Are Your Details Destroying Your Memoir? How to Avoid These Memoir Writing Mistakes
Liberties with facts ultimately, I believe, undermine the authority of a memoirist to present his/her life experience as a lived (vs. fictionalized) version of the mythic journey. The lived hero’s tale must figure at the center of every memoir if the story is to rise above a chronology, a dirge or an encomium. (more…)
Stay in the Memoir Conversation: Be Part of a Writing Community
It is important to stay in the memoir conversation. You can implicate yourself more deeply in your writing by participating inThe Memoir Network’s Write Your First Memoir Draft Tele-class. (more…)
How to Write for A Larger Audience than Family and Friends — 4 Tips
So, you want to write for a larger audience than family and friends! While family and friends are a worthy readership for your memoir, it is possible to enjoy an even larger audience. Here are four suggestions to enable your story to appeal to a broader public. (more…)
Become a Better Writer: 4 Ways
You can become a better memoir writer, but it will take some work. How do you achieve mastery in a skill? The answer, however it is presented, comes down to both acquiring knowledge pertaining to the skill and to putting in the time to practice the skill with critiques available to correct your technique and […]
Make a Memoir Writing Schedule That Works For You—It Will Free Your Imagination
A memoir writing schedule frees the imagination. When you set a time you’ll write your stories, you’ll not feel upset if you’re not writing all the time. (more…)
How to Know if You Have the Right Memoir Coach
Can your coach work with you so that you meet your deadline? As you develop your memoir project, you may become aware of a natural deadline, such as a family reunion or a birthday. The right memoir coach for you will be able meet your date. This deadline should be discussed before the coach and […]
Six Reasons to Join a Long Distance Memoir Writing Program
Memoir writers—as all writers—work in isolation. When you join a memoir writing program—a forum, you not only get answers to persistent questions or reassurance to debilitating doubts, but you form community as you persist in the long, lonely task of writing. (more…)
Be Committed to Writing and Spare Me of People Who Are “Interested” in Writing
“Committed” to writing is about the writing itself, while “Interested” in writing is about self-image. “Wanting to write” a book, “trying to write” one, “being interested in writing” doesn’t make it. It never does. (more…)
More on Using Precise Language
Many memoir writers are under the impression that you need to have an extensive vocabulary to write. An extensive vocabulary can only help you–if by “extensive” you mean many precise words—not just “big” ones. More important is using precise language. (more…)