As soon as you begin to think of writing a memoir, you are involved in the writing process. You have begun to be a writer—even if only with a small “w.” Welcome to the “gang.” (We memoirists are all in this together.)
This “Writing Process” category covers a range of material. It is a compendium of disparate materials that together will help you to write more easily and deeply.
Writing a memoir takes skills that you may not now possess. This category, as all of the blog on the Memoir Network site, will help you to acquire what you need to know to write with more skill and pleasure.
As elsewhere, all the articles are included chronologically in the parent category. Like every writer you have challenges that might leave you baffled as to how to respond. Scanning the list will reveal to you posts that you need to read now for answers to the questions that are stumping you.
What you’ll find in “Writing Process.”
If you are just starting out, we have posts on pre-writing. In fact, if this topic interests you at your current stage of memoir writing, go directly to the subcategory called “Pre-writing.”
At the other end of the writing process, we have posts on completing a memoir. These articles are both scattered chronologically in the parent category or they can be found under the subcategory “Completion.”
In between beginning and completing, we have many articles that will sustain you in your writing.
In conclusion
These articles on writing process will help you, the aspiring the memoir writer, at every stage of your commitment to produce an interesting and meaningful memoir for yourself, your family and—perhaps—for the world.
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…)
Mechanics of Writing a Memoir: It’s not all Inspiration
Mechanics of writing a memoir – the work of writing a stories and how life can insert delays & provide contemplative times yet leave time left to write. (more…)
I Finish A Sugary Frosting: Notes on the Memoir Writing Process
I am in the very last days of the memoir writing process and polishing A Sugary Frosting / A Memoir of a Girlhood Spent in a Parsonage, the early lifestory of my deceased spouse, Martha Blowen. It’s a time to make sure I have written what I want to write and to check grammar and […]
Telling the Hard Truth in Your Memoir–Are You Holding Back?
Your memoir needs to tell the truth about life—yours—and sometimes that requires exposing yourself getting “naked.” Getting to the truth in memoir is not about being cruel but about adding meaning and depth to your life story. (more…)
Don’t Pass On Reaching A Larger Audience – 4 Tips
While family and friends are a worthy readership for your memoir, it is possible to reach a larger audience. Here are four tips to enable anyone to do so.. (more…)
Write to the End: Complete Your Book Manuscript
Here is a surprise blocking solution to complete your book manuscript: don’t write just now. What exactly do I mean when I write this? Here’s an example… (more…)
You Need Formal Research
Interviewing family members and friends is clearly a form of research, but interviews alone are usually not enough to give your stories the depth they require. For that, you need formal research. (more…)
Memoir Writing Deadline: How To Set Yours
When you write as an open-ended task without setting a memoir writing deadline, you are likely to procrastinate and extend the project. What happens when you do not set an end date is, next year or the year after that, you are still writing, revising, and polishing your lifestory. You know how it is: you […]