29. Co-Authoring a Memoir featuring Vincent Paterson and Amy Tofte

Happy Valentine’s Day! In honor of artistic partnership, Vincent Paterson and Amy Tofte join Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation on their experience collaborating on their new book Icons and Instincts, Vincent’s experience working with Madonna, Robin Williams, and other stars, the 6-step process Amy relied on during the writing process, the fight against artistic erasure, and allowing manuscripts to tell us what they need to be.

Also in this episode:

-How all of what we do as artists informs our creativity

-Why time alone is essential

-Separating artists from their behavior

Books mentioned in this episode:

On Writing by Stephen King

Vincent Paterson is a world-renowned director and choreographer in film, theatre, Broadway, concert tours, opera, television, music videos and commercials. His iconic works include Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal and the famous “lean” as well as Madonna’s Blond Ambition Tour. He directed the opera Manon with Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon, Cirque de Soleil’s VIVA! ELVIS and Berlin's first original production of CABARET—the longest running play in Berlin's history. Film choreographies include The Birdcage, Dancer in the Dark, Evita and Hook. He resides in California with his husband, Rene Lamontagne.

Amy Tofte is an award-winning writer and storyteller. She won a prestigious Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2015. She has been a regular contributor to the award-winning LA STAGE Times and other online publications with more than 100 feature articles profiling Emmy winners, Oscar- and Pulitzer-nominated writers as well as nationally recognized theater artists. Tofte’s critically acclaimed stage plays have been produced throughout the U.S., the U.K., Australia and at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival. She lives in Los Angeles.

Get the book: https://www.amazon.com/Icons-Instincts-Choreographing-Directing-Entertainments/dp/1644282631/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1L41A3TOO0J68&keywords=Vincent+paterson&qid=1659550841&sprefix=vincent+paterson%2Caps%2C245&sr=8-1

Connect with Vincent:

Website: http://www.vincentpaterson.com/www.vincentpaterson.com/HOME.html

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vincent.paterson.5

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vlpla/

Connect with Amy:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-tofte-1712334/

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Ronit Plank is a writer, teacher, and editor whose work has been featured in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Writer’s Digest, The Rumpus, American Literary Review, Hippocampus, The Iowa Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot and was a Finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards, the Housatonic Book Awards, and the Book of the Year Awards. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, the Best of the Net, and the Best Microfiction Anthology, and her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ Eludia Award. She is creative nonfiction editor at The Citron Review and lives in Seattle with her family where she is working on her next book.

More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com

Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/

More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/

More about HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE, a short story collection: https://ronitplank.com/home-is-a-made-up-place/

Connect with Ronit:

https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/

https://twitter.com/RonitPlank

https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank

Background photo: Canva

Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography

Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers