Every ordinary life story is extraordinary!

Every ordinary life story is extraordinary!

exercise

Take Time Not Just For Writing but also From Writing

by

We hear a lot about how to make time for writing but not as much about how to take time from writing. Whether writing is your profession or your hobby, it’s not your whole life. Stick to a schedule that builds in time for various other activities.

Among the good reasons to take a break:

  1. Remind yourself that if you don’t get up from your computer, not only won’t you make valuable memories with family and friends but you also will simply burn out faster as a writer.
  2. Physical activity is critical, so periodically stop writing and start moving. Sitting is the new smoking – not good for you to do 24/7. Physical activity also feeds your brain and nourishes your creativity. Oxygen!
  3. Life experiences are what informs your work; if you don’t get out into the world and keep experiencing, you’ll run out of topics to write about.

So many things make up a well-rounded and well-purposed life. The tasks alone—childcare, cleaning, shopping, cooking, tending to your car, preparing taxes, answering personal email—obviously need time and attention. Then you also benefit from activities such as reading, traveling, visiting friends, listening to music, going out to dinner, seeing a movie, watching a little TV, local sightseeing—the list really is endless, and let’s not forget that we all should be getting roughly eight hours of sleep each night.

You can limit your daily hours, the days of the week or both. Perhaps ban writing on weekends or set a policy of no-writing-Wednesdays. If you are writing on the side and have a full-time job, this whole situation is more difficult, but it’s still a good idea not to wear yourself out. Maybe you’re getting up an hour earlier every day to write or writing every night after dinner. Still establish limits. One morning you sleep that hour, one night you binge a favorite TV show or you always stop writing by midnight.

Coming back to your computer refreshed after a short break helps you stay sharp. Remember that it’s just a little time away; it’s not a new pattern of not writing at all. Still stay engaged and on track!

Login

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!

Schedule A Call