If you’ve read Abigail Thomas, you might think you know everything there is to know about the esteemed writing teacher and legendary author of profound memoirs and insightful fiction.
You might think the same of ASJA member Estelle Erasmus if you’ve read her book “Writing That Gets Noticed,” listened to her Freelance Writing Direct podcast, or subscribe to her Substack of the same name.
You’d be wrong on both counts. Thomas and Erasmus know the power of putting enough – but not too much – of themselves into their work. And they’ll be sharing what they know in an intimate fireside-chat style conversation to close out the ASJA 2024 conference.
During their appearance on Thursday, Sept. 26, Thomas and Erasmus will share how to find a way into personal or personally difficult material through an unexpected “side door,” which could take the form of humor or an unexpected anecdote. Their discussion will cover examples and share writing exercises to access those portals.
In advance of their conversation, Thomas and Erasmus shared some things that you wouldn’t know about them from reading their published work.
8 Things You Don’t Know About Abigail Thomas
1. Sometimes I open a bottle of rose at 7 a.m. By bedtime, I have finished the bottle. The only thing I think it is, what’s so bad about that?
2. I imagine meeting Chuck again when I’m dead. He was my oldest and best friend for 40 years. I don’t believe in life after death, but I haven’t been dead yet.
3. I was the slush reader at The Viking Press. It was 1978. Most of what I read was terrible, but there was a poignancy to people desperate to tell their stories that moved me.
4. I love the way my body smells. Even when it’s not a good smell. It reminds me of the woods and wet earth. It reminds me I’m alive.
5. My first real job was as a secretary in a small real estate firm at One Union Square. I had left my first husband. 1967? I began sleeping with one of the bosses. Even in bed, in the dim room of a cheap hotel with yellowed venetian blinds, I called him Mr. Warren. I had been brought up to respect my elders.
6. I got pregnant when I was 18. I made a million mistakes. Guilt paralyzed me for years. Guilt grew up and became regret. Regret urged me to make whatever amends were possible, in whatever form was handy. Laughter, listening, help when needed.
7. I have no education beyond high school. I was kicked out of college for being pregnant my freshman year. I never bothered going back to college. If I had, I would never have become a writer. All those rules and critics, all those No Trespassing signs. I started at 48, I was a beginner. Beats being a hack. 10 books later I’m still a beginner.
8. I keep two copies of The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. The earliest roots of words can be fascinating. One word changed my life. My husband had suffered a traumatic brain injury, and lived in a facility where he could be cared for. I moved to be able to see him, and began to put a life together. The guilt that arrived when I realized I was enjoying my life was devastating. But “acceptance” comes from a word that mean originally, “to weave.” And just like that, everything changed. I was weaving. I was living my life.
8 Things You Don’t Know About Estelle Erasmus
1. I am in the Guinness Book of World Records 2016 for being part of the largest Segway riding lesson in 2015. It was a promotion for the movie Mall Cop 2 with actor Kevin James. I don’t know how to ride a Segway, but I sat on the device for a photograph capturing the moment for posterity, while surrounded by 108 security guards.
2. I was professionally trained in classical music, as a mezzo-soprano, and I studied opera. My teacher was trained by Beverly Sill’s voice teacher. I thought I wanted to be an actress and singer, but my dad scared me with stories of the casting couch, and I scared myself when I saw people looking for singing work, waiting tables, and auditioning at all hours. I knew that life wasn’t for me. These days, I really only sing at weddings.
3. If I bring my Rider-Waite deck of tarot cards to a party, you just might get a reading. I am self-taught but have always loved taking a look into the metaphysical side of life. When I worked at Woman’s World, I once told a boss that she had health problems. Although she didn’t admit it at the time (and it put a damper on the party) I later found out that what I’d said was very true.
4. I rode on a float during Mardi Gras, in New Orleans. I was in the audience but somehow ended up on the float throwing beads to the crowd.
5. My love of pink started when I sewed a pink polyester pantsuit in home economics class in middle school. I wore that siren call proudly.
6. I saw sea turtles hatch while I was on a press trip in Puerto Vallarta. It was surreal. We had to get up at 3 a.m. and watch them hatch, and then gently ushered them into the water safely, so predators wouldn’t grab and consume them.
7. Decades ago, I was hypnotized into remembering a past life as a man – a Pilgrim. The point of the exercise was to solve the problem of why I hadn’t yet found love. My answer: because in that life I was in love with my brother’s wife. Being regressed flipped a switch in me, and finally, I was ready to love because I was no longer afraid of disclosing my feelings and losing everything. I met my husband of nearly 20 years soon after.
8. I am thrilled that my award-winning book, Writing That Gets Noticed, came out as an audiobook earlier this month. The project I’m working on full throttle now is a memoir about being the “Dating Diva” while looking for love and self-worth and forging a career as a magazine editor in the cut-throat, misogynistic publishing world of the 90s and early aughts.
More 2024 ASJA Conference Updates
Early bird registration for the conference runs through Sept. 3 and is $249 for members, and $299 for members. Register here.
ASJA’s signature client networking event, Client Connections 2024 – A Virtual Event!, runs in conjunction with the conference Sept. 26-27. Client Connections is open only to ASJA professional members, and is $69 bundled with conference registration, and $129 without. Find out more about the conference and register here. To participate in this year’s Client Connection, you must register by August 30.
ASJA is offering 12 scholarships to freelance writers and nonfiction book writers from historically underrepresented populations. Applications are due by Sept. 5 and recipients will be notified by Sept. 13. Apply for a scholarship here.
To keep up with news and updates about the ASJA 2024 conference, subscribe to the ASJA Weekly newsletter and read the ASJA Confidential blog.
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