First Lines

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice” TS Eliot

Year of the Reader/Writer

I’ve dubbed 2025 “the year of the reader/writer.” And while I’m all for magical thinking (you can check out my Couples Vision Board Workshop coming up through Uncommon Goods), I do believe dreams come true when magical thinking is PAIRED with inspired ACTION. 

So I want to ask you this year – not only what are you dreaming, but also what are you doing? 

Here’s the concrete things I’m dong to set myself up to grab my golden ticket:

• Reading. Lots and lots of reading. More reading leads to better writing. I’m using the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge to increase both the volume and type of content I’m consuming.
• Finding a community. I’ve joined the Artists Midwives Circle. You can learn more about it here.
• Taking classes. Answering the invitation from Jen Jones Donatelli, I registered for StoryStudio Chicago Pubcrawl that happens the whole month of February.
• Practicing what I’m learning – I attended the Literary Cleveland Inkubator Conference in September (it is so fucking amazing – and free) and one of my favorite sessions was about crafting engaging first lines led by Jody Gerbig. This got me thinking, what is the first line of my yet to be released memoir/self-help book? I SHOULD know that! Jody encouraged us to go home and pick up our ten favorite books and to read the first lines as a lesson in good hooks (I’ve taught this to my writing students for years and yet somehow forgot the lesson in my own writing which you will see examples of below) and to also notice how the last line of a book generally mirrors the first. First lines, she points out, not only define voice and set the tone but they also serve as a microcosm of the entire story.  She pointed out how agents/editors often stop reading  at the first line that falls flat (something I had the pleasure/horror of experiencing at the Cleveland Writing Workshop I attended in November with my own manuscript being critiqued at an agent panel). 

Not only did I go home and look at the first line of ten of my favorite books, I then looked at the opening and closing lines to each of my manuscript chapters to see if they were doing their job of enticing the reader; some were and some weren’t (see my all caps bolded comments to myself in the following list lol). However, this exercise was the start of making those that fell short far better.

Opening Lines of Books I Love

1. These Wilds Beyond Our Fences by Bayo Akomolafe: Mama, I don’t want to be alone again!
2. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert: Once upon a time, there was a man named Jack Gilbert, who was not related to me – unfortunately for me. 
3. The Invitation by Oriah: It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. 
4. You are a Badass by Jen Sincero: “You can start out with nothing, and out of nothing, and out of no way, a way will be made.” – Reverend Michael Bernard Beckwith, former drug enthusiast turned spiritual enthusiast, turned inspirational badass. I used to think quotes like this were a bunch of crap. 
5. Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés: Wildlife and the Wild Woman are both endangered species. 
6. A 1000 Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini: Mariam was five years old the first time she heard the word harami. 
7. Atomic Habits by James Clear: On the final day of my sophomore year of high school, I was hit in the face with a baseball ball. 
8. Beautiful Writers by Linda Sivertsen: “Beauty was not simply something to behold, it was something one could do.” Toni Morrison – The Bluest Eye. Dear Writer, for as long as I can remember I have wanted to write books. 
9. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver: Imagine a ruin so strange it must never have happened. 
10. You are Not Too Much by Jeanette LeBlanc: This is for the ones who speak incantation and trust the gut wisdom and the red-hot blood that pounds in their veins. 

Fist/Last Lines of Each Chapter in My Manuscript

Preface
Opening Line: I wanted books to change me, and I wanted to write books that changed others”–Jack Gantos

I hope this book does that. Changes you.

Closing Line: Are you ready? Is your shopping cart full? Let’s begin. 

Ch. 1
Opening Line:  Despite following all the rules, playing fair, and being a good girl, I didn’t get the boy, or the new Volvo crossover, or the “Mom of the Year” award.

Closing Line: We found a way to call where we come from. 

Ch. 2
Opening Line: Even with all the odds in my favor I still somehow managed to fuck it all up.

 Closing Line: After all, endings are never definitive and are far more than simply happy. 

Ch 3
Opening line: Mixing in more booze and boys with my post-divorce breakdown probably was not the best strategy for avoiding more disasters, but I did it anyway. 

Closing Line: One thing was certain, I could no longer stay where I was.

Ch 4
Opening Line: Part of the hero/heroine’s journey is a departure from your ordinary world: your world of familiar things and people and patterns. BORING.

Closing Line: What ways can you find to honor and say thanks to your ordinary world before bidding it adieu?       

Ch. 5
Opening Line: At some point the hero/heroine does eventually accept the call and crosses the threshold. AND BORING AGAIN.

Closing Line: It will be important to continue to hone the skills you’ve learned in this chapter (making the most of your middling, navigating how to hop stories and timelines, and cultivating a strong sense of self) because in the next chapter, we meet some monsters.

Ch. 6
Opening Line: The scary parts of the story aren’t over. Not yet. Not ever.

Closing Line: Seeing my mom in her flawed humanness has taken the pressure off of having to live up to the  impossible standard of womanhood and motherhood that I once granted her. 

Ch. 7
Opening Line: You’ve met my drinking dragon (who pat on the back I’ve successfully slain)  – now let me introduce you to some of my monsters – two which come immediately to mind. 

Closing Line: And so now we say Hallelujah to our heartbreak. 

Ch. 8
Opening Line: I have been practicing yoga for years, but it wasn’t until recently when a teacher pointed it out that I realized the symbolism of what I had been doing all these years in what are always the final two poses of my practice: corpse pose (otherwise known as shavasana) followed by fetal pose—death followed by birth

Closing Line: In the next section it will be up to you to share what you’ve learned on the other sides.

Ch. 9
Opening Line: This is the part of the journey where the hero receives some type of reward for having made the trip. FUCK ME! THIS SOUNDS LIKE A SCHOOL PAPER.

Closing Line: Then, the next time you have a day riddled with doubt, you go to that “hot shit” file of yours and be reminded of how much the world benefits just from you being you.

Ch 10
Opening Line: A hallmark of the hero’s journey is discovering a magic elixir that the hero can bring back to the community to help heal. PUKING IN MY MY MOUTH. FIX THIS!

Closing line: It would be amazing if you would be willing to share your own magic elixir recipe with other readers by scanning the QR code below. NO NO NO 

Ch. 11
Opening Line: It’s strange, isn’t it, that all this fuss—all this journeying—leads us right back to where we began: to the heart of us.

Closing Line: With the full framework of the hero’s journey now laid out and the meta-reflection you have done in the process of learning about it, it’s ever clear that your “becoming” is the beating heart of this story and every other one. 

Ch. 12
Opening Line: I could pretend I know what might be around the bend in my own life, but if retracing the steps of my own heroine’s journey has taught me anything, it’s that I can’t predict how it will all come together for me.

Closing Line: GREAT – I DIDN’T EVEN HAVE A FREAKING END LINE TO THIS CHAPTER!

Closing Thoughts

Now I feel immense pressure to close this post with captivating witticism which I’m not sure I can muster – but that is ok because as I’m learning as I attempt to usher my book into the world, it’s never done when you think it is and I’ll continue to swing wildly between loving my work and hating it – this is part of the process that keeps you creating.

A special thanks to Austin Kleon’s whose book Show Your Work partially inspired this post.