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Your commitment to writing your memoir must be ongoing. It’s easy, as most of us know, to start to write with a burst of energy, but over the months and perhaps years it takes to write a memoir, your energy almost invariably wanes—at least to some extent. Commit to staying the course What to do to get yourself enthused again? Today, I’m offering tactics you can implement to help sustain your motivation and see you to the end. Of course, there’s always willpower, but willpower is known to weaken gradually until it is ineffective. Learning how to get—and stay—motivated is easier. Motivation (more…)
Today is Monday, and it’s a great day to write a bit on your memoir! People tell me all the time that they are going “trying to write” their memoir. By and large, people who “try to write” get sidelined by so many good reasons. Really. You know how it is: work, family, fatigue.” In the end, they tried but didn’t have time. I urge you to set a writing time for yourself today rather than to “try to write” when you have time. Don’t wait: get started today to write—or continue to write—your memoir. “Trying” to write doesn’t get (more…)
Recently, we sent our  list of free resources. “Free” is great—in fact, we call it “superior”—but “free” can take you only so far. For more memoir-writing resources, explore the following. Your fee-based options to learn memoir writing: Our store: ~ The Memoir Store contains dozens of titles on the art and craft of memoir writing. Stock your ereader and / or bookshelves with quality memoir-writing titles. Your books have given me a foundation in writing. They’ve taught me what to expect and how to go about writing. Our programs & packages offer more memoir-writing reosurces: ~ The Writer’s Time / Management That Works (more…)
We can say emphatically that you can’t! Especially when you receive free memoir-writing resources. Our experience tells us that the higher your skill level, the more easily and the more deeply you will write. ~ Do you want to jumpstart your memoir? It’s stalled, and you don’t know how to get it going? ~ You have written large parts of your memoir, but you know it needs fixing. How to do that? ~ You’ve written your memoir, but you know it needs something more. If you knew what and how, you’d already have done it. Below are MANY free memoir-writing (more…)
Today is Monday, and it’s a great day to write a bit on your memoir! Look to doing pre-writing today. Your pre-writing lays out the ingredients of your memoir on the “kitchen counter” of your mind. Pre-writing is the process of gathering and ordering information before you begin to write. It includes memory Lists, genealogical research, Internet research, interviews, reviewing diaries and scrapbooks, etc. No memoir should be written without some or even significant pre-writing. What you do before writing is important. It’s like—and all comparisons break down at some point but bear with me—organizing all your cooking ingredients on (more…)
When learning to write memoir, it can feel awkward and uncomfortable as you learn the process, just like in learning to swim. We often see people who are not comfortable swimming flail about in the water, their heads reaching up high, desperately, to catch a breath of air. They usually execute strokes too fast. This awkward gesture soon tires them. Try as they might there is not enough air for them as they constrict their ribs, twist their heads, contort their jaws. Soon enough, considering that they had set out to enjoy the water, these people quit and return to (more…)

When learning to write memoir, it can feel awkward and uncomfortable as you learn the process, just like learning to swim. We often see people who are not comfortable swimming flail about in the water, their heads reaching up high, desperately, to catch a breath of air. This awkward gesture soon tires them. Try as they might there is not enough air for them as they constrict their ribs, twist their heads, contort their jaws. Soon enough, considering that they had set out to enjoy the water, these people quit and return to the shore. Swimming is over for the day. (more…)

The Memory List — This task is a core endeavor, strictly useful and strictly necessary. People are always careful to say “There’s no magic bullet” when they offer advice.” Well … The Memory List is as close to a “magic bullet” as you can get. You will be thrilled at how it facilitates your writing.  A Memory List is made up of three-to-five-word memories of everything you can remember about an experience, a time, a person, an event, anything. Don’t write without a Memory List. If you’ve already started to write your lifestory: Stop and compile your Memory List as soon (more…)
DL: This is a reprint of a post that appeared in September of 2022. It strikes me as pertinent for many readers of The Lifewriter’s Digest. The final publication of French Boy took another year. I republish this both to present a proven process and to own that I have my challenges, too. I’m not perfect—just committed. ____ It occurred to me that I was putting off – does that really sound better than “procrastinating”?—doing the final edit of my memoir, French Boy / A 1950s Franco-American Childhood. I had already gone through it rather extensively for the umpteenth time (more…)
best memoir writing practice

A Best Memoir Writing Practice

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When learning to write memoir, it can feel awkward and uncomfortable as you learn the process, just like in learning to swim. We often see people who are not comfortable swimming flail about in the water, their heads reaching up high, desperately, to catch a breath of air. They usually execute strokes too fast. This […]

write memoir

Learning to Write Memoir Is Like Learning to Swim!

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We often see people who are not comfortable swimming flail about in the water, their heads reaching up high, desperately, to catch a breath of air. This awkward gesture soon tires them. Try as they might there is not enough air for them as they constrict their ribs, twist their heads, contort their jaws. Writing […]

Showing up for my memoir

Showing up for my memoir– again!

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DL: This is a reprint of a post that appeared in September of 2022. It strikes me as pertinent for many readers of The Lifewriter’s Digest. The final publication of French Boy took another year. I republish this both to present a proven process and to own that I have my challenges, too. I’m not […]