weekend was, “What if I don’t have a huge story of tragedy or triumph to share? Can I still write?” This term, “quiet memoir,” was percolating throughout the conference, and I knew it had the potential to be an excellent topic for the 2018 conference.
I also believed I had the experience to teach a workshop on The Quiet Memoir: Throughout graduate school, I wrestled with those same questions time and again. What if I don’t have anything absolutely dramatic to share with the world? Why is conflict so important? Through my thesis work and eventual published memoir, I learned to tease out various types of conflict I had never really explored. I am so excited to share what I learned through that process and to encourage others that writing a quiet memoir is a noble pursuit. Plus, how can you not be excited for a whole weekend devoted to creative nonfiction, writing and meeting other writers?
Attendees can learn more about you on our speaker’s page, of course, but there’s more to you than that bio! Share a fun fact with us, something we may be surprised to know.
I was a champion snowmobile drag racer in high school in Wyoming!
Since you’ll also be attending the conference, what are you most looking forward to learning or doing when you’re not wearing your “speaker hat?”
I am pursuing a goal of submitting one query letter or essay/article per week for publication. Sounds simple and doable on the surface, but man, it requires discipline and it keeps me on my toes. I am also in the very early stages of a book project, charting the experiences of women who are preparing to become pastors’ wives. I am one of those women, and our experiences and the backgrounds we come from are remarkable and wonderfully diverse.
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Kate, we’re so happy you’re coming back to Lancaster, and that you’re speaking on a topic so many of our attendees are curious about!
And, reader, register to reserve your place today.
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