“Congratulations, your book is . . .”

The remainder of the email blurred, its words smearing together. The publisher was congratulating me, or rather trying to congratulate me, on the release of my latest novel, Ida’s Secrets, a 442-page historical tome about my mother’s life, her tragedies and triumphs.

But a gut punch doubled me over in my chair. I exhaled hard and refocused on the letters crawling across the screen. I attempted to shake away the feeling in my stomach. It persisted. Within seconds, a sensation of energy rose through my chest and finally settled at the base of my throat.

Q: I wrote a biography about my mother’s life. After reading it, a couple of people mentioned that certain sections of the book were difficult to read. The book does address topics like trauma and suicide because those were realities in my mother’s life. What do you think about content that could trigger some readers? Should there be some type of warning?

I’m currently wrapping up the spring semester of my life story writing classes. Thanks to a student request, for the past fifteen weeks I’ve been giving my students weekly tips for crafting more interesting and elegant sentences. Here’s the final list.