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 took it from her, acknowledging my words could be sealed, closed within its pages with a click of its fastening.

My earliest recollection of my writing on those first pink pages was a poem I wrote, “To A Tree” where I realized I had a place in this world and that my tree had a purpose. I encouraged my curiosity by reading all I could about themes of discovery, our relationships we have to others, ourselves and to our outside world. And then I read “Summers with Juliet,” by Bill Roorbach, an inspirational, understated adventure where I saw an interconnectedness among all relationships we share. I became curious about my meaning of home and how connections were created, broken and reattached throughout my life.

My story began to write itself. It was not to be complicated but rather simple and understated, just as I knew a memoir could be in “Summers with Juliet.” And my memoir”Under the Birch Tree” was born.

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My essay, “I Called You a Memoir” reveals my heart-to-heart talk with my memoir on how I created her along with 37 other inspirational essays in”The Magic of Memoir,” out today.

As I continue to put the final connections together on my memoir, I hope you can see your relationships, even the magical one with yourself, in “The Magic of Memoir.”