Pamela Skjolsvik

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WIP IT!

Today I am participating in a blog hop where writer peeps share their current Work in Progress or WIP.  You can read all about it here.

WIP It Title:  Death Becomes Us

Word Count: 87, 685 and it will probably be a wee bit longer.

Genre: Memoir

How long have I been working on it?  I started my research in January of 2009.

Elevator Pitch:  Death Becomes Us is a humorous quest narrative based on a personal fear.  Think Eat, Pray, Love, but Death, Dying and Grief.

Brief Synopsis:
    After an accidental call to a funeral home in my first month of grad school, I reluctantly embarked on a journey to explore death professions for my thesis.  During my two years of research, I encountered an embalmer afraid of dying, a grieving EMT , an upbeat grief counselor, and a hopeful death row inmate.  My narrative arc follows me from avoidance and fear to eventual immersion and acceptance. Emotionally I went from grieving at a funeral for my cigarettes to crying over a dead man’s body just minutes after his execution.  Although I am not an expert on death, nor was I dying while writing this memoir, I realized the importance of surrendering to the idea of death to fully live the life we are given.  The result of this quirky trip is  Death Becomes Us, a humorous and at times heartbreaking memoir about what happens when a socially anxious, middle-aged, woman attempts to investigate the last taboo of American culture. 

I would love a Beta Reader, especially if memoir is your thing.