Madam Mayo: Born Under an Assumed Name

Thursday, November 19, 2015

A Conversation with Sara Mansfield Taber, author of "Born Under an Assumed Name: The Memoir of a Cold War Spy's Daughter"

An age ago-- December 2011, to be exact-- I interviewed one of my favorite writers, literary journalist and poet Sara Mansfield Taber for my Conversations with Other Writers occasional podcast series. Well, it may have taken me almost four years, but today's the day the transcript finally went up onto my website.

Read and/or listen in any time to the interview with Sara Mansfield Taber (and find show notes) >>here<<.

(In case you were wondering whether I was somehow blessed with 48 hours in the day, the answer is no, ho ho, I use CLK Transcription, which I found via Debra Eckerling's Write Online! newsletter and I do warmly recommend them. It was Jane Friedman-- another warm recommendation-- who urged me to start posting transcripts of my podcasts.)

You'll notice I've only posted one Conversation with Others Writer podcast this year-- an interview with Rose Mary Salum, the Houston, Texas-based Mexican poet, writer and visionary editor. Why not more? It's not for lack of enthusiasm on my part-- I relish talking with other writers-- but this year I've been putting my podcasting time into my "Marfa Mondays" Podcasting Project and the (related) book I'm writing about Far West Texas, World Waiting for a Dream: A Turn in Far West Texas.

That said, on a recent foray to San Antonio-- en route to visit the rock art of the Lower Pecos-- I did manage to record an interview for my "Conversations with Other Writers" series with Mary Margaret McAllen, a super crujiente one about her splendid book, Maximilian and Carlota: Europe's Last Empire in Mexico. Look for that podcast to be posted after the holidays.

I call my "Conversations with Other Writers" an "occasional series" because well, it's occasional, and it's occasional because podcasting on occasion beats not doing it at all!

By the way, if you're interested in learning to podcast, while I may not be the world's Podcasting Poobah with a PhD in Sound Engineering, I do turn 'em out of the oven in my writerly fashion, and I'll tell you how in my podcasting workshop for the San Miguel Writers Conference this February. (You can also pick up my ebook based on my one day workshop for the Writer's Center, Podcasting for Writers & Other Creative Entrepreneurs, over in the Kindle store.)

> Your comments are always welcome. Write to me here.

Cyberflanerie: Break the Block Edition with Award-winning Writer Sara Mansfield Taber

My amiga, the fabulously talented writer

Sara Mansfield Taber
Creativity Coaching

and long-time writing workshop leader, Sara Taber is now offering creativity coaching. Here's what she has to say about it on her website:

This is my invitation to you: Come and talk about the life you want to have and the work you want to create. We will work together to make your visions real.

Sessions may include discussion of such issues as:
+ creative aspirations and creativity blocks
+ the isolation of the artist’s life
+ resistance, rejection, recognition, comparison, envy, and other artistic perplexities
+ work-family-creativity balance
+ life transitions
+ child-rearing and parenting
+ sandwich generation challenges: caring for elders, children, and partners, while trying to do one’s creative work

During the life coaching-creativity advising sessions, I provide, according to each person’s need: close listening, mentoring, structure, assignments, writing instruction, writing exercises, art-making activities—or a blend of them all.

There is much more on her website, including links to resources for writers. Check it out, very highly recommended.

P.S. Listen to my podcast interview with Sara Taber about her many books, including the most recent award-winning memoir, Born Under an Assumed Name.