Every ordinary life story is extraordinary!

Every ordinary life story is extraordinary!

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Busting Writer’s Block

You may be rolling along for some time, writing a little bit each day or every week when, suddenly, you get stuck and the stories no longer come to mind easily. Or you may know what you want to write about but not know how to approach it. You may even have lost your drive to write at all. Don’t worry; this happens to all writers at one point or another, and there are plenty of ways around it!

The best way to address writer’s block is to continue jotting down notes whenever you find yourself reminiscing. Carry a small notepad and pencil with you, use the Notebook app in your phone or just text yourself. You never know when an idea might strike you! If you’re having lunch with friends when something they say reminds you of a time you shared with them, record it immediately. That may be enough to motivate you to write about it when you return home.

You also may find inspiration from reading biographies, memoirs and fictional life stories. As you read, observe how a story unfolds and think about how you can apply the different techniques to chronicling your own life’s events.


Don’t forget to take breaks

One of the most important parts of the writing process can be stopping. If you force yourself to write for a few hours or commit to a full chapter each day, you may start considering writing to be a chore. But your memoir should be something you enjoy working on, so be sure to give yourself permission to stop when you’re tired or just need a break.

Many writers find that taking a walk can be just the break they need from sitting in front of a computer screen. Simply walking around the block, running a quick errand or exercising your pet can give you a welcome diversion. When you return to the computer, you may find your thoughts are clearer and you’re ready to write a more fully formed story.

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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!