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memoirs

Keep Your WriteMyMemoirs Account Updated

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Keep Your WriteMyMemoirs Account Updated
Just a little housekeeping for our WriteMyMemoirs members: please make sure your account information is current. Our most recent email to our members resulted in some emails “bouncing??? back to us because the addresses were no longer valid. To make sure that all of our members have working email addresses, we’re asking you to click on “My Account??? on the Table of Contents page that you reach after signing in. Please check the “email??? field to make sure that your current, valid email is listed.
Validating your email address carries no obligation of any kind. When you receive email from us, you can always “unsubscribe??? to opt out of receiving future email notifications about our products and services. We just want to make sure that our membership information is accurate.
Wondering what we would have to email you about? First, we want to remind our members that they started the process of writing memoirs. Some people sign up and forget where the website is that has their work. We also want to let people know about our newer services—writing help and publishing. We’re planning to introduce some fun competitions that will provide opportunities for lucky members to have their books published for free, and we may run various promotions that will offer discounts. We will email our members whenever there’s something exciting to sh

Just a little housekeeping for our WriteMyMemoirs members: please make sure your account information is current. Our most recent email to our members resulted in some emails “bouncing??? back to us because the addresses were no longer valid. To make sure that all of our members have working email addresses, we’re asking you to click on “My Account??? on the Table of Contents page that you reach after signing in. Please check the “email??? field to make sure that your current, valid email is listed.

Validating your email address carries no obligation of any kind. When you receive email from us, you can always “unsubscribe??? to opt out of receiving future email notifications about our products and services. We just want to make sure that our membership information is accurate.

Wondering what we would have to email you about? First, we want to remind our members that they started the process of writing memoirs. Some people sign up and forget where the website is that has their work. We also want to let people know about our newer services—writing help and publishing. We’re planning to introduce some fun competitions that will provide opportunities for lucky members to have their books published for free, and we may run various promotions that will offer discounts. We will email our members whenever there’s something exciting to share!

Oprah Says: Your Memoirs May Help Others

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Oprah Says: Your Memoirs May Help Others
Did you see Oprah’s recent interview of Meredith Baxter? Meredith has been making the talk show circuit to publicize her new memoir, Untied, and Oprah devoted a full hour to the book. Like many memoirs, Baxter’s story revealed a life filled with personal challenges. She grew up with neglectful parents, faced spousal abuse, took up alcohol for a time, battled cancer and came out as a lesbian. It’s not your typical life.
But unusual circumstances are exactly what prompt many people to write their memoirs. Part of the motivation is that catharsis of getting it all out there and off your chest. But Oprah hit it when she mentioned the other part: hoping to save others from the same fate. We all can feel so alone when dealing with hardship. Reading other people’s accounts of how they handled that same difficulty can make us feel less alone as well as, perhaps, showing us ways to solve our problems. Although I don’t remember her exact words, I recall hearing Oprah making a very pointed statement, something like: you hope when you write these things that you’ll help other people who find themselves in a similar situation.
Now and then one of our members confirms that, telling us, “I had a terrible childhood and want my story out there to help others.??? The memoir can serve as a cautionary tale or an uplifting assurance of redemption. If Oprah says so, it must be true!

Blog 82Did you see Oprah’s recent interview of Meredith Baxter? Meredith has been making the talk show circuit to publicize her new memoir, Untied, and Oprah devoted a full hour to the book. Like many memoirs, Baxter’s autobiography revealed a life filled with personal challenges. She grew up with neglectful parents, faced spousal abuse, took up alcohol for a time, battled cancer and came out as a lesbian. It’s not your typical life.

But unusual circumstances are exactly what prompt many people to write their memoirs. Part of the motivation is that catharsis of getting it all out there and off your chest, and Oprah really nailed it when she mentioned the other part: hoping to save others from the same fate. We all can feel so alone when dealing with hardship. Reading other people’s accounts of how they handled that same difficulty can make us feel less alone as well as, perhaps, showing us ways to solve our problems. Although I don’t remember her exact words, I recall hearing Oprah making a very pointed statement, something like: you hope when you write these things that you’ll help other people who find themselves in a similar situation.

Now and then one of our members confirms that, telling us, “I had a terrible childhood and want my story out there to help others.??? The memoir can serve as a cautionary tale or an uplifting assurance of redemption. If Oprah says so, it must be true!

A Common Question at Write My Memoirs

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A Common Question at Write My Memoirs
All Write My Memoirs members should have received an email recently that lists some of the newer services we’ve added. If you need help writing your memoirs or if you’ve finished writing and you would like to publish your book, we now have both writing and publishing services available.
Our email prompted some members to write back to us, with one question consistently dominating our mailbox: “Why is this site free???? Perhaps people feel that there must be some catch. Why would we permit everyone and anyone to write a memoir on our site and use our own resources to keep it safe here, online, so that the writer can return to it day or night, month after month, no matter how long it takes to complete?
We answer every legitimate email we receive. In response to those who ask that question, we explain that the founder of Write My Memoirs was looking for a website to help him write his own life story. Not satisfied with the meager efforts available at the time, he launched writemymemoirs.com to help others who had the same goal in mind. So there’s no catch! Our new writing help and publishing services, which are fee-based, help us to maintain the rest of the site so that there’s never a charge to join, write a memoir and keep it online at Write My Memoirs.

All Write My Memoirs members should have received an email recently that lists some of the newer services we’ve added. If you need help writing your memoirs or if you’ve finished writing and you would like to publish your book, we now have both writing and publishing services available.

Our email prompted some members to write back to us, with one question consistently dominating our mailbox: “Why is this site free???? Perhaps people feel that there must be some catch. Why would we permit everyone and anyone to write a memoir on our site and use our resources to keep it safe here, online, so that the writer can return to it day or night, month after month, no matter how long it takes to complete?

We answer every legitimate email we receive. In response to those who ask that question, we explain that the founder of Write My Memoirs was looking for a website to help him write his own life story. Not satisfied with the meager efforts available at the time, he launched writemymemoirs.com to help others who had the same goal in mind. So there’s no catch! Our new writing help and publishing services, which are fee-based, help us to maintain the rest of the site so that there’s never a charge to join, write a memoir and keep it online at Write My Memoirs.

Controversial “Tiger Mother??? Demonstrates the Potential Impact of a Memoir

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Controversial “Tiger Mother??? Demonstrates the Potential Impact of a Memoir
By now you would think that every book on parenting has been published and no one could come up with anything new. Then Yale professor Amy Chua pens her memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, and suddenly everyone’s talking about how to raise kids as if it were a brand new topic.
Currently perched at #3 on the New York Times Bestseller List, Tiger Mother examines, but largely champions, the traditional Chinese method of raising children. High expectations, top grades, gold medals in musical competitions—it’s all in there as you would expect. Chua is happy that she was brought up that way and tried to repeat the process with her two second-generation daughters, insisting that it generates self-esteem, independence and success.
This is Chua’s third book, so she already was an accomplished author. She reportedly received a six-figure advance and had a publishing company behind her to promote the book. Still, Chua says she’s surprised her memoir has touched off this firestorm of controversy. In the first week after The Wall Street Journal published an excerpt, more than 5,000 comments followed it. This demonstrates that when you have a compelling story to tell, you never know—it might just become a literary phenomenon.

Blog 80By now you would think that every book on parenting has been published and no one could come up with anything new. Then Yale professor Amy Chua pens her memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, and suddenly everyone’s talking about how to raise kids as if it were a brand new topic.

Currently perched at #3 on the New York Times Bestseller List, Tiger Mother examines, and largely champions, the traditional Chinese method of raising children. High expectations, top grades, gold medals in musical competitions—it’s all in there as you would expect. Chua is grateful that she was brought up that way and tried to repeat the process with her two second-generation daughters, insisting that it generates self-esteem, independence and success.

This is Chua’s third book, so she already was an accomplished author. She reportedly received a six-figure advance and had a publishing company behind her to promote the book. Still, Chua says she’s surprised her memoir has touched off this firestorm of controversy. In the first week after The Wall Street Journal published an excerpt, more than 5,000 comments followed it. This demonstrates that when you have a compelling story to tell, you never know—it might just become a literary phenomenon.

WriteMyMemoirs Would Love Your Feedback!

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WriteMyMemoirs Would Love Your Feedback!
As all of you are busy actually writing your memoirs, we want to address any any way that we can help you. Of course, our tech pros are always standing by if you’re having any technical problems, but we also have professional writers who can respond to questions about grammar, structure and research. Even though you can find motivational pieces right on the website, we’ll be happy to “light a fire under you??? if your energy begins to fade. If writing your autobiography is your New Year’s Resolution, for example, the end of January often is about the time that resolutions fall to the wayside. We don’t want that to happen!
You can respond to the blog here, but also please find WriteMyMemoirs on Facebook and Twitter. We would like to start a meaty conversation! While there are lots of grammar sites on Facebook, many of them dissolve into name-calling or pointless discussions about obscure grammar issues that are more a matter of preference. Our language experts will stay on task to provide educated advice about your writing. Further, we monitor our page so that nothing abusive is permitted to remain on it, and remember—there are no stupid questions!
Twitter is even more direct. If you tweet us a question, we can get back to you promptly with a response. It’s like having your English teacher looking over your shoulder!

As all of you are busy actually writing your memoirs, we want to address your questions and any way that we can help you. Of course, our tech pros are always standing by if you’re having any technical problems, but we also have professional writers who can respond to questions about grammar, structure and research. Even though you can find motivational pieces right on the website, we’ll be happy to “light a fire under you??? if your energy begins to fade. If writing your autobiography is your New Year’s Resolution, for example, the end of January often is about the time that resolutions fall to the wayside. We don’t want that to happen!

You can respond to the blog here, but also please find WriteMyMemoirs on Facebook and Twitter. We would like to start a meaty conversation! While there are lots of grammar sites on Facebook, many of them dissolve into name-calling or pointless discussions about obscure grammar issues that are more a matter of preference. Our language experts will stay on task to provide educated advice about your writing. Further, we monitor our page so that nothing abusive is permitted to remain on it, and remember—there are no stupid questions!

Twitter is even more direct. If you tweet us a question, we can get back to you promptly with a response. It’s like having your English teacher looking over your shoulder!

Your Name as a Pun in the Title of Your Memoir

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Your Name as a Pun in the Title of Your Memoir
To pick up from the post two weeks ago, as promised I will share with you some autobiography titles that are puns. The idea is to think of your first or last name as if it’s just a word. Does it sound like any other word? If that doesn’t work, maybe your story focuses heavily on your profession and you can use that instead. An example is the memoir of singer Davy Jones, They Made a Monkee Out of Me.
Some names are easier than others. When Chris Lemmon wrote a biography of his father, actor Jack Lemmon, their shared last name served up all sorts of ideas. He could have selected “Lemmon Aid??? or “Lemmon Juice??? or something, but he chose A Twist of Lemmon. The 2009 autobiography of “Full House??? actress Jody Sweetin is titled Unsweetined: A Memoir, while actor David Hasselhoff drew from both his name and his nickname to publish Don’t Hassel the Hoff.
“M.A.S.H.??? actor Jamie Farr could have gone with the obvious and called his memoir something like “Going Too Farr,??? but instead he chose to make the pun on the word “for??? and titled it Just Farr Fun. Go figure. Probably my favorite pun title belongs to Hank Ketchum, the creator of Dennis the Menace, who named his autobiography Merchant of Dennis. Give it some thought. Maybe hidden in your name lies the potential to devise a catchy title for your life story

To pick up from the post two weeks ago, as promised I will share with you some autobiography titles that are puns. The idea is to think of your first or last name as if it’s just a word. Does it sound like any other word? If that doesn’t work, maybe your story focuses heavily on your profession and you can use that instead. An example is the memoir of singer Davy Jones, They Made a Monkee Out of Me.

Some names are easier than others. When Chris Lemmon wrote a biography of his father, actor Jack Lemmon, their shared last name served up all sorts of ideas. He could have selected “Lemmon Aid??? or “Lemmon Juice??? or something, but he chose A Twist of Lemmon. The 2009 autobiography of “Full House??? actress Jody Sweetin is titled Unsweetined: A Memoir, while actor David Hasselhoff drew from both his name and his nickname to publish Don’t Hassel the Hoff.

“M.A.S.H.??? actor Jamie Farr could have gone with the obvious and called his memoir something like “Going Too Farr,??? but instead he chose to make the pun on the word “for??? and titled it Just Farr Fun. Go figure. Probably my favorite pun title belongs to Hank Ketchum, the creator of Dennis the Menace, who named his autobiography Merchant of Dennis. Give it some thought. Maybe hidden in your name lies the potential to devise a catchy title for your life story that no one else is likely to have.

A Posthumous Memoir Can Honor a Loved One

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Before I supply those puns I promised last time, I want to take this last blog post of the year to discuss a more serious matter. Last week one of my relatives lost his dad. His grandchildren are grown and got to know him, but his little great-grandchildren never will. That got us thinking here at WriteMyMemoirs about how to honor a loved one who has passed away.

When someone dies, the family typically hears all sorts of nice comments about the person. Friends and relatives tell stories you may not have heard before. You already have your account on WriteMyMemoirs, so it’s easy to write these down so that you never forget them. Just go to the table of contents and set up a new chapter with the name of the person whose memory you want to honor. It doesn’t have to be a family member; it can be a friend. Start with your own testimonial, and invite others to email you their comments that you can then copy into the chapter. With photos of the person at different ages, your tribute will be complete.

After you have recorded as many comments as you feel necessary, you can have a small memorial book published right here on WriteMyMemoirs by going to our Publishing Page. Distribute one copy to every person who contributed thoughts, and save a few for future generations to come along. This could be an amazing tribute to someone you miss.

Creating a Cover for Your Memoir

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As an online publisher, we’d like to help you, at every stage of the process, to produce a true autobiography. Your cover is an important component of your book, so let’s discuss that.

You can have a solid color with no image but just your title. It’s sleek and certainly the least labor-intensive way to go. But, come on, you can do better than that. At least come up with some sort of design. You must have a budding artist in your family who can create a graphic for you; email that to us, and we can turn it into your cover.

The obvious choice is to cover your book with a photograph of yourself. Then the question becomes: what age of myself do I want to present? You may like your look best at a certain age, which is a good enough reason to dig up a photo from that time. Who you are right now, even with gray hair and a few facial lines, is another appropriate option. You’re looking back on your life from this moment, so the author and the subject of the book are both accurately represented by a current picture. Another good idea is to put your family home or the home in which you grew up on the cover of your memoir. When you choose an earlier photo of yourself, a house or other object, you can run it in black and white to convey the image of a time gone by.

Enter Your Memoir in a Contest

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Enter Your Memoir in a Contest
Having trouble staying on task with your memoir? A writing competition can be motivating for a couple of reasons. First, contests come with a deadline. That in itself keeps you working toward a goal. Then, of course, there’s the reason you’re entering—to win. Competing makes you try harder to produce the best product you can.
If you’re interested, the San Francisco Writers Conference is sponsoring an Indie Publishing Contest that specifically includes a category for non-fiction and memoirs. The other three categories are fiction, children’s lit and poetry. After narrowing the field to 25 entries in each category, the judges will name one winner and one runner-up in each category. The grand winner will receive a publishing contract, but all winners and runners-up will receive prize money or publishing help.
To be eligible to enter, you must:
Live in the United States or Canada.
Fill out a required form.
Submit up to the first 5,000 words of work that has never been traditionally published, although it’s okay if you’ve self-published the work.
Pay an entry fee of $35 for all categories except poetry, which has a fee of $25.
The deadline is January 5, 2011. Winners will be announced in February. For details, go to www.sfwriters.org. Good luck to all Write My Memoirs members!

Having trouble staying on task with your memoir? A writing competition can be motivating for a couple of reasons. First, contests come with a deadline. That in itself keeps you working toward a goal. Then, of course, there’s the reason you’re entering—to win. Competing makes you try harder to produce the best product you can.

If you’re interested, the San Francisco Writers Conference is sponsoring an Indie Publishing Contest that specifically includes a category for non-fiction and memoirs. The other three categories are fiction, children’s lit and poetry. After narrowing the field to 25 entries in each category, the judges will name one winner and one runner-up in each category. The grand winner will receive a publishing contract, but all winners and runners-up will receive some prize money or publishing help.

To be eligible to enter, you must:

  • Live in the United States or Canada.
  • Fill out a required form.
  • Submit up to the first 5,000 words of work that has never been traditionally published, although it’s okay if you’ve self-published the work.
  • Pay an entry fee of $35 for any category except poetry, which carries a fee of $25.

The deadline is January 5, 2011. Winners will be announced in February. For details, go to www.sfwriters.org. Good luck to all Write My Memoirs members!

Everyone Wants Something!

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In applying some general writing rules to your memoirs, I’m up to Rule 3 of Kurt Vonnegut’s eight rules for writing a short story.

Rule 3: Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

This rule makes me laugh. I think Vonnegut is saying that you shouldn’t bring in characters unless you give the reader some understanding of what motivates that character and what that person is seeking. I’m not sure this applies to an autobiography, though. In fiction, you have more of a choice about introducing and developing characters than you do as a narrator of a true life story. For example, you may name a grandparent who died when you were too young to recall a lot about the person, and you can’t just make it up! You may talk about a teacher in terms of how that person impacted your life, but you’re not really concerned with the teacher’s own needs and desires.

What I think you can take from this rule, though, is to be open and analytical about what you want at each stage of your life. Don’t just describe what happens; clarify what you hoped would happen, what you wanted to get from your relationships and why you pursued the goals you did. If you also feel it’s useful to flesh out some of the other people in your life, keep in mind Vonnegut’s third rule of delving into those people’s dreams and expectations.

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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!

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