A big part of being successful at memoir writing is showing up and doing the work. To succeed you have to do the writing; you have to exercise writing discipline, some “nose to the grindstone.”
Now the writing process is neither straightforward nor linear, and there are many unexpected twists and turns to the process. In fact, in the blog posts below on writing discipline, you will even find one on taking time out—which doesn’t seem very much like discipline. But when you go to the post you will see that it does lead to more discipline—now that’s a twist and turn!
People get it that they need to show up for paid employment as scheduled, but so many writers don’t get “showing up” very clearly and insist on writing when they feel like it. (“I don’t want to force my writing!” etc.) The fact is that big parts of writing can be compared to yeomen’s work and not too many people feel like doing “pick and shovel work!” No, this sort of work is best scheduled—or else it will be always put off.
Turn inspiration on.
Inspiration is an on-again-and-off-again experience. What I have found is that inspiration can be turned on with scheduling regularity. Just as going to the gym at regular times can get you motivated as exercise time approaches, so too writing at fixed times can get the juices going. And if it doesn’t?
You will have a period of time set aside anyway to produce your memoir.
In Conclusion
There are many factors that will contribute to your success as a memoir writer, and discipline in writing your memoir is one of them.
The posts below will provide some insight into what you might do to let discipline help you succeed.
Good luck as you write your memoir.
Three Pillars of Starting a Memoir Right Everytime.
DL: this post—Three Pillars of Starting a Memoir Right—introduced a YouTube video which turned out to be the most popular of all my videos. Today, I would like to share both this post and the video. If you haven’t done so already, please share the post and the video and subscribe to my YouTube channel.
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Writing a memoir requires a lot of time and energy—but you can do it. You can succeed in writing a memoir. Many people just like you have succeeded in doing so already. Today I am offering you my three pillars of memoir writing.
I want to share a system with you for getting started on writing a memoir. I call it the three pillars of memoir writing.
As with so many projects you might undertake, you can reinvent the wheel or you can plug into a system that has been shown to work. My Memoir Network has been helping people just like you to write personal and family stories since 1988 and our proven system can help you, too, to write a memoir.
The system that I have found to be best for launching new writers—and many practiced writers, too—has three parts to it—three pillars of memoir writing.
1. When writing a memoir, create a memory list. It’s a strong part of the pillars of starting a memoir right
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Your writing is your work–Schedule first your time for writing
To make time for writing, you have to be serious about the principle that your writing is your work. You must act on it and take it as seriously as your paying job.
This is low-hanging fruit for time management: honor your writing schedule!
You do not show up at your work when you feel like it—nor do you write only when the feeling comes over you!
If you are working as a nurse or a therapist or a business office administrator or whatnot, you do not show up at your work when you feel like it or when you are inspired. You have certain hours whether you work full-time or part-time during which you are expected to show up at the job. The same is true of your writing. You show up for your writing schedule.
If you write when you “get to it,” when you “feel like it,” when inspiration moves you, you will likely do little writing and almost certainly not complete a book of memoirs. If you were being paid for this memoir “job,” your boss would fire you. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
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Setting Writing Goals That Work For You: Better Time Management
I have a goal for this post. I want to help you to develop and articulate your writing goals for the next three months—that is, 90 days. You can start your three months today, at the beginning of the next week or at the first day of the next month, but don’t put off setting writing goals. It is a prime tim management skill.
Three months is taken from the business model which uses quarters—three months—to implement plans. It is a useful way to set goals for three months. Three months both give you time to accomplish something and is not too long that you get distracted or discouraged.
What exactly is a goal?
A goal is a wish with a schedule and a deadline. If you don’t have a schedule and a deadline, what you have is a wish and not a goal. You are free to dawdle and pine away that your memoir is not getting written!
Let’s work at setting memoir-writing goals and planning to achieve one of these in the next three months.
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Don’t Wait To Write Your Story!
It is later than you think. In the years I have been helping people write memoirs, I have seen people die and people grow too old. The energy not only to write deeply but to write a memoir at all has been lost to them; their stories have been lost. We go through our days […]
The Work of Writing a Memoir Can Be Hard: Do it!
No one said it would be easy to do the work of writing a memoir!
“Writing is hard,” you realize again as you look at your production for the day. “Perhaps I’m not cut out for this work of writing a memoir.”
To your dismay, you have been writing in snippets for many days now. In the mornings, when you show up at your laptop—later and later it seems, you must face, as does every writer, a demanding master: your daily writing. Why can’t writing be more fun? Why can’t it be—well, to tell the truth—less hard?
Oh, how you wish it were the end of your scheduled writing period for the day! Why did you think you could do this book-writing thing!
“Whom am I kidding?” [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
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Four Reasons to Take a Break from Writing
When should you take a break from writing?
Writing is hard work, and there will be many times when it seems too difficult. You sit at your desk and nothing much comes. Your impulse is to get up to do something—anything—else, as long as it’s not writing! You think of the lawn that needs mowing, the closet that needs cleaning, etc.
But, stop and ask yourself if you may simply need to take a break from writing and need some physical activity, rather than avoiding the work. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
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Writing Your Memoir One Story at a Time—It Adds Up
Make Writing Your Memoir Less Daunting
Writing your memoir does not have to be an intimidating task. Envisioning your autobiography as a series of stories makes the sizable task of writing the stories of a lifetime tolerable and ultimately enjoyable. Lifestories, written singly just as they are told, one by one, add up—sometimes effortlessly—to a memoir.
Whenever I have written a book, I have written it several pages at a time. Were I to ask a beginning writer, “can you produce a 140-page story for me?” most would blanch and then protest, “I can’t write that much!” When I ask people if they can write a 3-, 4-, 5- or even 7-page story, most will answer, “Sure I can do that.” [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
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Writing When You Don’t Feel Like Writing
Writing a memoir is not easy. As I have written so many times—no one has ever promised it would be. This is especially trying when you don’t feel like writing. Au contraire…
Memoir writing can be difficult. Among the biggest of the difficulties is discouragement. How easy is it to write when you don’t feel like it and are sure you are producing junk words? In case you haven’t guessed (but I’m sure you have been there done that)… [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
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Show Up and Do the Writing!
To your dismay, you have been writing your memoir in snippets. In the mornings, when you show up on your laptop, you face, as does every writer, a demanding master: a writing stint for the day.
Oh, how you wish it were the end of your scheduled writing period!
Like many memoir writers, your memoir writing time is perhaps not long. Then you need to move on to the numerous chores that are attendant on keeping a life and a home going. You feel some urgency to write deathless prose because of the short time allotted.
But some days, even your short writing period seems too long. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]