A critical steps to take as a developing writer is to share your writing with others. Those others might be writers, they might be friends, or they might be family members.
Sometimes you make your writing public by having an in-person audience or a virtual audience. Sometimes your first audience comes in the form of blog readers.
This post is geared to the novice writer and may not apply to a more experienced memoirist.
To Share Is To Grow
In 1996 and 1997, I composed about 200 pages of a memoir of my high school years and then it wasn’t going anywhere more than where it had been—mired in facts and details with no spirit. What I didn’t know was it had a wrong point of view problem
I merely stored it in various computers for years.
In the fall of 2013, I completed my mother’s memoir (We Were Not Spoiled). Because I was looking for a writing project I might devote myself to next, I picked up the high-school memoir again.
(Lest you think that I went to a high school like yours, let me assure you that I did not. I attended a Catholic high-school seminary. No, I’m not writing about sexual shenanigans—there was none of that whatsoever. I am writing about my life there between 1960 and 1964 and how it shaped me. This theme of identity is usual stuff for a memoir, but the setting is exotic in many ways and not at all usual. Almost none of you who are reading this have “been there”—trust me.)
Suddenly, after more than a decade and a half, the memoir spoke to me again!
“Write me! Write me!” it shouted. The text seemed “alive” again. (more…)
Let me share the independent publication story of my first book, What Became of Them. It is a collection of short stories that I had written over a number of years in the 1980s. In 1987, I decided it was time to send the collection out into the world, but I was not ready yet to do independent publishing.
Taking stock of myself, I knew I had no need to be approved by someone, to have my writing found to be worthy. I know many writers want to have a “real book,” and by this, they probably mean they want their book to be canonized by someone—the larger the reputation and the more famous, the better.
This sort of approval was not important to me. I was looking for a way to reach my audience which I knew both existed and would want my book.
I also wanted to earn some income from my writing. I understood that my income would come both from sales of the book and from speaking and teaching from the podium my book would allow me to step up on.
Where to send my manuscript?
I gleaned names and addresses I researched in the library and bookstore. After selecting a few of the more promising—they championed topics which I thought would attract my audience and encompassed a territory where my audience lived.
I sent the book out—and then I waited and waited.
I totally understood how a book has to fit into a publisher’s catalog. (A fruit distributor doesn’t, after all, take on a chicken farmer as a client!) A new book must support the company’s mission and complement books that have already been successful.
In addition, a book must promise to earn the company some income (preferably a large one) from its audience.
A losing proposition
The simplest answer to what motivates me to write is that I’ve always loved to write, and lacking the creativity to write fiction or the tenacity to research subjects for non-fiction, I write about what I know, my life. I love memoir.
If I look beyond my lack of creativity, I see writing memoir feeds a certain voyeurism. I’ve always been fascinated by letters and the glimpse they provide into other people’s lives. I’ve never been able to resist an epistolary book, fiction or non-, and I’ve come to realize that many of the memoir pieces I’ve written are basically letters to myself, or to the family that comes after me. I love reading letters, so I write them. (more…)
I’ve been reflecting on why I’m motivated to write my memoir and realize that I come back to my writing every day because I cannot stay away. It is how I process life. Writing helps me understand what has happened and how I feel about it. My dad’s Norwegian stoicism and our family’s isolation caused by his alcoholism prevented much communication with anybody, in or out of the family. I turned to writing to “talk” to someone. I wrote letters to any relatives and pen pals who would write back, and who I felt were my friends.
As I now write my memoirs, every memory I write about teaches me something new about myself and how I’ve become the person I am. When I started my memoir, I began to forgive myself for self-defeating behaviors I could not overcome. Re-living events buried for years has brought tears, but it has helped me let go and be a less fearful, ashamed, and workaholic person. Writing is the best thing I do for myself.
(more…)
When Nancy Pelosi sits down to write her memoirs what ought she to do to make the writing interesting? Hint: fame and power in themselves are not enough to intrigue a reader. Here are five memoir writing tips to know.
Writing her memories of her years in Washington will be challenging to Nancy Pelosi but not as hard as some people think. If she is willing to follow the five simple steps I will outline below, she can succeed at writing an interesting and meaningful autobiography. (More and more people—in fact, many who at first think they couldn’t—are succeeding at exploring and honoring their pasts in this way.)
These five memoir writing tips to know are among the most powerful—and easiest—to implement in personal and family history writing.
Good luck—to Nancy Pelosi and to you!
1) Make a Memory List.
The Making of the Photo Scribe: A Writing Guide / How to Write Stories into Photo Albums
One day in 1996, I read an article in a local newspaper about a scrapbook workshop called Creative Memories that was about to be presented. The article mentioned both designing photo albums and writing stories for photos—actually the article said “photo captions” but I immediately thought of stories. There was something about the tone of […]
Dare to Share Your Writing
One of the critical steps you can take as a writer is to find ways to share your work with others. Those others might be writers, they might be friends, or they might be family members. Don’t let your hard work sit in a drawer unread. Writing is meant to be read. We write down […]
The Wrong Point of View in a Memoir Can Throw the Story
I was challenged by the point of view in a memoir. I had put off completing the book because I could not resolve its thematic problems. (more…)
Cindy Doucette’s Memoir Has A Powerful Impact.
Cindy Doucette (Berwick Maine) has seen her poignant story depicted in It Can Happen To Any Family used by the juvenile correctional system of York County, Maine, to effect turn arounds in young people. Below is a testimonial written by a young person who was in the correctional system and who is testifying to the […]
My first publication story: independent publishing
You will see that I did much better financially as an independent publisher than I would have on the traditional route. Go the self-publishing route! (more…)
What Motivates Me to Write?
The simplest answer is that I’ve always loved to write, and lacking the creativity to write fiction, or the tenacity to research subjects for non-fiction, I write about what I know… (more…)
Why I’m Motivated to Write My Memoir? This is how I process life.
Why I’m motivated to write? I come back to my writing every day because I cannot stay away. It is how I process life. Writing helps me understand what has happened and how I feel about it. (more…)
Five Memoir Writing Tips Nancy Pelosi Ought to Know Before She Pens A Memoir
What memoir writing tips ought Nancy Pelosi to know when she writes her memoirs? Fame and power are not enough to intrigue a reader. Start here (more…)
How The Memoir Network Evolved
The Memoir Network evolved with thought. Its services—which are necessary for the success of writers and of the Memoir Network—grew regularly over a decade. (more…)