Here’s what I learned from my conversation with Kate Gies, author of It Must Be Beautiful To Be Finished:

-The key to writing about someone you love who you’ve also been hurt by, is to write with empathy. Think about their perspective and their experience and be generous and loving when you do. 

-Be wary of the please-feel-bad-for-me voice

-Analogies should be both fresh and accurate

-Metaphors written as standalone chapters, without any reference to how they relate to your story, are a powerful way to trust the reader and not hit them over the head with they're meaning.

-The most important person in getting her book published was her agent.

-Three memoirs that have inspired her writing.