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Natalie Villacorta

@writingbeaver

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Memoirist, fiction writer. Work in Brevity, Cincinnati Review, Joyland etc. Professor @agnesscottcollege in Decatur. Also @nvillaco for dog pix.

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Today is the pub date for a book that’s very important to me. The Vanishing Family by Robert Kolker tells the story of my sister-in-law Annika’s family as it is devastated by a very rare, genetic, early onset dementia called frontotemporal lobe dementia or FTD. This is a disease that, beginning in Annika’s 40s, will rob her of her creative, driven, caring personality, her career, her connections with her loved ones, and eventually, even her speech. “FTD is a catastrophe for those who suffer from it,” as the Times critic Casey Schwartz writes in her review, and a terrible tragedy for their relatives, who lose the beloveds they once knew and must take care of them for decades.

But there is some hope. Just as he did in the bestselling Hidden Valley Road about schizophrenia, Kolker weaves the family’s story with the history of dementia research, highlighting gene therapies that have the potential to cure this cruel disease—if only the pharmaceutical companies that have the resources to develop them can be compelled to do so.

It would mean the world to me if you bought and read this book—which Schwartz calls “gripping”!—because, as she writes, FTD is a “profoundly alienating disease,” and perhaps if people read The Vanishing Family, my sister-in-law and brother and all those whose lives are affected by FTD will feel a little less alone. by @writingbeaver

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20 days ago

Need a home for your ⭐️bold, unapologetic, specific, and insightful⭐️ nonfiction? Look no further than AMERICAN WEIRDO MAG. Subs are open through Oct. 12!

AMERICANWEIRDOMAG.COM (Link in bio)
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#nonfiction #creativenonfiction #litmag #submissionsopen #indiemagazine by @writingbeaver

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a month ago

Took a break from memoir to read some fiction, including “Transcription” by my second-favorite Ben. It reminded me of Cusk, with its long monologues. I particularly liked the final section about a parent’s distress over a child’s struggle with disordered eating, which reminded me of “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.”

Highly recommend “PICNIC.” A perfect summer book and a terrific example of an aftermath narrative, exploring the various ways people respond to a tragedy, in this case the tragedy of three girls and a teacher going missing after a picnic at a millions-old rock formation in Australia. Also the movie is gorgeous, full of gauzy light.

And finally read a memoir by a woman of color. I really admired Arundhati Roy’s compassion for her mother. Mary was BRUTAL to Roy, but Roy is still able to admire so much about her mother, who was a truly revolutionary feminist and life changing educator. I also learned so much about the horrific rise of Hindu nationalism and the slaughtering of thousands and thousands of Muslims in India. I’m very inspired by Roy to write more about “vexed, contested things,” to take on work that is a “high-stakes gamble.” by @writingbeaver

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2 months ago

All things are joyful near water and @laurenkwatel and Hirschy!
We had the best time visiting our friends in Accord. Wildly grateful by @writingbeaver

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2 months ago

I am having an excellent, memoirs-by-white-ladies summer! PLEASE send recs for memoirs by women of color! by @writingbeaver

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3 months ago

New writing inspo on my bulletin board from Book 2 of “My Struggle.” Now onto Book 3. by @writingbeaver

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8 months ago

Love these dudes but can anyone recommend some nondudes for my pre-summer-Norway-trip reading list? by @writingbeaver

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9 months ago

Read my @cincinnatireview essay on how practicing yoga helped me heal after my parents’ divorce, and after my mom’s death, for free all week! All you need, apparently, is 37 minutes! Link in bio by @writingbeaver

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10 months ago

Some of the books I read and loved this year. You’ll notice a theme: death, death, and more death! And a little bit of joy. My favorite was probably The Suicide Index by Joan Wickersham. I loved the writing and the dynamism of the form: I loved how she wrote some sections in third person from the POV of her father, some sections in third person about herself, and others in second person. I loved how she meditated on the challenge of pinning down the truth. Also I wrote Joan to tell her all this, and she was so nice! by @writingbeaver

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10 months ago

Calling writers and teachers of autofiction! I have written a craft essay for you!

In this essay, which grew out of my PhD exams, I discuss several techniques writers can use to encourage readers to mistake fiction as true: first-person POV, naming your narrator after yourself, retrospection, “situating” your narrator, using the right amount of detail, and, paradoxically, denying you’re telling the truth!

Writers/texts discussed: Tim O’Brien, Knausgaard, Proust, Sigrid Nunez, Lydia Davis, Serial Season 1, “The Souvenir,” and many more!

Big thanks to @adamleedslatham and @sewaneewriters!

Link in bio by @writingbeaver

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a year ago

I began writing the essay “Letting Go” in 2017, a year after I moved to Oregon for my MFA. I knew that practicing yoga with my dad and his girlfriend Nora in the year before my move had been a powerful experience, that it had changed how I viewed the both of them—and myself. I was hurting when I first started practicing yoga. I’d been fired from my reporting job, and I didn’t know what to do with my life. I was also still hurting from my parents’ divorce, from my father and Nora’s affair. Practicing yoga had helped me to—you guessed it—let go of these feelings.

Or so I thought. When my mom suddenly died about a year and a half ago, I again felt a lot of anger and hurt towards my dad. I also started seriously practicing yoga again, for the first time since 2016, recognizing that I needed an outlet; I needed catharsis and care. It was then that I returned to this essay, that I again felt compelled to reflect on my dad, Nora, yoga, letting go.

I am immensely grateful to two Lisas for helping me bring this essay to you: my editor @lisaampleman and my yoga teacher @phabulisa

Thanks also to @cincinnatireview kristeniversen @highlandyoga @theintownretreat

Link to order CR in bio! by @writingbeaver

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a year ago

Recent notes to self

Thanks @laurenkwatel for some of these insights by @writingbeaver

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a year ago