Making Meaning of Your Memories

Writers often underestimate the number of drafts they’ll need to write, edit, and rewrite to get them from their first draft to a fully formed manuscript. In Part 1 of this blog post, I offered a snap...

Writers commonly underestimate the effort required to complete a book. You get inspired to write about your life, then sit down and start pecking at the keys, letting your passion and vision of a publ...

A premise is the foundational idea or central theme that drives your memoir—a single sentence that captures the essence of the story you want to tell. Your premise serves as the guiding light that sha...

“A mother is always the beginning. She is how things begin.” Amy Tan wrote these lines in her novel, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, and they’ve haunted me since the first time I read them. Mothers are the...

My brother and his wife bought the childhood home where my five siblings and I grew up. Whenever I visit, I feel a flood of memories. I can visualize life in our modest-sized house with eight people c...

Everyone who embarks on a journey to write their memoir inevitably hits a wall. You have a dream of telling a slice of your life story, but you meet resistance—a too-full calendar, kids who need your ...

Many people worry they don't have enough time to write a memoir. Life is busy and finding time to write can be challenging. However, writing a memoir doesn't have to be a full-time job. Even if you on...

My index finger hovered over the ‘send’ button for several seconds. I rechecked my document one more time. Was it good enough to ship off to my editor? This was the first draft of a small book project...

Several years ago, I trained for my first marathon. I wasn’t a runner when I signed up for my first race, so I spent months following a training plan to literally get me up to speed.

I hated that pla...

Last year I was working on a memoir project with a client. Every couple of weeks we’d meet to discuss various aspects of their life related to the story they wanted to tell. I’d record our sessions an...

The hardest part about writing a memoir is getting your first draft done. I know this because I spent about five years tinkering with my first draft. You start with energy and good intentions. You com...

Writing a memoir is hard work, especially if you're struggling to remember some of the most pivotal moments in your life. If you’re having a hard time accessing key memories and sensory details of pas...