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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…)
On February 24, 2013, I celebrated my father-in-law’s 100th birthday. Arthur Blowen has been gone now for 28 years, and the people who were his peers and friends are mostly gone. There are many family stories about him. They are told as mythic journeys, Arthur slaying the dragons that assailed him. Here’s the plot line of his early life as a hero’s journey. Below is a brief review of 15 years of his life–the part of his life that makes for an interesting subject for a memoir (vs. autobiograhy). The stories tell about how he quit high school [seeming defeat (more…)
From We Were Not Spoiled, the memoir of Lucille Verreault Ledoux as told to Denis Ledoux. Lucille Verreault Ledoux Summer of 1945 My mother-in-law had a lovely black Persian lamb coat. It had large buttons that were very fashionable at the time. That coat was heavy and warm, and Mrs. Ledoux wore it everywhere.  She looked good in it. Rhéa had a raccoon coat that also looked good on her—we used to say comme il faut which means “the way it should be”. The two of them really looked comme il faut when they went out–especially together. In those days, a lot of (more…)

In 1953, we left our one-bedroom basement apartment on 7th Street in Toronto to live in the small town of Tottenham, Ontario. We moved into a three-bedroom flat above a hardware store. There was no central heat or hot water, but I thought it was a palace, compared to the tiny apartment we had left. The centre of activity was the huge kitchen, where a massive Finlay wood stove kept us warm in the winter months. Pale green cabinets sprawled along the opposite wall. They came to an end at the four-burner Frigidaire range. Every week, my mother would get down on her hands and knees and apply a coat of Johnson’s paste wax onto the green-and-white checkered linoleum floor. When we arrived home from school, my brother Stephen and I would delight in wrapping old rags on our feet and “skate” all over the floor, bringing it to a glossy sheen. This was my mother’s Tom Sawyer act, and it worked every time. I have fond childhood memories of this time. (more…)

From We Were Not Spoiled, the memoir of Lucille Verreault Ledoux as told to Denis Ledoux. Lucille Verreault LedouxSummer of 1945 We left Lewiston and our wedding guests to travel to Albert’s base in Syracuse, New York, at 1:30. Since it was still summer and the sun was out late, we saw much beautiful country as we rolled though Massachusetts and New York. When we arrived in Syracuse, it was dark. We did not have reservations for the night, so we went to the Yates Hotel downtown not far from the station. The Yates was a big hotel, and they did have a (more…)
after a book is published

After a Book is Published: We Were Not Spoiled.

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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

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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

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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 […]

My father-in-law’s 100th birthday

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On February 24, 2013, I celebrated my father-in-law’s 100th birthday. Arthur Blowen has been gone now for 28 years, and the people who were his peers and friends are mostly gone. There are many family stories about him. They are told as mythic journeys, Arthur slaying the dragons that assailed him. Here’s the plot line […]

Franco-American memoir

Getting My Dream Coat

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From We Were Not Spoiled, the memoir of Lucille Verreault Ledoux as told to Denis Ledoux. My mother-in-law had a lovely black Persian lamb coat. It had large buttons that were very fashionable at the time. That coat was heavy and warm, and Mrs. Ledoux wore it everywhere.  She looked good in it. Rhéa had a raccoon coat […]

childhood memories

Childhood Memories: The Price of Happiness

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In 1953, we left our one-bedroom basement apartment on 7th Street in New Toronto to live in the small town of Tottenham, Ontario. We moved into a three-bedroom flat above a hardware store. There was no central heat or hot water, but I thought it was a palace… (more…)