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 […]
Today, I’m hosting Antoinette Truglio Martin and her touching memoir, Hug Everyone You Know: A Year of Community, Courage, and Cancer. Below the book review and summary is Martin’s article, “Five Journaling Tips When Going Through a Difficult Trial.” WHAT DO YOU DO when your doctor informs you that your […]
YOU ARE WISE. Your inner being, soul, Self, intuition, psyche — whatever you want to call it — knows more than you realize. And journaling can be an effective way of tapping into this inner wisdom. But how does it work? Carl Jung is famous for having given us many of […]
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, […]
A W.O.W. (Women on Writing) Blog Tour of Albert Nasib Badre’s book LOOKING WEST: A JOURNEY OF A LEBANESE-AMERICAN IMMIGRANT I’m pleased to host Albert Nasib Badre on the blog today, as we talk about his new memoir, why he wrote it, and the challenges he experienced when writing memoir, compared […]
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 […]
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 […]
TODAY, I’M EXCITED to share my email interview with Catherine (Clemens) Sevenau, author of an extensive and well-written online memoir serial, titled Through Any Given Door, and two published books: Behind These Doors: A Family Memoir, and a series of memoir essays, Queen Bee: Reflections on Life and Other Rude […]
TODAY, I have the privilege and honor of sharing my interview with Skye Blaine, author of Bound to Love: A Memoir of Grit and Gratitude. I originally contacted Skye because I wanted to do a series of interviews with local memoir authors in the Napa-Sonoma region where I live. Skye […]
WHAT IS “PACE,” and why should writers care about it? According to the dictionary, pace is “the speed or rate at which something happens, changes, or develops.” In writing, pace refers to the speed or rate at which the story is told and the readers are pulled through its events. […]
WHAT IS STORYTELLING? It is the art of sharing narratives (stories) through, writing or theater, including oral storytelling. Stories help us interpret and share experiences. They are a universal and timeless form of communication, bridging age, culture, and religion. Everything we know and understand — including our memories — is […]
