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Writing Your Memoir Regularly is Key to Success

Denis Ledoux — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 08:00:13 +0000

Success is built on daily writing habits. As has been bandied about and attributed to many different speakers and writers, it is said that “you go to the office every day for 20 years, and before you know it, you are an overnight success.” Well, we can apply that bit of humor as an insight […]

The Power of Telling Our Stories

Denis Ledoux — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 16:22:36 +0000

In the late autumn of 1988, as Mainers were beginning to hunker down for another winter, I had an experience that confirmed the power of telling our stories to an audience. One afternoon, I opened a door to a meeting of Foster Grandparents volunteers. I was walking into my future. But, I didn’t know that […]

Does calling yourself a writer make you a writer?

Denis Ledoux — Tue, 20 May 2025 13:38:02 +0000

“How do you become a writer?” people ask me. While many of my memoir-writing clients are one-time authors, not everyone is in that category. Many people join The Memoir Network secretly wanting to become “a writer” and hoping that memoir writing will be their ticket into the writer’s life. I might, in all seriousness, respond, […]

Monday Focus: “Trying to Write” Your Memoir

Denis Ledoux — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 15:47:03 +0000

People tell me all the time that they are going “trying to write” their memoir. But “trying” to write doesn’t get a memoir written. (more…)

How Long Does It Take to Write a Memoir?

Denis Ledoux — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 18:30:00 +0000

Sometimes, years after I’ve heard from someone that he is writing a memoir, I will connect with the writer again. Perhaps it’s three or four or five years later, but the writer is working on the same memoir. I don’t get it. So I ask politely, “What has snagged the memoir?” (more…)

Write a memoir: practical how-to information to ace it.

Denis Ledoux — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 11:07:00 +0000

As you write a memoir, you will find that you need much more information about technique or about style or about research or any number of other topics. Unless you have been writing much over the years, this is likely to be you. Going to the library for information is a necessary next step for […]

A Room of One’s Own to Write Memoir In

Denis Ledoux — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 11:00:41 +0000

An outside writing space sounds great to me—and a luxury I am not willing to wait for. In fact, I have never used outside writing rooms—except for once when I borrowed a summer home for week and finished a book there as I wrote ALL day. Being there was very productive as I had nothing […]

Stay in the Memoir Conversation: Be Part of a Writing Community

Denis Ledoux — Tue, 14 Jan 2020 11:00:00 +0000

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…)

Scope: What’s Right for You?

Denis Ledoux — Thu, 09 May 2019 10:00:05 +0000

In this video, Scope: What’s Right for You?, I ask how much time and energy are you willing to give to writing your memoir? (more…)

Showing up for writing—regularly

Denis Ledoux — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 10:33:48 +0000

In the first days of creating a manuscript when we writers sit down to write—or rededicate ourselves to writing—it is often a struggle to find the energy to show up for the task. So many things seems to compete for our attention. We ask ourselves about “the point of all of this” and “who will […]