Book Club Next Week, Author Q&A + Anthology & Community Ideas 10/02/2025

Hi everyone,

It’s been a minute since my last newsletter, but it’s not because nothing is happening, it’s because so much is!

I’ve taken a little break from my memoir to focus on other writing activities like posting more regularly over on Substack.

Speaking of Substack, I signed up for a class with Jane Friedman called Substance over Substack. I’m sure you know by now how much I love Jane! This class looks like a good one, and usual, it’s affordable!

Another thing that’s been keeping me busy but also on-task is the Pen Your Masterpiece Accountability Hub. I started a pilot program early this year and got some great feedback along the way to make this into something really special. I’m excited to roll it out again in January for paid Substack subscribers. (If you’d rather not use Substack, there’s also an option to join directly via Stripe.)
More about the Accountability Hub here

📚 Book Clubs & Author Q&As

We have two memoirs in our book club lineup, both paired with special Author Q&A events:

Oct 9 – Book Club: Once Our Lives: Life, Death, and Love in the Middle Kingdom
https://www.meetup.com/memoir-mentors/events/310354245

Oct 16 – Author Q&A with Qin Sun Stubis
https://www.meetup.com/memoir-mentors/events/310354319

Mar 19 – Book Club: The Dirt Beneath Our Door: My Journey to Freedom After Escaping a Polygamous Mormon Cult
https://www.meetup.com/memoir-mentors/events/311340254

Mar 29 – Author Q&A with Pamela Jones & Elizabeth Ridley
https://www.meetup.com/memoir-mentors/events/311270122

If you missed our most recent Q&A with Carlyn Montes De Oca, you can find the replay (along with other past interviews) here:
Author Interviews & Videos

🎨 Canva for Authors

Thank you to everyone who joined the Canva for Authors workshop! If you missed it and would like me to offer it again, let me know—I’m happy to run it again if there’s interest.

Anthology Update + Brightspring Books

Okay, confession time: the anthology has taken a bit of a backseat while I’ve been juggling everything else. But I haven’t forgotten it! I’ve been slowly making progress, wrapping up the book design and putting together a marketing plan so it will be ready to order in time for Christmas.

I’m also incredibly proud to announce that I’ve officially jumped through the hoops of German bureaucracy to set up my own publishing imprint: Brightspring Books. The anthology will be the first title released under the Brightspring name, and I’m hopeful this will open the door for more opportunities—for me and for the writers in this community.

Warmly,

Christina

October 9 Book Club: Once Our Lives

Once Our Lives is the true story of four generations of Chinese women and how their lives were threatened by powerful and cruel ancient traditions, historic upheavals, and a man whose fate, cursed by an ancient superstition, dramatically altered their destinies. The book takes the reader on an exotic journey filled with luxurious banquets, lost jewels, babies sold in opium dens, kidnappings by pirates, and a desperate flight from death in the desert – seen through the eyes of a man for whom the truth would spell disaster and a lonely, beautiful girl with three identities.

Awards for Once Our Lives:
MS. MAGAZINE’s choice for “Reads for the Rest of Us”
GLAMOUR UK Best New Books for June
2023 Gold Winner – Nonfiction Book Awards
2023 First Place Winner – Chanticleer International Book Awards’ (CIBAs)
Nellie Bly Awards for Journalistic Nonfiction
2023 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards
2023 PenCraft Book Awards #1 winner for literary excellence in culture/history
2023 Best Book Awards winner in cross-genre nonfiction

Find our Book Club Questions here: https://memoirmentors.com/book-club-questions/