"a new essay, tentatively about the sensory overload—smells, sights, sounds, tastes, and touches—that is Japan." Yes, this. It can be a lot.
Also, I'm so curious - after you read the passage to Nishizawa-sensei, what was his reaction?
(In my head, I am imagining him reclining back, ankle on knee, cigarette in hand with smoke wafting up, head slightly tilted back, eyes closed: taking in the words of FDR as read by someone with a pleasant baritone...)
He was never the ankle on knee type, being portly but not to the extent I am. But otherwise, spot on. He would nod with each sentence, and when I was done, he remarked how his imagination couldn’t have matched my native voice.
I’m really frustrated as well. I stopped work on my Japan manuscript. I feel exactly the same as you about the non-responses from agents. It really really hurts.
Everyone is telling me that memoir is really hard right now (unless you're a celebrity with a ghost writer to hand). I also am watching as agents who used to rep memoirists drop all nonfiction from their wishlist. Have you thought about going directly to an academic press, like University of California?
Right now I am happy focusing on fiction but I definitely want to get back to my dreaming in Japanese manuscript someday… not sure how I will approach it though since it seems impossible right now. I was excited by Craig Mod’s memoir and it has been successful which is great to se!
"a new essay, tentatively about the sensory overload—smells, sights, sounds, tastes, and touches—that is Japan." Yes, this. It can be a lot.
Also, I'm so curious - after you read the passage to Nishizawa-sensei, what was his reaction?
(In my head, I am imagining him reclining back, ankle on knee, cigarette in hand with smoke wafting up, head slightly tilted back, eyes closed: taking in the words of FDR as read by someone with a pleasant baritone...)
He was never the ankle on knee type, being portly but not to the extent I am. But otherwise, spot on. He would nod with each sentence, and when I was done, he remarked how his imagination couldn’t have matched my native voice.
I’m really frustrated as well. I stopped work on my Japan manuscript. I feel exactly the same as you about the non-responses from agents. It really really hurts.
Everyone is telling me that memoir is really hard right now (unless you're a celebrity with a ghost writer to hand). I also am watching as agents who used to rep memoirists drop all nonfiction from their wishlist. Have you thought about going directly to an academic press, like University of California?
Right now I am happy focusing on fiction but I definitely want to get back to my dreaming in Japanese manuscript someday… not sure how I will approach it though since it seems impossible right now. I was excited by Craig Mod’s memoir and it has been successful which is great to se!