Peace Corps Experience: Write and Publish Your Memoir

By Lawrence F. Lihosit

Tell your Peace Corps story, but first study this book.
Robert Klein, Peace Corps Oral History Project, Kennedy Library

The ultimate how-to book for former Peace Corps volunteers and staff who have hesitated to write about their own experience. This book explains what a memoir is, how to write, publish and promote.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Mar 6, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469760889

Lawrence F. Lihosit

The Author was born in the southern suburbs of Chicago, Illinois in 1951. His family later moved to Arizona where he graduated from grade school, high school and Arizona State University. He reluctantly served in the U.S. Army Reserves during the closing years of the Vietnam War and enthusiastically volunteered for the Peace Corps. His travels and work have taken him from the salmon spawning Nushagak River Basin in southwestern Alaska to the fertile Argentine Pampas. His continuing studies have included master’s coursework in urban planning at la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico City, art and creative writing at Skyline College in San Bruno, California and education at California State University Fresno. He has earned his living as an urban planner for many years, working in Honduras, Mexico, Alaska, Arizona and California. As a younger man, he picked salmon from set nets in bush Alaska, fought a plague of mosquitoes in Canada, crawled through burial tombs in Peru, rode bulls in Bolivia, relaxed in Ecuadorian volcanic hot springs alongside Indians, hung out with an Uruguayan acting troupe, drank mate with Argentine lawyers, listened to tales of Chilean torture in a peña, floated alongside a pelican on the Sea of Cortes, danced to reggae while sipping cane liquor on Honduran sands, cheated border guards in Guatemala, ate pupusas in El Salvador and went underground in Mexico City after becoming embroiled in local politics. His travels outside the (lower) 48 states lasted for seven and one half years.

Book preview

Peace Corps

Experience

Write and Publish Your Memoir

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Lawrence F. Lihosit

iUniverse, Inc.

Bloomington

Peace Corps Experience:

Write and Publish Your Memoir

Copyright © 2012 by Lawrence F. Lihosit

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4697-6090-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4697-6089-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4697-6088-9 (e)

Printed in the United States of America

iUniverse rev. date: 2/24/2012

Special thanks to–

Editor in Chief–Will James

Assistant Editors–Tony Gschwend, Darcy Meijer & Starley Talbott

And to the following people who offered comments–

Jane Albritton, Tony D’Souza, Allen Fletcher, Rich Yurman

Interior photo Dra. L. Margarita Solis Kitsu de Lihosit

Contents

FOREWORD

CHAPTER ONE: WHY WRITE?

CHAPTER TWO: HOW TO BEGIN

CHAPTER THREE: POLISH

CHAPTER FOUR: FORMAT

CHAPTER FIVE: COVER DESIGN

CHAPTER SIX: PUBLICATION

CHAPTER SEVEN: PROMOTION

CITED SOURCES

GLOSSARY

RECOMMENDED READING

END NOTE

COLOPHON

If our society is rude, much wisdom is not necessary to supply our wants and a fool can sometimes put on his clothes better than a wise man can do it for him.

Anonymous, Newspaper Extracts III, Maryland Journal, December 19, 1783.

FOREWORD

THIS BOOK IS NO idle gift, but a gift-wrapped challenge. It comes in response to an urgent whisper from the future. You who were there are getting no younger. Any day now, we as a society risk losing your memories. You will be gone and no one will know what to do with your hand-written journals, letters and computer discs (that are now obsolete).

Clearly, it is time to write and get those experiences—that no one knows as the Volunteer knows them—down on paper (preferably archival and acid free). Two assumptions bubble up and animate the pages of this guide to starting, finishing, and publishing a vivid Peace Corps memoir. First: writing a Peace Corps memoir is a good idea because the Peace Corps holds a positive and enduring place among all diplomatic efforts launched by the United States. Moreover, the memories of Volunteers, when preserved in print and for the public, constitute a significant material contribution to the cultural memory of our country. Second: returned Volunteers—memory keepers for the lived Peace Corps experience—rarely possess the array of skills necessary to both write a book-length memoir and then shepherd it through the wilds of publication. The task simply looks too daunting to undertake.

This book responds to the two bubbling assumptions by deconstructing the entire writing/publication process and then pointing to a path that looks remarkably clear of snares and roadblocks. Daunting? Yes. Impossible? Not at all. For fun, look at the Table of Contents in reverse order, beginning with Promotion. Return to Chapter 1 to see what it took to get there. Never mind that following the advice in Chapters 2 and 3 may take months and the tasks associated with promotion—Chapter 7—mere weeks. The point is that a Peace Corps memoir deserves the best the writer can give it; tending to each element in a careful, thorough manner significantly increases the odds for creating a splendid and accurate book.

Some might ask: It’s my life. How come I need all this help with writing it down? There certainly may be those able to move in solitary splendor through the making of a book. I do not know one. Like volunteering for the Peace Corps, the writing of a Peace Corp memoir counts as a great adventure, and great adventures always require great help and guidance. Consider: the intrepid Nineteenth Century explorer Isabella Bird gladly took the hand of Mountain Man Jim Nugent on her 14,000 foot climb to the top of Long’s Peak in Colorado. Lewis and Clark depended on Sacagawea as an interpreter and as living proof to the Native people they encountered that the intentions of their party were peaceful. For his part as a savvy and experienced guide, Larry Lihosit has mapped a well-marked course through the twin thickets of writing and publishing.

The path is clear; the advice is good. It’s time to write.

Jane Albritton

(India, 1967-1969)

Series Editor, Peace Corps at 50 Project

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CHAPTER ONE: WHY WRITE?

YOU HAVE AN IMPORTANT story to tell– how you rolled up your sleeves, learned a foreign language and then asked locals in their own tongue, How can I help? A good neighbor is always appreciated, especially one who traveled so far. Most of us do not have the opportunity to visit far-off places, much less live and work amongst locals. Based upon statements by many other former volunteers, this was probably one of your most memorable life experiences–the Peace Corps Experience.

Maybe you have already shared with your American family and neighbors, telling stories at parties and holiday meals. Possibly you have even spoken to groups, or shared a recipe or even a dance in public. A book is the way to share with more people over a longer period of time. It could even outlive you. Thanks to the efforts of U.S. Congressman John Garamendi (California, 10th District), the Library of Congress has created a Peace Corps Special Collection of books written by former volunteers and staff (see Appendix 1). Your story should be part of this collection for it represents a small piece of a huge American patchwork quilt that has covered the globe for a half century, offering solace and hope.

More than 200 former volunteers and staff have written and published accounts of their travails. John Coyne, editor of the e-magazine Peace Corps Worldwide, receives about five new books each month