#479: Mary Karr — The Master of Memoir on Creative Process and Finding Gifts in the Suffering

"For me, the solution to fear is curiosity and presence. I can’t be terrified and curious at the same time." — Mary Karr Mary Karr ( @marykarrlit ) is the author of three award-winning, bestselling memoirs: The Liars’ Club , Cherry , and Lit . She is also the author of The Art of Memoir , which lays bare her own process as she breaks down the craft of memoir , and Tropic of Squalor , her latest volume of poetry. A Guggenheim fellow in poetry, Karr has won Pushcart Prizes for both verse and essays. Other grants include the Whiting Award, PEN/Martha Albrand Award, and a Radcliffe/Bunting Institute Fellowship. Karr is also the Peck Professor of Literature at Syracuse University. Please enjoy! * This episode is brought to you by Wealthfront ! Wealthfront pioneered the automated investing movement, sometimes referred to as ‘robo-advising,’ and they currently oversee $20 billion of assets for their clients. It takes about three minutes to sign up, and then Wealthfront will build you a globally diversified portfolio of ETFs based on your risk appetite and manage it for you at an incredibly low cost. Smart investing should not feel like a rollercoaster ride. Let the professionals do the work for you. Go to Wealthfront.com/Tim and open a Wealthfront account today, and you’ll get your first $5,000 managed for free, for life . Wealthfront will automate your investments for the long term. Get started today at Wealthfront.com/Tim . * This episode is also brought to you by ShipStation . Do you sell stuff online? Then you know what a pain the shipping process is. ShipStation was created to make your life easier. Whether you’re selling on eBay, Amazon, Shopify, or over 100 other popular selling channels, ShipStation lets you access all of your orders from one simple dashboard, and it works with all of the major shipping carriers, locally and globally, including FedEx, UPS, and USPS. Tim Ferriss Show listeners get to try ShipStation free for 60 days by using promo code TIM. There’s no risk, and you can start your free trial without even entering your credit card info. Just visit ShipStation.com , click on the microphone at the top of the homepage, and type in TIM! * This episode is also brought to you by Helix Sleep ! Helix was selected as the #1 best overall mattress pick of 2020 by GQ magazine , Wired, Apartment Therapy, and many others. With Helix , there’s a specific mattress for each and every body’s unique taste. Just take their quiz— only two minutes to complete —that matches your body type and sleep preferences to the perfect mattress for you. They have a 10-year warranty, and you get to try it out for a hundred nights, risk free. They’ll even pick it up from you if you don’t love it. And now, to my dear listeners, Helix is offering up to 200 dollars off all mattress orders plus two free pillows at HelixSleep.com/Tim . *** If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts /iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews! For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast . Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday . For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts . Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books . Follow Tim: Twitter : twitter.com/tferriss Instagram : instagram.com/timferriss Facebook : facebook.com/timferriss YouTube : youtube.com/timferriss Past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld , Hugh Jackman , Dr. Jane Goodall , LeBron James , Kevin Hart , Doris Kearns Goodwin , Jamie Foxx , Matthew McConaughey , Esther Perel , Elizabeth Gilbert , Terry Crews , Sia , Yuval Noah Harari , Malcolm Gladwell , Madeleine Albright , Cheryl Strayed , Jim Collins , Mary Karr, Maria Popova , Sam Harris , Michael Phelps , Bob Iger , Edward Norton , Arnold Schwarzenegger , Neil Strauss , Ken Burns , Maria Sharapova , Marc Andreessen , Neil Gaima