Use an archetype of your experience to revive your memoir.
Can an archetype of your experience refocus your memoir? One begins a memoir with a sense of the uniqueness of the story. “It simply has to be told,” you realize excitedly. “The world needs to hear about this.” Then as you write week after week, month after month, and sometimes year after year, that uniqueness […]
Another sort of success for your memoir writing
Your Attention Please Beginning next week, I will migrate my newsletter [The Lifewriter’ Digest] and these bi-monthly Memoir Network posts to the Substack platform. There are many reasons for doing so, one being the cost of a monthly MailChimp subscription and another being the time to produce posts or newsletters on two platforms. (You are […]
What is your definition of success?
An unexpected definition of success as a writer. Too many writers either have unrealistic definitions of success as a writer or no definition at all. In this post, which will be one of many exploring success, I write about an unexpected definition of success as a writer—but a success nonetheless. A follow-through with a writing […]
Writing Your Memoir Regularly is Key to Success
Success is built on daily writing habits. As has been bandied about and attributed to many different speakers and writers, it is said that “you go to the office every day for 20 years, and before you know it, you are an overnight success.” Well, we can apply that bit of humor as an insight […]
Authority/Author: words with the same roots
Four Steps to Assuming Your Writing Authority To those who struggle with whether they should write or continue to write a memoir, let me be clear: no one can give you the writing authority to record your story, to tell the truth about your life. You are the only person who can do that (Of […]
The Work of Writing a Memoir Can Be Hard, But You Can Succeed!
No one said it would be easy to show up and do the work of writing a book! “This is hard,” you think as you look at your production. “perhaps I’m not cut out for this.” (more…)
A Firm Writing Resolution: You Will Not Regret Formulating One for 2026
Resolutions can be tricky—just an exercise in fooling yourself! But they can also be a dynamic trigger. In this post, I will share a writing resolution that paid off big for me. If you have not decided on New Year’s resolutions for your writing, it is a good time to choose priorities for the […]
Our Christmas Réveillon—A Franco Custom
At Christmas, it was a Franco custom to have an all-night party—a réveillon—after the midnight mass. The following excerpt is from my French Boy / A 1950s Franco-American Childhood. ___ For our first Christmas in our new home, my parents hosted a Christmas réveillon for both sides of the family. We children grew excited witnessing […]
16 Memoir-Writing Resources You Can Use Today
Having the right resources available when we need them can transform any task from a problem to an enticing challenge. I don’t know about you, but when I am trying something new—let’s say propagating a plant—that I’m not knowledgeable about, I head for either the internet or my bookshelves. The internet provides quick information and […]