Where are my stories?

October 7, 2009

When first sitting down to write a memoir you may have only a couple of events that really stand out, so that’s where you will logically begin.
Then what?
Here’s something to try to bring more of your stories to the surface. Take at least three sheets of  8.5 x 11 inch paper and tape them together [...]

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Notes on an ordinary life – family reunions

September 29, 2009

A family reunion is a memoir writer’s dream resource. This is primary research on a grand scale.
Imagine a collection of all the significant people in your extended family and their partners, wanting to get together simply to share stories. Okay, yes, they’ll want to party as well. You should probably consider going into marathon training [...]

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Telling the truth

September 14, 2009

One of the most challenging things you will encounter as you write your personal stories is the need to tell the truth. Most of us live our lives with so-called acceptable versions of the truth, truths stripped of as much pain as possible, truth that is at best faint, at its worst no where near [...]

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Memoir writing – using mementos & linked events

September 8, 2009

A memoir can be anything that records your life. A written memoir is just one of many options.
Photographs, if you have a lot of them, supplemented by written stories is another method to capture your life memories. You can use your photos in an album with pages of text to accompany them or build a [...]

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Notebook – why you need one

August 31, 2009

Everyone who writes or wants to write needs to carry a notebook and pen. It doesn’t matter whether you write notes to yourself, grocery lists or ideas–you need a notebook with you at all times. Ideas can be flighty, if you don’t capture them when they land, they’ll be gone, too often for good.
You don’t [...]

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"Childhood is a branch of cartography."

August 17, 2009

“Childhood is a branch of cartography.”
Michael Chabon in an essay called “Manhood for Amateurs: The Wilderness of Childhood” in the July 16 issue of the New York Review of Books.

Cartography, the science of map making suggests an interesting way to think about memoir writing. What we are making when we write a memoir is a [...]

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The Writing Life – Write now!

August 11, 2009

To write, you need so very little.
You need an honest heart. And some paper.
- Heather Sellers, Page After Page
Writing, as too few of us seem to remember (I include myself in this), is first of all a practice. Something we need to do every day, like brushing our teeth. Without practice, writing tends to be [...]

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The writing life

August 4, 2009

The older I get the more important balance becomes. I have less room for over-indulgence in things that aren’t good for me simply because my body takes longer to recover from any badness. It’s a fact of life, but in many ways also a relief.
It is relatively easy to notice when my body isn’t happy [...]

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Are you my ideal client?

July 23, 2009

Is this YOU?

you have a memoir project that’s been on the ‘back burner’ for some time
you want to do the writing yourself, but need a bit of guidance
you’ve been working at your memoir project, but now you want to discuss it or get feedback
you’re looking for help with particular aspects of your memoir project
you’ve [...]

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Strategy for the tough bits

July 15, 2009

Sooner or later when writing a memoir, or even notes for a memoir, you’ll get to some tough bits. There are sorrows, hurtful experiences, damaging relationships and many other things that give pain in most lives. How are you going to deal with that?
You could of course choose to ignore these hurts and sorrows and [...]

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