How Award-Winning Journalist & Debut Memoirist Casey Parks Writes

The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience

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Award-winning journalist and debut memoirist, Casey Parks, spoke to me about her lifelong reverence for journalism, the emotional cost of writing a memoir, and her debut "Diary of a Misfit."

Casey Parks is a reporter for The Washington Post who covers gender and family issues. She spent a decade at The Oregonian writing about race and LGBTQ+ issues and was a finalist for the Livingston Award.

A former Spencer Fellow at Columbia University, Parks was awarded the 2021 J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award for her debut memoir, Diary of a Misfit: A Memoir and a Mystery.

Described as "... a sweeping journalistic saga about sexuality and gender, family trauma and the redemptive force of love...," Publishers Weekly – in a starred review – called the book, “A tantalizing blend of personal history and reportage .... A brilliantly rendered and complex portrait of Southern life alongside a tender exploration of queer belonging [and] a marvel to witness.”

Casey's articles have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, The Oxford American, ESPN, USA Today, and The Nation.

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In this file Casey Parks and I discussed:

• Earning $50 per story at the outset of her career ...
• ... to working in a virtual newsroom for The Washington Post
• Why that first byline in the New Yorker changes everything
• Asking permission to tell the stories of ghosts
• Why you can never take "no" as the final answer
• And a lot more!

Show Notes:

• caseyparks.com
• Diary of a Misfit: A Memoir and a Mystery By Casey Parks (Amazon)
• Casey Parks for The Washington Post
• In the Deep South, a Search for Queer Identity - The New York Times Book Review
• Casey Parks on Facebook
• Casey Parks on Instagram
• Casey Parks on Twitter
• Kelton Reid on Twitter

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