When you sit down to write your memoir, you’re not just telling a story—you’re inviting readers into your life. How you frame that invitation matters, and two critical choices will shape how your story is experienced: verb tense and point of view (POV). These decisions may seem small, but they profo...

Writing a memoir is about more than recounting memories; it’s about bringing readers into your world and letting them experience your pivotal moments firsthand. Many memoir writers struggle with “showing” rather than “telling” their most powerful memories. This requires a careful balance of authenti...

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 snapshot of what to expect for your first and second drafts, and the key objectives of these phases in t...

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 published bestseller drive your word count.

Then reality sets in. You stare at the screen wondering wha...

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 shapes the narrative, ensuring coherence and focus throughout the writing process.

Crafting a clear an...

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 crammed around the dinner table, vying for space in front of the basement TV, battling over whose tur...

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 only have a few minutes each day, you can make progress by setting a daily writing goal and sticking t...

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 past events, writing prompts can help unlock the past and deepen your memoir writing.

What Are Writing...

Embarking on the journey of writing your memoir is a courageous and deeply personal endeavor. As we step into the new year, it's the perfect time to reflect on your experiences and commit to putting pen to paper. Setting specific and achievable writing goals will not only keep you on track but also ...

I never planned to write a memoir. Even though I had spent a good part of my career ghostwriting and editing other people’s stories, it never occurred to me that I might one day want to tell my own. I convinced myself that others' experiences were much more harrowing than anything that had ever happ...

Every November I host a 30-day Memoir Writing Challenge (National Memoir Writing Month—NaMeWriMo) modeled after the longstanding National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). My challenge doesn’t mandate writing 50,000 words as the crowning achievement of the challenge. Instead, I encourage each partici...

One mistake I consistently see memoir writers make is being guarded in their first draft. Likely, they're following the commonly accepted advice to "write from your scars, not your wounds." Instead of telling their story unfiltered, they get in their heads and clean up their thoughts. 

What would A...