IN HONOR OF Women’s History Month and a belated post for International Women’s Day, I would like to highlight how, thanks to feminist activists and allies, women’s rights in the US have improved since 1970. I want to celebrate those gains and the many, many courageous people, primarily women, who […]
ON A WHIM, and in a desperate attempt to revive my regular writing practice, I joined a 28-day, 20-minute per day writing challenge starting January 2nd and running through the end of the month. The challenge is sponsored and organized by Story Circle Network, an organization for women writers, which […]
MEMOIR WRITING can be a messy process. When you begin writing a life story, it’s often in response to a strong inner urging to share your experiences — your challenges and triumphs, pain and joy — with others. You know, intuitively, there are others somewhere out in the world who […]
YOU’VE PROBABLY HEARD the mantra, “Show don’t tell,” a million and one times, and though exposition and summary play important roles in memoir and should not be excluded entirely, a book that is all summary and no scene is a yawner at best. Imagine going to the theater to watch […]
YOU’VE GOT A STORY to tell and you’ve been thinking about writing a memoir. Maybe you’ve already begun writing and have drafted a few scenes or anecdotes from your early life. And you’ve gotten good feedback from your friends or writing group. Or maybe you haven’t started writing, but whenever […]
WHEN YOU CONSIDER summers past, it’s natural for your mind to fly immediately to those of your childhood — those long, hot days of freedom from school and responsibility. I know mine does. I remember playing in the fields near my home, family barbecues and picnics, camping trips, and roller […]
MEMOIR IS USUALLY structured like fiction: roughly linear (either forward or backward), with or without a prologue, and often with an epilogue or afterward. It tells a story with a recognizable beginning, middle, and end. The novel story structure is solid and time-tested and works for any memoir. But what […]
MOTHERS are fertile ground for memoir writers — we have innumerable stories arising from their temperaments, parenting styles, and influence. Most of us have observations and judgments about our mothers that, let’s face it, they’d rather not read in an essay or book written by one of their children. Yet, […]
THE SINGLE MOST common question I’m asked about writing a memoir is, “How do I start?” How do you begin when there’s so much to say, so many pictures and memories and thoughts rumbling around in your head? How do you sort out the core of your story amidst the […]
WHAT IS A PERSONAL HISTORY, what makes it different from an autobiography or memoir, and why would it be worth your time to create one? In its simplest form, a personal history could be comprised of a list of the places you’ve lived, the schools you’ve attended, the jobs you’ve […]
IN MY EXPERIENCE as an editor and writing teacher, people often begin writing their memoir in a linear, this-happened-and-then-this-happened way. Or they try to cover too much ground, explaining a lifetime’s worth of events or relationship dynamics all at once. All of that is okay as a starting point for […]
THROUGH THE WORK I DO to support journaling and memoir writers, I often meet people who want to write about their lives, but who are not really interested in publishing or promoting what they write. They don’t want to write a memoir — a theme-based work about one aspect or […]
