memoir Archives | Page 14 of 24

a basic question with a perplexing answer

So why DID I write my memoir? Admittedly, I couldn’t answer the question over 10 years ago when I started writing my memoir. Now I’ve passed a manuscript hurdle, a professional developmental edit, and I’m polishing my book with a copy edit on my way to publishing. But who knew the life of a virginal indie author could be simple [...]

Nancy Chadwick2017-03-22T20:58:30+00:00March 22, 2017|Categories: book publishing, book writing, inspiration for writers, manuscript, memoir, memoir writing, writers, Writing|Tags: home, life story, Memoir, publish, Writer, writing process|

professional-making

The time has come for you to meet your professional-makers. After countless hours of extracting my reflections from your words and declaring takeaways from your pages, I send you off with final blessings. Your copyeditor will make you shine, better than ever.

Nancy Chadwick2017-03-13T19:39:09+00:00March 13, 2017|Categories: book publishing, book writing, manuscript, memoir, writers|Tags: Memoir, publish, Writer, Writing, writing life, writing process|

how i finished my memoir

When I was a young girl, a small glass ball threaded by a thin plastic rope through a pinhole hung over the lock of my double hung window in my bedroom. When the brazen sun enveloped the plant vase and took hold of the gnarly roots, I wouldn’t just see budding foliage, but tiny rainbows upon the refraction of light. [...]

Nancy Chadwick2017-03-03T21:53:42+00:00March 3, 2017|Categories: book publishing, book writing, home, inspiration for writers, memoir, spiritual writing, writing inspiration|Tags: Memoir, publish, Writer, Writing, writing life|

what I Learned from my first-time interview with a newspaper reporter

This post originally appeared on SheWrites.com. I'm sharing with fellow writers should you and your writing be in a similar situation when embarking on promotional opportunities. I few weeks ago I contacted an editor at Pioneer Press (local publication and sub of Chicago Tribune) to tell him I was a writer and I had something to share with my community [...]

Nancy Chadwick2017-02-10T18:04:31+00:00February 10, 2017|Categories: memoir, memoir writing, writers, Writing|Tags: Memoir, nonfiction writing, publish, Writer, writing life, writing process|

a developmental journey

I doubted the day would come. I had been working on my memoir for over 10 years, admittedly at a more stop than go pace, chronicling the timeline of my youth, coming of age to adult years. I had recorded memories, nestled them in my mind as if contributing to my DNA, creating a map to become the person I [...]

Nancy Chadwick2017-01-31T18:25:54+00:00January 31, 2017|Categories: book writing, home, inspiration for writers, manuscript, memoir, memoir writing, nonfiction writing, writers, Writing, writing process|Tags: Memoir, Writer, writing life|

riding the wave of a writing contest submission

Last fall I won a writing contest for The Magic of Memoir edited by Linda Joy Myer and Brooke Warner of She Writes Press. This was a first time I entered a writing contest and a first win for anything that had to do with my writing. A win at anything says it all, a handshake in welcome, validation that [...]

Nancy Chadwick2017-01-16T21:25:50+00:00January 16, 2017|Categories: inspiration for writers, memoir, memoir writing, nonfiction writing, writers, Writing, writing inspiration, writing process|Tags: Memoir, publish, Writer, writing life|

part II, the problem with memoirs

I can understand Genzlinger’s irritability with the memoir genre becoming over-inflated. Memoirs seem to be riding the wave of too much sharing and providing an over-supply of personal information. In Part I from a previous post, I shared Genzlinger’s guidelines to would-be memoirists from his essay, “The Problem with Memoirs,” published in The New York Times. He felt that three [...]

Nancy Chadwick2017-01-12T16:39:00+00:00January 12, 2017|Categories: book publishing, book writing, home, inspiration for writers, manuscript, memoir, memoir writing, nonfiction writing, writers, Writing, writing life, writing process|Tags: life lessons, life story, Memoir, publish, Writer, writing inspiration|

a problem with memoirs

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 [...]

Nancy Chadwick2017-01-04T21:21:41+00:00January 4, 2017|Categories: book writing, memoir, memoir writing, nonfiction writing, Writing|Tags: life story, Memoir, Writer, writing process|

tracking memories underfoot

You will take over 200 million steps in your lifetime. Imagine if your feet could narrate a travelogue, reporting miles and destinations, while they are at rest, and injuries they may have sustained. They dance and run, burrow in sand, hold you in mountain pose. Your feet have tracked memories, recording the spot beneath them together with the merging of [...]