It’s a quandary: where do you start writing your memoir? Many people may say: from the beginning. So? Does that mean you start from the first thing you can remember in the sequence of the story? I suppose you could do that, but, I don’t think that is the best place to start your memoir. So where is the best place to start your memoir?
We read memoirs for many reasons. These reasons can perhaps be summarized into two: we want to be entertained and we need to be informed.
In this post on the mythic journey of your life, I want to write about the second of those reasons: our need to be informed.
Whether they articulate it or not, many people read memoirs because they want to understand something about the lived experience of life. Life is not easy. It is full of challenges, defeats and conundrums.
While in the past I had published only hard-copy versions of my books, I have increasingly included a digital version. It just makes sense, and I would advise writers that they need an ebook.
Ebooks are on the ascendancy are more and more a viable publication option. Every year, their share of the book-reading audience grows. Granted you can’t experience the ebook as a satisfying weight in your hand (unless it’s the weight of the e-reader) nor can you feel the page turning, but the ebook has become a good choice at many levels.
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 language, not just big words.
Precise words are specific and not vague and ineffective like nice, awful, big, OK. “She was nice” is vague. “She understood different points of view” is specific and precise language.
“He was awfully big” is vague. You might write instead: “My father measured six foot five and weighed 275 pounds.”
Don’t write: “The job was OK.” Write: “The job was in my field of competence, but its salary was inadequate and its requirements did not challenge me.”
It’s a quandary: where do you start writing your memoir? Many people may say: from the beginning. But, I don’t think that is the best place to start composing… (more…)
Dr. Morin would say that my mother had not put a smile on my face when she carried me, but I think it was because, as the oldest, I was made to be a too-serious child. (more…)
Are you making a mistake not planning to include ebook publishing in your publication schedule? People interested in independent publication ask me if they should publish their manuscript as an ebook, a hard copy book or both. The honest answer on my part is I don’t know. The decision is individual and unique to you. […]
You have undertaken to write the mythic journey of your life. We read memoirs for many reasons. These reasons can perhaps be summarized into two: we want to be entertained and we need to be informed. In this post on the mythic journey of your life, I want to write about the second of those […]
Mary Ellen Ellwell was a writing client with whom I especially enjoyed working. She brought to the relationship a sense of the value of collaboration. This made the time together a creative one for both of us as we worked together, first with coaching and then with editing—the two often not separable—to write a successful […]
While in the past I had published only hard-copy versions of my books, I have increasingly included a digital version. It just makes sense, and I would advise writers that they need an ebook. Ebooks are on the ascendancy are more and more a viable publication option. Every year, their share of the book-reading audience […]
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…)
Even before I found out my son had been murdered, I began writing about what I was experiencing as we waited for word of what had happened. (more…)
Today’s successful memoir writer is Jean Crichton. Jean attended the very first national workshop that I organized in 2000. From that time, we developed a strong working relationship via coaching and editing. She was one of those writers who was an absolute pleasure to work with. To read other interviews For the most recent interview with […]