Nora McInerny Purmort on Her Upcoming Book “It’s Okay to Laugh”

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This week my guest on Writingness was the insanely talented, funny and inspiring Nora McInerny Purmort. For the last year or so, she’s been penning her memoir, It’s Okay to Laugh: (Crying Is Cool Too), published by Harper Collins.

Her memoir details a recent set of tragedies that happened in her life: her husband Aaron passed away of a brain tumor, her father died and she suffered a miscarriage. Many people followed along on Nora’s blog, My Husband’s Tumor, mourning with her and learning from her throughout the whole experience. Her new book is all original content, and gives a deep look into not just her tragedies, but her life story, her witty POV and her captivating honesty. I laughed a lot while reading this book, and yes cried too.  Nora is a truly fantastic writer; she could have written a memoir about tea and crumpets and made it badass. I fully expect to see her book up there with the Wilds and Eat, Pray, Loves of the world once it’s out.

Nora and I had a great conversation over some white wine. Listen to it below to learn more about her and her family, and to get a sneak peek of her excellent book. (Oh and make sure to subscribe on the iTunes Store and on Sound Cloud!)

Here’s more on Nora:

1. How did you start writing? How did that evolve from 6th grade to college to now?
I started writing when I was really little. My mother and father would give me writing prompts on long drives, and I would crank out stories and poems. It was just magical to me, I was happiest if I was writing.

2. What do you hope people take away from your memoir?
I hope that it reminds people (including me) that we are all just fragile, complicated messes wearing skin suits and sale rack clothing, that we are allowed to and capable of doing more and feeling more than we think we can. And that Heidi Montag had another boyfriend before Spencer Pratt.

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3. What’s next for you? What’s your vision for your writing career?
Well, I just described a transvaginal ultrasound as a dildo that can see inside of you on Elle dot com, so I’d say that the sky’s the limit for Nora McInerny Purmort!