Guest post by Mary Ann Cohen MANY PEOPLE BELIEVE that writing is only for writers. However, just as with any form of art, writing is for all of us. And while it may be true that not all of us are artistically inclined and born with a particular talent, we are […]
I gather together the dreams, fantasies, experiences that preoccupied me as a girl, that stay with me and appear and reappear in different shapes and forms in all my work. Without telling everything that happened, they document all that remains most vivid. ~Bell Hooks YOU’VE DREAMED of writing a memoir […]
STRESS is an emotional, mental, and/or physical response to pressure. That pressure may be internally generated, such as when we place high expectations on ourselves and fail to live up to those expectations. Or it may come from external circumstances, such as a demanding job, ill health, or any situation […]
I AM PLEASED AND HONORED to introduce Sara Etgen-Baker. I met Sara virtually when she submitted her work for inclusion in the anthology, Times They Were A-Changing: Women Remember the 60s and 70s. Since then, Sara has been a regular reader of and commenter on Writing Through Life, and we […]
There is no question about it — journaling changes your life for the better. If you already journal, regularly or irregularly, you know this. You’ve experienced it. You’ll be able to affirm many of the points I make here and perhaps find some additional reasons to continue writing. If you’re […]
AS I APPROACH THE AGE of retirement, I have begun to worry about the health of my memory. (My mother died from Alzheimer’s, and the specter of that soul-sucking disease continues to haunt me.) If newspaper, magazine, and blog articles about the aging of baby boomers are to be believed, I […]
TODAY’S POST is an interview with Margaret Holland & Delana Reese, co-authors of Ms. Holland’s memoir, The Brotherhood of Silence. According to the description on the back cover, The Brotherhood of Silence “gives voice to the recollections of a woman who suffers debilitating injuries in an accident and then faces working […]
What is memoir, and why should you write yours? Essentially, memoir is a collection of memories in narrative form, a story composed of events you experienced in your life. Memoir makes visible and weaves together the connecting threads of those events and gives meaning to them. And that’s the primary difference between […]
On Thursday, I became a grandmother — again. My daughter’s first child and my sixth grandchild arrived quickly while I, three states away, frantically booked a flight and drove to the airport knowing I would probably not make it in time. I have been present for three of my grandchildren’s […]
When my mother left behind a lifetime of letters and journals, she thought it likely that no one would read or care about what she had written. I know because she wrote as much. But she was wrong: I cared, and have read most of what she left behind. Her […]
At some point in her career, every writer attempts to answer the question, “Why do I write?” My answer has always been: I have no idea — no explanation, no justification, no purpose beyond the moment of my finished work. But now the question won’t leave me alone; it’s in […]
The article, “The Centenarian’s Secret,” in the 5-Minute Memoir section of February’s Writer’s Digest Magazine caught my attention. In it, author Diane Speare Triant describes her chance meeting with 103-year-old Nelson McNutt and of subsequently writing and publishing an article summarizing his life story. After his death two years later, […]
