307: Mindfulness and Memoir — Interview with Mag Dimond

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Mag Dimond.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mag Dimond has been a world traveler since the age of eleven, when her mother took her to live in Italy. She has traveled extensively in Europe and Central America, and ventured to such exotic landscapes as India, Cambodia, Bhutan, Japan, Kenya, China, Burma, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cuba. In her seventies now, she continues traveling, the most recent adventure being to Machu Picchu and the Amazon jungle.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After a career teaching writing to college students in San Francisco and Taos, she often volunteers as a writing tutor at 826 Valencia, an esteemed literacy program launched by David Eggers. A practicing Buddhist for twenty years, she is a classical pianist, photographer, gourmet cook, animal rescuer, and philanthropist.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Today we’ll be discussing her book</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bowing to Elephants,</span></em> <span style="font-weight: 400;">which has been honored by Kirkus Review with a starred review as one of the best Indie memoir/biographies of 2019. Prior to publication, excerpts from</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bowing to Elephants</span></em> <span style="font-weight: 400;">appeared in American Literary Review, Travelers Tales Solas Awards, the Tulip Tree “Stories that Must be Told” awards, and the 2017 William Faulkner Wisdom awards. Additionally, she has also published essays in Elephant Journal, a prestigious online magazine with a readership of almost two million people. It is truly an honor to have her here at DIY MFA today.</span></p> <h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">In this episode Mag and I discuss:</span></h3> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">How journaling can lead to memoir-writing.</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">A technique to help writer