Unveiling Heartbreak and Healing: Brenda Miller Reveals the Secrets Behind Her Powerful New Memoir.
RP: It’s just so interesting, because no one sets out to create something that’s going to be such a foundational text, that’s going to last generations. What a cool thing to just see a gap in the market and think…
BM: Exactly! I had never written a textbook but I had a lot of ideas. And what thrills me most is the way the ‘hermit crab essay’ has become just a word, a phrase people use as if it’s always been there.
RP: I know! Also, I’m going to a conference this weekend to teach a whole workshop on the hermit crab essay, so thanks for that. So much of what is in my presentation is pulled right from A Braided Heart, which is just so invaluable. So many wonderful anecdotal stories in there about how to let the hermit crab form influence the process of writing. I can be a little Type A and a control freak, and the more I’ve been reading about your approach to that form, it’s a constant reminder to me that letting go and having fun with things that might not turn out perfectly is kind of an integral part of it.
