Recently during a Google search, “The Problem with Memoirs” popped up. Neil Genzliner wrote it for The New York Times. As a memoir writer, I never considered memoirs having a problem, but apparently Genzliner did. “A moment of silence, please, for the lost art of shutting up,” he said. This writer was successful in delivering his goal; he got my [...]
My memoir writing journal unfolded without an analytical thought granted to the actual writing process. I had been a journaler, starting when I was fifteen when my mother showed me a pink book with shiny darker pink letters "My Journal" were engraved on the cover. She handed me the book telling me, "It's yours." I eyed the clasp as I [...]
...an inspiration for the writing journey As one of 38 writers selected to share my essay, "I Called you a Memoir," for this collection, you will find stories of wisdom, tips for managing the inner-critic, strategies, motivation and lessons learned. Now available on Amazon.
I found the lead to this story buried in the last paragraph. But reading through Allison Williams' thought process to get her to that point was a shared experience by most writers.
I recently completed an online survey in answer to a request by one of those writer’s magazines. They wanted to know what I wanted to read in their magazine. It took only minutes to click my answers to their straightforward questions. But when I finished, I screamed, “I just want to write.” The purpose of the survey was to gain [...]
My essay is for all you memoir writers who speak to the conversation in your head as I have done when writing my memoir.
I seized an essay from my slush pile. I remember when I wrote the following; its history born from emotion. I was approaching the age of 40, not working full time and I was only a couple of drafts into my memoir when a critique of my manuscript told me fancy terms such as through-threads and theme, reflections and takeaways [...]
Home. A physical place or a state of being. It can even have emotions. Linear or ever-changing, it may travel like a river with ebbs and flows. Or maybe it is elusive. My memoir read like an autobiography. I was clear as I spewed vivid memories and recalled markers attained as my decades rolled on by. But I wasn’t clear [...]
On a Saturday morning a few years ago, I responded to a hankering. I needed to free a hall closet in my house of clutter. I understood what faced me – the messiest offender found in three files buckets – as soon as I opened the door. I spied a particular grey one packed askew with folders and paper and [...]
I wrote a memoir – 10 years ago – and then I rewrote it and then rewrote again, yet another rewrite and then wrote more. I acted on 5 professional critiques over those years as impetus for my rewrites. And I use the term “rewrite” loosely. I could easily make these changes – deleting information that has no reason to [...]