Writing a memoir is not easy.

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.

I want to share a system with you for getting started on writing a memoir.

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.

1. When writing a memoir, create a memory list.

A Memory List is a list of everything you remember either in your life or in the life of the person you are writing about or, instead of memory listing an entire life, you can choose a part of a life—the period you are currently writing about. In fact, I usually ask people to chose some small period of their intended memoir and To make a Memory List of that time.

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To celebrate my birthday today, I would like to reprint a post from 2013. It is a passage from my mother Lucille Verreault Ledoux’s memoir, We Were not Spoiled/A Franco-American Memoir: — My second pregnancy was also easy enough. This time, the war was over and Albert was not in the Army. He and I could live this time together. My mother had had most of her babies at home, but by the mid-1940s, women were being urged to have their babies in the hospital. (Dr. Desaulniers must have been urging me, too, but I can’t remember.) We were still (more…)

Interesting dialog is an essential part of an effective memoir. It performs several functions in making your story interesting and meaningful. Every memoir ought to have carefully reconstructed dialog. Here are some reasons for including dialog in your memoir: 1. Dialog allows the reader to hear the character speak for himself or herself. If your character had some defense, for instance, of a behavior, you can include it here. “I know it didn’t look good,” my uncle Victor said in his brash voice, “but it wasn’t me who did it.” It is an opportunity to use regionalisms and particularities of (more…)

The Write Your First Memoir Draft program has been designed to bring you all the best of an academic external degree program. Many of us have looked into these long distance writing programs or at least have seen them advertised in writers’ magazines like Poets & Writers and the Writer’s Digest and wished we could afford the time and/or the money to attend.

An external, long distance writing program provides a way for an aspiring memoir writer who is not a young person to incorporate significant serious extra learning into a life that is already full. Such is the goal of the Write Your First Memoir Draft program.

How Write Your First Memoir Draft compares

1. Short residency

Most external long distance learning programs require a short residency on campus. For one day to one week to 10 days to weeks, writers gather on a campus and share and develop their manuscripts in community.

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Eventually, after you have written awhile, you will likely have amassed a number of vignettes, story segments, and stories and wonder about how to best organize them into a coherent and interesting memoir. You will likely want to make a statement, o create a bigger picture of your story.

How will you do it? Well, one answer is that you will do it by how you organize your story. Below are four ideas to organize your memoir.

Remember: These suggestions do not refer to the sequence in which the stories are written but rather to how they can be ordered after they have been written.

Here are four ways you can organize your memoir.

1) Chronology

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Many writers suffer from writer’s block, yet few understand its possible causes. Memoir writing certainly has its difficulties which can create it, and not just writer’s block! There are a number of reasons that contribute to difficulty in writing. 1. In memoir writing, “writer’s block” can be the result of dealing with uncomfortable material. Perhaps you haven’t admitted to yourself the importance of your topic or you are not yet telling the truth about it. What are you evading? What is the worst consequence that could happen to you if you write this story honestly? 2. Perhaps you are writing your (more…)

There’s a big difference between your commitment to writing your memoir and being interested. “But I do want to write my memoir,” I can hear some hypothetical person insisting. No, this is not about wanting to write a memoir, not about trying to write one, not about being interested in writing… What I am writing about is a commitment to writing your memoir and bringing it successful completion. There’s a significant distinction between “being interested in writing” and “being committed to writing.” 1. When you are interested in writing, obstacles often prevent you from furthering your memoir. These obstacles are (more…)

Whether as a coach or as an editor, when I have engaged with writers, I have often found similar presenting problems— I don’t have time, I never had a good grammar education, I have so many stories to tell I don’t know which one to start with. Frequently, these “reasons” writers present for not writing are symptoms of underlying issues. They tell me the writer has probably gotten stuck avoiding the inner work of writing. Let’s look at what “outer work” is first. Outer work is about techniques and schedules. It’s about such external features as the space you write (more…)

Martha Blowen, my partner in life and in work, died on August 18, 2008, from metastasized breast cancer. The following is from collated excerpts of cancer diary entries we both kept at the time. (Before she passed away, she gave me permission to share her entries.) The memoir is called My Eye Fell Into the Soup, after a dream in which one of her eyes fell into a cauldron. She later interpreted this to mean she was not paying attention to her health. (This is written about elsewhere.) As with most people, I suppose, the cancer diagnosis was a shock. In (more…)

Writing a memoir: how to

By Denis Ledoux

Writing a memoir is not easy. Writing a memoir requires a lot of time and energy—but you can do it. You can succeed. Many people just like you have done so already. I want to share a system with you for getting started on writing a memoir. (more…)

My Son Denis Is Born

By Lucille Ledoux

My second pregnancy was also easy enough. This time Albert was with me, and he and I could live it together. My mother had had most of her babies at home, but by the mid-1940s, women were… (more…)

Writing Effective and Interesting Dialog

By Denis Ledoux

Dialog allows the reader to hear the voice of the character. It is an opportunity to use regionalisms and particularities of speech. Even to write in pauses if that was typical of the person. “Ain’t much wrong with it,” my grandfather would say… (more…)

6 Benefits of A Long Distance Writing Program

By Denis Ledoux

The Write Your First Memoir Draft program has been designed to bring you all the best of an academic external degree program. Many of us have looked into these long distance writing programs or at least have seen them advertised in writers’ magazines like Poets & Writers and the Writer’s Digest and wished we could […]

How to Organize Your Memoir: Four Ways

By Denis Ledoux

Do you wonder how best to organize your memoir? Eventually, after you have written awhile, you will likely have amassed a number of vignettes, story segments, and stories. You will want to organize your memoir to make a statement, a bigger picture. How will you do it? Below are four ideas for organizing your memoir. […]