I write memoir for several reasons — least of which is to create a book of memoir. I write memoir to prime my writing pump. I write memoir to allow my writer’s voice to rise to the surface. I write memoir to connect with the author within myself. A few years ago, I coined the…
Category: Memoir
How to Create a Garden Journal – More about the Nature Writer Dorothy Wordsworth’s Nature Writing
If you are wondering how to create a garden journal, the most obvious answer is: Write. As usual, however, obvious answers are hardly ever true answers. Many times, they are insults thrust toward what a true answer might be, and while I often tell journalists and writers to do just that — just write! Nature…
Thanking God for the Sun, the Rain, and the Apple Seeds: Thanking God for Nature
During the month of September, I like to celebrate the birthday of a man who, centuries ago, carried his Bible and a sack of apple seeds across parts of the unsettled northeast and shared them there. That man’s name was John Chapman, but because he planted apple trees everywhere that he traveled, folks called him…
6 Words: Memoir Challenge – Exercise 2 – Write to Beat Writer’s Block
Ok. Yesterday, you should have listed 6 concrete words that signify yourself in some way. Today, we have a short writing exercise. 6 Words: Memoir Challenge – Exercise 2: For each of the 6 words that you listed, write one simple paragraph to express the way the word is significant to you. Write is an…
6 Words: Memoir Challenge – Exercise 1 – Beat Writer’s Block
For many years, autumn has been the time of year that I do most of my writing, and during the month of October, I am hosting a Memoir Writing Challenge: Harvest Your Past. I have decided to throw in an extra memoir-writing challenge before October, to help you prime your writing pump. Bottom Line: The…
Let’s Take a Deep Dive into Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes
Let’s Take a Deep Dive into Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. Let’s Read to be Amazed. October is going to be an amazing month for me. Alluding to Natalie Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting, October of 2022 is at the tip-top of the Ferris Wheel of My Life. On October 18, 2022, my debut picture…
Describe the Land around Your Childhood Home
Your journal assignment for today is to describe the terrain or the countryside of the area around your childhood home. When I say describe, I mean just that. Provide sentences that capture how the countryside looked. Don’t just say: “I grew up 40 miles south of Fort Smith, Arkansas. Fort Smith has a population of…
Should Picture Book Writers Write Memoir? YES!
Every Writer Should Also Write Memoir. News Flash: The Donkey’s Song stemmed from my memoir writing. That Donkey is me! For today’s Memoir Mondays assignment, I want people to draw a map of their childhood neighborhoods. If you study my map closely, you can see that my childhood home was within walking distance of the foundation…
How to Get Into a Writing Groove – Just Write! One Word at a Time
If you are having difficulty getting into a writing groove, you may be suffering from a couple of issues. The most common problem for most writers is procrastination. Much of the time, Procrastination is linked to Perfectionism. Perfectionism often manifests itself as Fear. A Perfectionist is Afraid of making mistakes. Remember This: THERE ARE NO…
Let’s Write a Few Words about Our Childhood Homes
How to Participate in Memoir Mondays: All you need is some kind of paper and a pencil or pen–or a computer with a place that you can write and save documents. When I had a Dell Computer, I wrote and saved my documents in Microsoft Word, but now that I have a Macbook, I write…