Ep. 25: Gretchen Martens the “Book Doula”

Did you know an autobiography is different than a memoir? Did you know a memoir doesn’t have to be lengthy? It could manifest in the form of a poem or op-ed?

These are just a few of the many things we learned from Gretchen Martens in this episode.

A longtime friend and partner of our community, Gretchen is our House of book series editor. She also leads our monthly writer’s gathering. And most recently, she’s had a new vision for Retreat House that will be coming to life soon.

Beginning April 7, Gretchen will offer a six-week series “The Art of Memoir” through May 19. At the end of this offering, Participants can expect to have a well-developed story arc, understand importance of scenes, characters, and dialogue. Gretchen will offer insights on publishing – she owns Village of Care Press – and has lots of wisdom in this area. She’ll also help participants create a game plan to complete their manuscripts.

We also spent some time talking about our next House of book House of Kindness. New and returning authors welcome. Deadline to submit is midnight on Sunday April 20. This is our 20th book in the series!

Head over to our website at www.retreathousecommunity.org to learn more about these two writing invitations.