Sharing personal stories can be a way to heal ourselves and also help others on a similar journey. In today's show, I talk to Rachael Herron about writing memoir. In the introduction, I talk about the potential rise of Amazon Polly for text to speech and give an example of a reading done through www.Book2Pod.com. On a personal note, The Dark Queen is now available as a stand-alone short story, and The Healthy Writer is now available as an audiobook. penn-courses.teachable.com/p/how-to-write-a-novel">Today's show is sponsored by my own penn-courses.teachable.com/p/how-to-write-a-novel">How to Write a Novel course. One student, Holly, said “In six months, this course has taken my writing further than six years of self-teaching. Joanna's positive attitude and teaching style make learning how to write a novel enjoyable and feasible.” Check it out at www.TheCreativePenn.com/writenovel Rachael Herron is the bestselling author of literary fiction, romantic comedy, and Memoir. She teaches writing at UC Berkeley and Stanford. She's a podcaster and her latest book is Fast Draft Your Memoir: Write Your Life Story in 45 Hours. You can listen above or on iTunes or Stitcher or watch the video here, read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below. Show Notes * Rachael's definition of memoir * How true does a memoir have to be? * On how others define us when we write memoir * What ‘room tone' has to do with writing a memoir * Treating yourself as a character with an arc when writing memoir * The two biggest mistakes writers make with memoir * Overcoming the fears that come along with writing memoir You can find Rachael Herron at RachaelHerron.com and on Twitter @RachaelHerron Transcript of Interview with Rachel Herron Joanna: Hi, everyone. I'm Joanna Penn from thecreativepenn.com. And today, I'm here with Rachael Herron. Hi, Rachael. Rachael: Hi, Joanna. So, glad to be here. Joanna: It's great to have you on the show. Just a little introduction. Rachael is the bestselling author of literary fiction, romantic comedy, and Memoir. She teaches writing at UC Berkeley and Stanford. She's a podcaster and her latest book is “Fast Draft Your Memoir: Write Your Life Story in 45 Hours” which is amazing. And I just want to start, Rachael, have I pronounced “Berkeley” and “draft” in the right way? Rachael: Well, no, it would be “Berkeley”. That's so funny. And you pronounced “draft” exactly the right way because it sounds much more romantic when you said, “draft.” Joanna: Draft. Yes.