“What do you think of my website?” It’s one of the questions I hear the most from authors, whether they write memoirs or mysteries. I wish that my answer each and every time was, “It’s fantastic!”… but it isn’t. And more often than not, the problem is with the site’s blog. Oh, how I wish I had a wand to transfer every writer’s blog into a better author blog. But let’s pause to distinguish between “blog” and “website,” because many people use them interchangeably. When I say “blog,” I’m referring to a collection of online articles you add to your (more…)

DL: As part of my virtual book tour for the Memoir Writing Series, I did a stop at Sonia Marsh’s blog. Below is a link to that post. Leave a comment and explore Sonia’s blog. You will find it full of interesting and useful posts. A Memoir Can Be Hard to Write —But You Can Do It! Sometimes at the beginning of a workshop or of coaching relationship, people ask whether writing a memoir going to be hard. The short—but possibly intimidating—answer is: “Yes, a memoir can be hard to write! The longer and more encouraging answer is: Yes, but (more…)

DL: On a virtual book tour for my Memoir Network Writing Series, I was a guest of on Linda Austin’s fine writing blog. This post is excerpted from my second e-book in the series Start Your Memoir Right This article will strengthen your resolve to write a memoir. Should you write a memoir? “Is a memoir worth the time to write?” I repeated—raising my voice into a question—when a man said to me at a conference where I was speaking that most people didn’t have a memoir that was worth their time to write. “Not only is every life worth (more…)

DL: As part of a virtual book tour for the Memoir Network Writing Series, I did a stop at Sandra Beckwith’s informative buildbookbuzz.com blog. Virtual book tour tips As I explored options for marketing my Memoir Network Writing Series of six books, I kept hearing about the virtual book tour. I was intrigued, but I was also intimidated. Could I pull off a virtual book tour? To read more… (more…)

Besame, besame mucho / Como si fuera esta noche la última vez… Kiss me, kiss me a lot / As if tonight were the last time… Cesaria Evora’s voice, strong and oh! so beautiful, comes in from the livingroom as I pour myself coffee in the kitchen. It is early morning, and I am thinking of my day, organizing it in my mind. There’s work at The Memoir Network—a ghostwriting client at 11, Sally who works with me in the office at 2—the gym this evening, a visit with my mother who is 93 and lives in a nursing home. (more…)

DL: The following article was posted on Nina Amir’s blog howtoblogabook.com as part of my virtual book tour for the Memoir Network Writing Series. I am now working on books three and four of the series. If you have a blog and would be willing to host me, I would love to make a stop at your site. What a blogged book needs What could be an easier process to write a new book than to go to my Memoir Writers’ Blog, pullout some articles on the same topic, and put them together? After all, I had read How To (more…)

As I write this, it is winter here in Maine. Yesterday, I went ice skating and remembered so fondly many skating experiences in my life—especially my young life. Here is a story of a day spend on the ice from a half century ago. For more stories about my high school years, click here. — One morning, when the sun promised to be bright and the sky clear, as we sat down to breakfast at refectory tables, on a day that seemed to be a day just like every other day in January, Father Guy would announce, “Aujourd’hui, c’est un (more…)

Is telling the truth in a memoir essential? In this post, I am sending a link to a thought-provoking memoir review which was published recently in the Buffalo, NY, News. The review questions the veracity of Coming Ashore, a new memoir by Catherine McClure Gildiner. I quote briefly to whet your appetite. “I think a reader and a writer enter into almost a kind of a contractual understanding, and it starts with the genre,” said Mick Cochrane, a professor of English and director of the creative writing program at Canisius College. “If you call a book a memoir, the understanding (more…)

I have to admit that I felt the book launch jitters as my book Don’t Let Writer’s Block Stop You went out into the world in 2014. On Kindle Select Don’t Let Writer’s Block Stop You was in December of that year available as a free download as part of Amazon’s Kindle Select outreach. (It is still there and I would love it if you wrote a review of it. If you would like to do so, drop me a line and I will send you a review copy.) As a book coach and editor who has worked with writers (more…)

3 Tips for a Better Author Blog

By Sandra Beckwith

Is a Memoir Hard to Write—Yes, but You Can Do It!

By Denis Ledoux

A Memoir Can Be Hard to Write —But You Can Do It! Sometimes at the beginning of a workshop or of coaching relationship, people ask whether writing a memoir going to be hard. The short—but possibly intimidating—answer is: yes! The longer and more encouraging answer is: Yes, but you can do it! (more…)

Is Your Memoir Worth the Time to Write?

By Denis Ledoux

“Worth the time to write?” I repeated—raising my voice into a question—when a man said Denis Ledouxto me at a conference where I was speaking that most people didn’t have a memoir that was worth their time to write. “Not only is every life worth writing about,” I countered, “but the writing of a memoir […]

How to Organize a Virtual Book Tour

By Denis Ledoux

As part of my winter/spring virtual book tour for the Memoir Network Writing Series, I did a stop at Sandra Beckwith’s informative buildbookbuzz.com blog. (more…)

La Ultima Vez—The last time

By Denis Ledoux

A Blogged Book Has to Be Greater than the Sum of Its Posts

By Denis Ledoux

What could be an easier process to write a new book than to go to my Memoir Writers’ Blog, pullout some articles on the same topic, and put them together? After all, I had read How To Blog Your Book by Nina Amir, a helpful book that inspired and guided me in the composition of […]

Another Bucksport Story—An Ice Holiday

By Denis Ledoux

One morning, when the sun promised to be bright and the sky clear, as we sat down to breakfast at refectory tables, on a day that seemed to be a day just like every other day in January, Father Guy would announce, “Aujourd’hui, c’est un congé de glace [Today, we are having an ice holiday].” […]

Telling The Truth In A Memoir

By Denis Ledoux

“If you call a book a memoir, the understanding is that to the best of your knowledge the facts, and what can be verifiable, are the truth. …” (more…)

Jitters Over Don’t Let Writer’s Block Stop You Launch

By Denis Ledoux

I have felt the book jitters as my new book Don’t Let Writer’s Block Stop You has gone out into the world. My anxiety is under control, but it remains a low-level anxiety. Were I to give in to it, I would be succumbing to a version of the writer’s block—the one that postpones publication—and […]