Memoir Writing and Creativity in The Year of the Memoir—2012

By now quite a few people in my networks have heard that I decided to call 2012 The Year of the Memoir. Why did she do that, you wonder. What will we call next year?? More importantly–what is Snoopy writing in HIS memoir?

First of all, I trust in the powers of creativity. They are greater than I, or you, or anyone, but the deal is, we have to find ways to listen to that still small voice that whispers brilliance in our ears and we need to find ways to bring our creative thoughts and ideas into form in the world. The idea of a baby is quite different than birthing one, don’t you think? The idea of a book is an idea—until you bring it to life on the page. We need help to get our work born, we need inspiration and support. Techniques and goals.

We need to have a sense of being able to do what we want to do—so declaring it is a way to keep ourselves honest. Think of the writers—Dickens, Virginia Woolf, John Steinbeck among others—who wrote and shared with other writers their creative experiences, their doubts and fears.  Each of them announced what they were working on and in so doing, created intentionality and a goal. As well as a well-oiled support group. The Impressionists did this as well, discussing, painting, trying, failing, and still they painted and changed the world.

Inspiration and Perspiration—how much of each?

Inspiration helps many of us get ourselves planted in the chair to write, but as you know, writing requires some effort, some perspiration, in order for us to wrestle with the various ideas coursing through our brains. We wrestle with technique, with images, with memories. With the Inner Critic, with the voice of family.

But we keep writing. That’s the only way. We learn from our reading—how did that author keep ME turning the pages? Why do I find it hard to put down some books and others I can’t finish. Ask those questions, learn from everyone around you. Have a beginner’s mind.

I have likened writing a memoir to a journey in other posts. This week I began teaching my online workshops and was so jazzed to hear the eagerness in the voices of the students in the workshop. They are engaged in such a creative dance on their journey to a finished memoir.

Here’s what some of them said:

  • Writing validates my experience. I feel better about who I am when I write.
  • Not writing made me realize how much I need to write to know who I am.
  • Writing my memoir has helped me get along better with my mother and ex-husband.
  • Writing about the past helped me to let it go.
  • The year of the memoir idea made me realize that I want to get my book done this year!

Having a name for the year set an intention for many of these writers.

How do you set your intention?

How do you keep your goal in mind?

Some people journal, some write out intentions and put them up on the wall.

Others put their intention on the calendar and create accountability.

What method do you want to start this week during the first month of the Year of the Memoir?

How many words will you have written by Feb. 1??

Think of Snoopy writing his memoir, and smile. It keeps you open and flexible, smiling. Keep writing!

 

 

Memoir IS About You! Free your Voice, Write Your Memoir

After the discouraging, depressing articles about bad memoir writers in the news, we have something good to report from an article in the Huffington Post titled Actually, Memoir IS All About You. How nice to hear that we can write about ourselves and not feel like we are a bunch of navel-gazing, narcissistic, nobodies who are boring the world with our stories—as reported from on high in a New York Times article by Neil Genzlinger a few weeks ago. 

I had to wonder if he’d ever been faced with a memoir challenge: write for thirty minutes about the most meaningful experience of your life. That’s what those who were in Dr. James Pennebaker’s early studies about writing and healing, writing and transformation did, and so have many others who go on to write and publish well written books that inspire others. I talk about those studies and the power of writing to create new perspectives and new mindsets in my book The Power of Memoir. My guess is that he might fail the test.

Memoir writing is not for the faint of heart. Betty Davis said, “Getting old is not for sissies,” and the same is true for writing a memoir. We need to find our tribe, those of like mind who are exploring the planet, whether internally, externally, or both, and feel ourselves supported and buoyed up by being around them. We need to listen to that still small voice that invites us to write, to break open the silence in our lives. To speak our truths. When we do that, we open the world to us in ways we couldn’t have imagined. What is your writing tribe? Do you have support in your writing life?

Yesterday I was invited to participate in a wonderful teleseminar by Tina Games who is relaunching her book Journaling by the Moonlight. I met several women I didn’t know—though I knew Tina and Ruth Folit, who has produced the Life Journal program to journal online. Tamara Gold and Lynn Serafinn were new to me, but 90 minutes later, after talking about the transformational power of writing, the spiritual strength that writing can offer us, I felt connected and re-energized about my own writing and what I do with memoir writers.

This is some of what we were all saying:

  1. Writing is transformational.
  2. Writing creates new insights and awareness.
  3. Writing frees us to find our truths and deepen our connection with ourselves.
  4. Writing invites our Whole Self to revel in the creativity and passion of who we really are.

The purpose of writing is to discover, uncover, and recover –and to make a difference in our lives and the lives of others. First, we write for ourselves—not worrying about judgments or criticism—then we write to communicate to others. We might begin in a journal, and continue the journaling as we write our personal stories in a memoir, which is constructed of scenes and created to bring others into our experience.

Memoirs are more popular than ever! Let your voice be heard, and write a new story today! In your journal, online, to a friend, or as a new chapter in your book.

 Sign up for the NAMW newsletter to find out what memoir writers are up to, and to get writing articles and prompts in your inbox to feed the flame of your writing passion. Best of luck in your writing life!

Ask an Expert About Agents, Editing, and all things Writerly

One of the perks of the writing life is getting to meet other people in the writing world, people who seem to float in the refined atmosphere of writer’s magazines or who wear a nametag that says “editor” or “author,” but really we are all together in the dance of words. We all try to find our way to offer the world something that resonates, helping writers and ourselves coalesce images and sensations, memories and sentences into stories.

Chuck Sambuchino is a wealth of information, and he is passionate about sharing it. He is an editor at Writers Digest, and the author of a just released humorous book How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack—we’ll have to ask him more about that—and an avowed addict of chocolate chip cookies. Does he sound human or what?

His book and blog Guide to Literary Agents helps authors in the always dramatic search for an agent, and is an important resource for our libraries.
Chuck has been around the literary and writing world for a long time, and will be at our beck and call for an hour at the National Association of Memoir Writers monthly member teleseminar on Friday, November 19.I’m sure you have questions for Chuck, and you can post them here. I will make sure he answers your questions, time permitting. So start now to think about how Chuck can help you with your writing life.

Win Memoir Writing Contests–Edit Your Memoir

When I wrote The Power of Memoir and my own memoir Don’t Call Me Mother, I spent more time editing than writing! For some writers, editing is fun, creative and mind-stretching. Finding the right word, feeling out the best tone for the mood of a piece is like polishing the piece, much the same way as a carpenter puts on the final finishes of a handmade table. For others, editing is a chore, something that has to be done. Writers who want to improve their work—whose first draft is truly ready for the eyes of others?— need to edit for style and accuracy of usage as well as subtleties of meaning and language.

I’m asked to be a judge of memoir writing contests from time to time. As I sort through the pages, I notice certain patterns and bad habits that lead me to put a manuscript in the “no” pile. Let’s look at some of the ways that a contest judge views the early pages of a manuscript. Note: if you have a lot of errors on the first or second page, your judge will not read on.

  1. Misspelled words and incorrect grammar suggest carelessness or ignorance, suggested that you are not ready to be  a professional.
  2. Incorrect placement of periods and quotes, and the framing of dialogue means the person was either careless or doesn’t know correct usage. “My mother loved the new dress,” Betty said, taking off her hat. Note that the comma is just in front of the quote, and the attribution is simple, using the word “said.” “Screamed, shouted, muttered”—are almost never necessary in creating believable dialogue, and it shows that you’re a beginner.
  3. Misuse of “it’s” and “its,” ‘your” and “you’re” “there” and “their” are my pet peeves. These mistakes show up all over the internet and even in newspapers—shocking! But just because it is everywhere doesn’t make it right.
  4. Flat language, such as using “there is, there were, there are”—too much of the verb form “to be” leaves the work listless. Nothing is happening when things are just “being.” Find active verbs, work on reconstructing sentences so they are moving along and interesting.
  5. Dangling participles that don’t modify correctly show the person doesn’t understand how to diagram a sentence. Remember, in the old days, you had to know how things hooked together and you knew what modified what! “Driving in the car, the dog hung his head out the window.” Here, the dog hopefully was not driving! Correction:  “As I drove the car, the dog hung his head.”
  6. At the beginning of a shorter essay or vignette, it’s best to bring in the action, characters and situation early in the story. Long rambling explanations of the back story or hard to follow pieces of history confuse the reader. What is the through line of the story? Where does it begin and end through the character’s eyes and experience?
  7. What growth, change, insight, or new revelations does the main character—in a memoir it’s you!—have by the end of the vignette? Too often stories meander unfocused to the last page, and the reader does not get the point.

Final suggestions: As you write your first draft, allow yourself time to add in details and ask yourself questions: did I use scenes and sensual detail? Does the reader, who does not know me, see and experience my world through their senses? Does spell check give the correct answer for every word—often it’s incorrect for the default setting in grammar and spelling, and you have to check each word yourself.

Think of your work as having layers, each encounter with your manuscript leading to a more polished story. And, don’t forget to enjoy the process!