Dolly’s Masterclass in Coy Memoir Who isn’t sad that Dolly Parton has died? Apart from the music, movies, interviews and philanthropy, Dolly Parton also left a memoir collection. But even with four books about her life, she still managed to avoid revealing everything. In fact, “coy” is a word some observers use about Dolly’s manner
What to Write About If You Don’t Want a Full Autobiography You think you’ve led an interesting life, and you’d like to share it with readers, but what you have is a series of stories, not a singular or unified defining memoir theme. Can you be a memoir author if you have no obvious theme?
How Independence Day might fit into a memoir. As you write your memoir, you’re probably basing the stories you choose partly on how relatable they will be to readers. The reader may see similarities or stark differences between their own memories of, say, Christmas morning and the scene under the tree that you describe but,
And one sentence that will motivate you to start again. Doubts are familiar territory to memoir authors, and they can occur at any and all points in the process. You’re either hoping to start writing your memoir, in the middle of writing it, or finished and maybe in the editing, publishing or marketing stage. Even
All categories. That’s the hard part. Memoir is an identified genre, but when you examine the process you see that this genre sources writing from many others. So when you ask yourself what category of writer you should be acting as in order to write a solid memoir, you may have to answer: all of
You’ll probably mention it if you’ve ever been or had a mom. Writing this on Mother’s Day (although posting the day after), I’m thinking of moms and motherhood and of course I’m always thinking about memoir. There’s a pretty significant intersection of these topics. If you’re writing a memoir, your mother will make an appearance—a
This technique guarantees that you will finish your memoir. In theory. I always learn a lot from every memoir I read/listen to, but Lauren Graham’s I’m Talking as Fast as I Can supplied a little bonus information that has nothing to do with her life or memoir style. She wanted to pass along a 10-step
It Helps Keep You Focused as You Write As you start your memoir, identifying your ideal reader will help you determine what to include and what tone to use. As the writing process continues, picturing that reader will keep reminding you of both aspects. But how do you figure out who your reader is, this
One book reviewer states that as fact, so let’s take a look. “There is no grail so holy as the truth of one’s own story. And to tell it so that others may find meaning, there requires self-awareness minus the safe distances of irony or sarcasm—as well as belief that one’s story is worthy of
Then just set up a chapter and start writing your memoir. Don’t worry about rules. There are no rules to writing your memoir; there are only trends. These trends are based on techniques and features identified in current top-selling memoirs. At best, they’re the flavor of the month. If you’re capturing your life in print for your family, for your own gratification or to inspire readers, rather than aiming to set off Hollywood screenplay bidding wars, these trends don’t even apply to you. You’ll write the memoir that suits you best, and it will be timeless, not trend-driven.There are no rules, but there are four steps:
1. Theme/framework
2. Writing
3. Editing/polishing
4. Self-publishing
You’ve researched this, too, and you’ve been shocked at the price for getting help with any one of those steps, much less all four. That’s because most memoir sites promise to commercialize your work. They’ll follow a formula based on current memoir trends, because they want to convince you that they can turn your memoir into a best-seller. These sites overwhelm you with unnecessary information not to help you, the memoir author, but to address Search Engine Optimization (SEO) algorithms so they can sell more.
That’s not what we do at Write My Memoirs. Our small community of coaches, writers and editors are every bit as skilled as any you’ll find, and we charge appropriately for their expertise and the time they’ll spend helping you craft a compelling, enjoyable read. But you won’t pay an upcharge for other websites’ commercialization, the marketing that follows, and the pages of intimidating “advice.” You can sell your book if you like—we have ISBNs available for you—but our organic process of capturing your story takes a noncommercial path.
If you want help with any or all of the four steps above, choose from our services or save money by selecting one of our packages. If you’d like to talk about what’s right for you, schedule a call. One year from now, you can be holding your published memoir in your hand. And at that point, it will be a big deal!