Making Meaning of Your Memories

Every writer knows the feeling: you finally sit down to write your memoir…and then the voice in your head starts up.

“That sentence sounds terrible.”
 “You used the word ‘remember’ three times—fix it.”
 “No one’s going to want to read this.”

Before you’ve finished the first paragraph, you’re delet...

Here’s one of the biggest reasons why would-be memoir writers stay stuck: They try to sit down and write their entire life story in one go.

No wonder it feels overwhelming. No wonder the cursor blinks on the screen like it’s mocking you.

But here’s the secret: you don’t have to write your whole li...

If you’ve been carrying the dream of writing your memoir for years, there’s a good chance something invisible has been holding you back.

Maybe you’ve been waiting for someone to tell you your story matters. Or for the perfect block of time to magically open up in your life. Or for some kind of offi...

 If you’re writing a memoir, you’ve probably heard it before: “You should keep a journal.” But you might be wondering—why bother? Isn’t my memoir already doing the work of recording my life?

Not quite.

A journal isn’t a rough draft of your book. It’s something different entirely—a private space to...

Two weeks ago, I did something radical.

I unplugged.

Not just from email or social media. I unplugged from my job, my routines, my productivity mindset. I stepped away from the day-to-day demands of being a communications director at a research company and gave myself permission to simply be—to ex...

Before you start writing your memoir, there’s one crucial decision to make that will shape everything else: your premise.

A premise is more than just the summary of your story. It’s the "big idea" that holds your memoir together—the through line that keeps you focused, your readers engaged, and you...

If you’ve ever scribbled thoughts into a notebook after a long day or jotted down a vivid dream before it faded, you’ve already begun the practice that many memoir writers swear by: journaling. I’ve been writing in journals most of my life. As an adult, journaling has been one of the most practical ...

Writing about your faith for the first time can feel like standing on the edge of something tender and holy. You have a story—a moment of awakening, a stretch of wilderness, a quiet transformation—and something in you wants to put words to it. Maybe it’s for your journal. Maybe for your memoir. Or m...

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...

Memoir writing is more than recounting events; it’s about uncovering the deeper truths of how those events shaped you. As memoirists, we dig through the raw material of our lives, not just to relive the past, but to understand it, learn from it, and share our hard-won wisdom with others.

Marion Roa...

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...