What inspired you to write your memoir?
I frequently told stories from my childhood to the children I taught during my eight years as a school teacher. I continued to tell these tales to my own three daughters. The children always loved these stories, and one day I thought that I should really write them down. As I did this, eventually I decided to weave them into a story. Many of the tales revolved around church, so that is the focus I took.
About your Book:
Is it possible to emerge unscathed from an evangelical upbringing? Yes, as surely as David slew Goliath!
“I Love to Tell the Story” is Susan Barnett Braun’s account of growing up Baptist in a small midwestern town, touching on many cultural icons common to those who came of age in the 1970s. Braun recounts childhood obstacles, which loom as large as the walls of Jericho in her eyes. She encounters a trio of Sunday school mean girls who make King Herod look tame. She worries about being “ugly as sin” due to her chubbiness, glasses, and braces. She’s so consumed with the idea of Jesus’ imminent return that she wonders whether it’s even worthwhile to brush her teeth at night.
Humorous, poignant, and ultimately triumphant, “I Love to Tell the Story” will stay with readers long after the last Vacation Bible School craft stick cross has fallen apart.
How did you decide how to publish your book and where is it published through:
I attended Write-to-Publish conference in 2011 and enjoyed meeting with various editors and agents. The consensus was that they loved my writing, but felt there was not a big enough audience to warrant publishing my memoir. I felt that the audience, though small, definitely existed. Thanks to the wonders of publishing in the 21st century, I was able to publish “I Love to Tell the Story” through CreateSpace and Kindle Direct Publishing.
How do you see writing a Memoir as different from writing other genres of books?
Memoir is an odd genre, to be sure. It’s not fiction, yet many aspects of fiction apply. A memoir still needs to tell a good story, with events showing conflict and building toward a climax. Memoir is billed as non-fiction, but it’s different from most non-fiction. It’s not research based, unless you count the re-reading of my old diaries (and I definitely did that!).
Author Bio:
Susan Barnett Braun grew up in the small town of Seymour, Indiana, and lived the events of “I Love to Tell the Story.” She earned a BA in retail management from Indiana University and an MA in elementary Education from the University of Alabama. She taught elementary school for eight years in northwest Indiana, writing grant proposals which won a Lilly Endowment Teacher Creativity Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Study Scholarship. After becoming a mom to three daughters, Susan found her calling in the home for several years. But as her children grew up, Susan returned to writing. She has had work published in Parents, Children’s Ministry, The Secret Place, Evangel, and Standard. She also writes online as a Featured Arts & Entertainment writer for Yahoo/OMG and blogs at Girls in White Dresses.
Website(s)
Author Home Page Link
Link To Book On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5234886.Susan_Barnett_Braun
https://www.facebook.com/susanbarnettbraun
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