Memoir and Nonfiction

​     If someone asks you what you do for a living and you say, “I write novels,” they’ll probably follow up by asking you what your novels are about. However, if you say, “I write nonfiction books,” their eyes often glaze over and their mouth can’t seem to form the polite question, “Oh, what are your books about?”
     This happens because people often associate fiction with interesting and entertaining stories and nonfiction with dry, dull, dense tomes. But nonfiction books in today’s bookstores are not dry nor are they dull. Today’s nonfiction writers illustrate their concepts and ideas with metaphors, personal stories, stories about people who embody their concepts, and familiar everyday experiences. In short, they use the techniques of fiction writers including scenes with action and dialogue.
     Today, there are many ways to write a book on a nonfiction subject that you are passionate about. Below I’ll provide some examples of the different types of nonfiction I enjoy reading and am interested in coaching.
     As a Psychologist who has worked with adults and children as well as families, teachers, and schools; I specialize in books related to personal growth, mental health issues, education, and children’s literature.

​Please note that I don’t coach business or motivational books.
 
Psychology/Personal Growth/Self Help
Grit Angela Duckworth
Mindset Carol Dweck
Tell Me a Story: Sharing Stories to Enrich your Childs World: Elaine Reese
Quiet Susan Cain
The Highly Sensitive Person Elaine Aron
Raising Your Spirited Child Mary Sheedy Kurcinka
Helping Your Anxious Child Ronald Rapee, et al.
The Dance of Anger 
 
Memoir
Roadmap to Holland  Jennifer Graf Groneberg
Confessions of a Mediocre Widow Catherine Tidd
The Water is Wide Pat Conroy
Teacher Man Frank McCourt
H is for Hawk Helen Macdonald
Hillbilly Elegy J D Vance
Educated Tara Westover
 
Hybrid--Memoir plus Personal Growth--Nonfiction 
Books that are hybrids weave together a personal story with principles, elements, or major ideas related to  personal growth
The Gifts of Imperfection Brene Brown
The Way of Transition  William Bridges
Dinner: A Love Story Jenny Rosenstrach  
 
Books about Children’s Literature—Biographies and Autobiographies About Authors of  Children’s Literature—Literary Criticism
Crazy Love: An Autobiographical Account of Marriage and Madness Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
A Girl from Yamhill Beverly Cleary
My Own Two Feet Beverly Cleary
Some Writer!: The Story of E. B. White  Melissa Sweet
Minders of Make-Believe: Idealists, Entrepreneurs, and the Shaping of American Children's Literature Leonard Marcus 
A Sense of Wonder: On Reading and Writing Books for Children Katherine Paterson
Enchanted Hunters: The Power of Stories in Childhood Maria Tartar
A Critical Handbook of Children’s Literature Rebecca J Luken
  
Travelogues/Pilgrimages
Eat, Pray Love Elizabeth Gilbert
Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother and Daughter Travel to the Sacred Places of Turkey, Greece, and France Sue Monk Kidd

 Profiles of People and Places
Among School Children Tracy Kidder
Mountains beyond Mountains Tracy Kidder
Travels with Charley in Search of America John Steinbeck

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