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Coaching while you are writing your memoir provides you technical, informational and emotional support. Often writers—usually first-time and (perhaps) only-time writers—struggle as they recall, explore, and write their memories.

If you are considering or already busy at turning your memories into memoirs, then memoir coaching is an option that will likely help you to write better and faster. There’s no reason to take forever to write a memoir.

A memoir coach can provide just-in-time learning as you tackle both the memories which flood in as a mix of undigested images, conversations, sensations needing to be sorted and prioritized and the compelling tensions between telling the truth and reliving painful times.

Denis coached me week after week and helped me turn my compulsive research into a well-written manuscript and then into a handsome book.

Jean Chrichton

Digging For Treasure

When you receive coaching for your memoir, you are collaborating with someone can also assist you to implement writing techniques to better express the feelings and thoughts that your memoir is struggling to articulate. People accept easily that memoir writing, like any art form, is about self-expression, but it is harder to understand that a work of art also addresses an audience. A memoir is not only about saying your “something” but it about communicating that “something” to a readership.

Your coach at work

Your coach will help you to make the writing decisions that your manuscript needs—some of these you may not even realize require work until your coach points them out to you.

Coaching for your memoir addresses common problems such as:

  • Have you chosen the right point of view for your story?
  • Are your characters unique, nuanced, and consistent—and how to make them so?
  • How about the details? Do these and other elements support your story?

A memoir coach does this and so much more.

The best time to work with a coach for your memoir?

The absolute best time is perhaps as you start to write; the second best time?

NOW!

E-mail or call 207-353-5454 today to set up a free session to explore coaching for your memoir.

best memoir writing practice

A Best Memoir Writing Practice

When learning to write memoir, it can feel awkward and uncomfortable as you learn the process, just like in learning to swim. We often see people who are not comfortable swimming flail about in the water, their heads reaching up high, desperately, to catch a breath of air. They usually execute strokes too fast. This […]

publish a book

3 Decisions That Sustain Your Memoir Writing

I want to share with you three decisions you can make to help you to succeed more quickly and easily at memoir writing.

Over the last two decades, I have coached many, many writers—more writers than I can remember. In those years, I have seen some people soar with the experience—it’s as if they can do no wrong—while unfortunately, I have seen others coach with me for periods of time without making any apparent change or progress.

This experience has enabled me to come up with three decisions a person who wants to succeed at memoir writing must make. These decisions will help you to reach publication faster than you can without them.

1. You must resolve to commit to the discipline necessary to succeed.

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Memoir Editing

Be a Better Memoir Writer with Deliberate Practice

We all wear many hats as we go through our days. In my case, I am a writer, a memoirist, a teacher, a memoir coach, a memoir editor, a co-author, a book publisher, and finally, a small business person. I wear those hats with pride and, I hope, some accomplishment.

Beyond these, I wear other hats as all of you do also. One is that of an athlete of sorts: there has been swimming, jogging, and weight lifting. In this post, want to focus on how I worked on my physical conditioning through deliberate practice and then apply that to memoir writing.

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memoir editing process

So You Wonder How Memoir Editing Works

You ask how memoir editing works. This is an important and reasonable question.

In this post, I will take you through a typical process. (The process explained here is one an inexperienced writer would take. An experienced writer can expect to shorten the process.)

How Memoir Editing Works

When I begin the memoir editing process with clients, I tell them that proper editing generally requires three “read-throughs.” Unless the manuscript is already at a high level of organization and polish, no editor can give a manuscript all the attention it deserves in one reading.

That’s simply how memoir editing works when done properly

Reading a manuscript without doing any specific editing and forming only a general impression has always seemed a good idea in theory, but I have not found a way to do so that is economical for the client. I have therefore evolved this concept of read-throughs as a memoir editing technique. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]

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support for writing your memoir

What would support for writing your memoir look like for you?

While some people succeed at writing an interesting and meaningful memoir on their own, the fact is many people need both more technical expertise than they now have and more emotional support for the long effort they are undertaking. Many find the task of writing a memoir—however urgent and compelling—to be somewhat daunting and, if […]

right memoir coach

How to Know if You Have the Right Memoir Coach

How do you know if you have the right memoir coach? The guidelines below will help you evaluate your writing coach prospect to ascertain if you are choosing the right memoir coach for you. This article contains evaluation guidelines centered on the availability of the right memoir coach.

1. 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 to meet your date. This deadline should be discussed before you and the coach commit to each other.

Your deadline may also simply focus on a time when you would like to be finished. This is a completely internal deadline.

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best memoir writing coach

The Best Memoir Writing Coach: How to Choose the Right One

Choosing the Right Memoir Writing Coach

How do you choose the best memoir writing coach for you and your book? Your relationship with your memoir writing coach is likely to be a long one. There is no other way to make it effective. Coaching is like counseling in a way.  Counseling requires an introductory, getting-to-know-you phase before both of you can move on to a productive phase. You can’t expect a counselor to help you with your core issues until the two of you have had some exploratory conversations and the counselor has gotten some bearing on your “stuff.” In a similar way, a writing coach has to get to know you before s/he can help you with your core writing issues.

A coach works with you in several areas including:

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working with a writing coach

When Should You Start Working With a Writing Coach?

When is the best time to start working with a writing coach? The obvious answer is when you feel the need to, but “the need to” is not always obvious. Writers will put off the coaching process because they may conclude that it is polished material they need to submit to a coach. This is akin to putting off going to the doctor until when you are feeling well or putting off getting cleaning help until you have straightened out the house.

Writer’s also get confused and mix up working with a coach and working with an editor.

What’s the difference between working with an editor and working with a writing coach?

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