Unlocking Creativity: Elissa Altman Reveals the Radical Power of Saying ‘Yes’ in Memoir Writing
MDH: Do you show any of your subjects your writing before you publish?
EA: I absolutely do not, and the reason that I don’t is because sharing-as-requirement is a moving target. Whenever I’m asked this question, I tell the story of poet and writer Honor Moore, who is the daughter of the late Reverend Paul Moore, the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese in the city of New York. In his own memoir he alluded to his bisexuality. He couldn’t really write about it directly before he retired, so he left Honor, who was already writing at that point, all of his papers in the care of the Episcopal Church. He likely knew she was going to write about her relationship with him.
