Inside the Mind of Judy Sandler: The Provocative Truths Behind ‘What Kind of Mother’
NBL: It’s important for writers to be aware of the shoulders we stand on. Elissa Altman gives glowing praise of your memoir. I know her book, Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create, and her teachings, have guided you. What is your most valuable take-away from her mentorship, and how has it impacted your writing?
JS: I am aware of those shoulders every time I sit down to write. I had already started writing this book when I picked up a copy of Permission. I was doing a lot of writing around what I actually needed to be writing about because I feared the reactions; my family’s, my son’s, the reader’s. After I read Permission, I took a class with Altman through MWPA (Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance) on story ownership, and her advice and the writing we did helped me realize that not only do I have permission to tell my story, but the reason I was holding back was because I was ashamed. “No other emotion prompts secrecy like shame,” she writes in Permission.
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