Here to Stay: Developing Nationhood and Community in New France
Here to Stay: Developing Nationhood and Community in New France Here to Stay: Developing Nationhood and Community in New France is excerpted from my historical memoir Here To Stay. Here I write about my maternal ancestors Bartélémy Verreault and Marthe Quittel. As I recorded genealogical information—the births, marriages and deaths of my ancestors, I began […]
National Association of Memoir Writers Telesummit – May 3
National Memoir Writers Telesummit National Association of Memoir Writers is presenting their 10th Memoir Writers Telesummit—a free teleconference with experts in the areas of writing, publishing, blogging, and platform building—on May 3. Join the memoir writers telesummit for a great day of learning, exploring, and sharing passions about the ways that memoir writing and reading memoir […]
Soleil Lifestory Network is now The Memoir Network
It is official. We are now calling ourselves TheMemoirNetwork.com. It better reflects you, our clients and friends, who are writers of memoirs. We hope you like the new website.
Franco-American History: Earthquake Hits New France- February 1663
On Monday, the 5th of February, 1663[1], at about five o’clock in the evening, an earthquake[2] that reportedly lasted for as long as a half hour shook New France. In Québec, Marie de l’Incarnation wrote about hearing a loud noise and a “terrible buzzing sound” coming from far away. She described it as the sound […]
After a Book is Published: We Were Not Spoiled.
What happens after a book is published? As readers of this blog know, I recently published my mother’s memoir, We Were Not Spoiled. The book had been five years in the writing and had gone in and out of my focus. When I started to interview my mother and write the text, she had been […]
Albert and I Decide to Marry
In February of 1944, Albert was given a seventeen-day furlough and, during that time, we became engaged to marry. We did not set a date, but we talked of a wedding…
My father-in-law’s 100th birthday
On February 24, 2013, I celebrated my father-in-law’s 100th birthday. Arthur Blowen has been gone now for 28 years, and the people who were his peers and friends are mostly gone. There are many family stories about him. They are told as mythic journeys, Arthur slaying the dragons that assailed him. Here’s the plot line […]
Getting My Dream Coat
From We Were Not Spoiled, the memoir of Lucille Verreault Ledoux as told to Denis Ledoux. My mother-in-law had a lovely black Persian lamb coat. It had large buttons that were very fashionable at the time. That coat was heavy and warm, and Mrs. Ledoux wore it everywhere. She looked good in it. Rhéa had a raccoon coat […]
The First Months of My Marriage
e left Lewiston and our wedding guests to travel to Albert’s base in Syracuse, New York, at 1:30. Since it was still summer…