Writing my Memoir in the Merrill Apartment: An Evening with John Cotter

Event with Former Fellow, John Cotter: Writing My Memoir, "Losing Music," in the Merrill Apartment

Wednesday, May 22nd

5:30-7pm

James Merrill Apartment, Stonington CT

Author talk, conversation, drinks

RSVP required

My Merrill House stay was critical to completing my memoir, Losing Music, giving me the space and spiritual courage to piece together the story I had been writing in scraps for nearly a decade. In the dark of Merrill's study, as snow blurred the window and the lot across the street filled with water, I unstitched scenes that had got scrambled, reconnected chronology, and tried to relate a complex series of events as smoothly as I could manage.

The attic room creaked as the wind slammed the glass. Old-fashioned language and elegant variation from the books on the shelf by the desk made perfect fits. I cruised the library, pulling down books by people I'd known, many of them gone, and they kept me company. The room transformed around me.

I don't believe in ghosts. But they can help you write a book.