Member Menu

Navigation

Special Announcement: Soleil Lifestory Network is now The Memoir Network It is official. We are now calling ourselves The Memoir Network. It better reflects you, our clients and friends, who are writers of memoirs. We hope you like the new website. As you peruse it, please be a good editor and notify us of any typos or errors you find. We appreciate your keen eye and willingness to share information. Also, don’t forget to provide feedback about the new site. Tell us what you think. Do you like the feel of it? Is it easy to maneuver? Do you have any ideas for (more…)
DL—The following excerpt is from We Were Not Spoiled, the Franco-American Memoir of Lucille Verreault Ledoux as told to Denis Ledoux. My Father Learns About April Fool’s Day Moving to Howe Street also meant that I lost my friends on Jefferson Street. I could still get together with Juliette and Jeannine at school but they were no longer just outside for me to play with. Soon after we moved into our new home, it was April Fool’s Day. April Fool’s was a new thing for us, something we had learned in school. It fell on a Wednesday that year, and (more…)
It’s 10:00 a.m. “What’s next? How can I fit writing time into my day?” I ask, checking my day’s agenda in my head. Don’t make a busy day’s schedule a reason to not stay motivated to write. I’ve been writing memoir for over 20 years and have concluded the following 5 suggestions to help you stay motivated to write even if you have a full day’s agenda. 1. Think of your day in terms of segments. I segment my day, based on my volunteer job, my paid job and my writing work. Thinking in terms of blocks in your day (more…)
On Monday, the 5th of February, 1663[1], at about five o’clock in the evening, an earthquake[2] that reportedly lasted for as long as a half hour shook New France. In Québec, Marie de l’Incarnation wrote about hearing a loud noise and a “terrible buzzing sound” coming from far away. She described it as the sound of many coaches rushing recklessly over cobblestones. Almost as soon as the people of Québec heard the sound in the air, they heard it coming from the ground as well. Then, the earth began to move. It was about 5:30 in the afternoon. Rafters snapped (more…)
In this brief post, I want to ruminate a bit on how it felt to have done this effort to write my mother’s life down. Writing a book takes a lot of effort and after a book is published, it is appropriate to spend some time thinking about what went into bringing it to completion. My mother’s memoir, We Were Not Spoiled, had been five years in the writing and had gone in and out of my focus. When I started to interview my mother and write the text, she had been participatory—but by nature she was not introspective so (more…)
Marry Albert From We Were Not Spoiled, the memoir of Lucille Verreault Ledoux as told to Denis Ledoux. In February of 1944, Albert was given a seventeen-day furlough and, during that time, we became engaged to marry. We did not set a date, but we talked of a wedding that summer. At the time, he had left the program in Venice, Florida, and was at Daniel Field[1] in Augusta, Georgia. The Army Air Force sent a lot of their planes there to be repaired or maintained. It was a good place for Albert since he was training to service aircraft. He would not (more…)
How to Blog Your Memoir in 10 Simple Steps If your memoir has the three elements discussed in my last post—a time period significant to you and relevant to readers, a marketable story and benefits to your readers, then you are ready to begin to blog your memoir. This means you will write it post by post on your blog. Blogging a book is the quickest and easiest way to write a book and promote it at the same time, thus building the platform, or fan base, you need to make it successful—to ensure it sells to readers and possibly (more…)
Three Elements Necessary to Blog A Memoir Many writers would like to write or blog a memoir. It’s not that different than writing or blogging a novel, except, of course, you are blogging or writing about your own experiences. That makes your book a work of nonfiction rather than fiction. That said, it must read like fiction to a great extent. It has to have a narrative arc, dialogue, a bit of tension to keep readers turning pages, etc. In addition, I think memoirs need to have purpose or added benefit for readers. When the reader puts the memoir down, (more…)
My Heroic Grandmother, Annie Hill She’s more than a name on the genealogy chart, although I don’t know what she looked like or the sound of her voice, the color of her hair. Her heroic character shows in census records. Her scarred and paint daubed blanket chest sits in a place of honor in my home. My great grandmother, Annie J. Reynolds Hill, was born in the north west corner of Rhode Island in 1861, the sixth child of immigrant Irish parents. Annie was a year old when her parents moved their family to Davenport, Iowa, where her maternal grandparents (more…)
Zemanta Related Posts Thumbnail

A Franco-American Memoir: April Fool’s Day

By

DL—The following excerpt is from We Were Not Spoiled, the Franco-American Memoir of Lucille Verreault Ledoux as told to Denis Ledoux. My Father Learns About April Fool’s Day Moving to Howe Street also meant that I lost my friends on Jefferson Street. I could still get together with Juliette and Jeannine at school but they […]

Memoir Writing

Guest Blogger: 5 Suggestions to Help You Stay Motivated

By

It’s 10:00 a.m. “What’s next? How can I fit writing time into my day?” I ask, checking my day’s agenda in my head. Don’t make a busy day’s schedule a reason to not stay motivated to write. I’ve been writing memoir for over 20 years and have concluded the following 5 suggestions to help you […]

Franco-American History: Earthquake Hits New France- February 1663

By

On Monday, the 5th of February, 1663[1], at about five o’clock in the evening, an earthquake[2] that reportedly lasted for as long as a half hour shook New France. In Québec, Marie de l’Incarnation wrote about hearing a loud noise and a “terrible buzzing sound” coming from far away. She described it as the sound […]

after a book is published

After a Book is Published: We Were Not Spoiled.

By

What happens after a book is published? As readers of this blog know, I recently published my mother’s memoir, We Were Not Spoiled. The book had been five years in the writing and had gone in and out of my focus. When I started to interview my mother and write the text, she had been […]

Albert Ledoux, 1943 Mississippi Base

Albert and I Decide to Marry

By

In February of 1944, Albert was given a seventeen-day furlough and, during that time, we became engaged to marry. We did not set a date, but we talked of a wedding… (more…)

What’s Special About Writing Your Business Memoir?

Guest Blogger: Heroic Annie Hill

By

She’s more than a name on the genealogy chart, although I don’t know what she looked like or the sound of her voice, the color of her hair. Her heroic character shows in census records. Her scarred and paint daubed blanket chest sits in a place of honor in my home. My great grandmother, Annie […]