memoir

A Week’s Worth of Journaling Prompts: The Early Years

February 13, 2012
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Last week’s journal writing prompts explored our first memories. This week, we move up to the next period of our lives—what I call “the early years.” The early years begin at roughly kindergarten and end at the beginning of middle school. For me, it was from age four to ten. Physically and intellectually the early [...]

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BlogTalk: The Power of Story Telling

February 10, 2012
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When we write about our lives, we are not simply recording events: we are telling stories. And when we write those stories for others to read, we hope to engage our readers by sharing our life experiences in such a way that it affects them emotionally, makes them think about their own lives, and or [...]

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A New Year’s Writing Tradition

January 1, 2012
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There’s something about the end of one year and the beginning of the next that invites review and reflection. Without this calendar marker, it’s really just another day—but, for me, January 1 always feels momentous. It’s like drawing a line in the sands of time between the past and the present: whatever happened in the [...]

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Blogtalk: Characterizing Yourself, NaNoWriMo, Free Memoir Writing Conference, and Creating Inspiration

October 14, 2011
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With all the possibilities journaling offers, from simply writing on lined notebook paper to beautiful and complex art journals, I found Quinn Creative’s recent post, Journaling with Words, humorous and enjoyable. Plus, she offers a great journaling exercise to help you identify and acknowledge the creative aspects of your personality. When I saw the exercise, [...]

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A Week’s Worth of Journaling Prompts: Diligence

October 3, 2011
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For my eighth birthday, my mother presented me with a used, Royal typewriter and a dogeared college typing text. Though I’m sure I received many other gifts that birthday, these are the only ones I remember. I don’t think I was a particularly conscientious child — in fact I’m positive I was not — and [...]

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A Week’s Worth of Journaling Prompts: Reflections for the Future

September 19, 2011
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I have just been reading Writer Magazine’s June 2011 interview of Gail Godwin, regarding her recently released The Making of a Writer, Volume 2: Journals, 1963-1969. Godwin’s purpose in publishing her edited journal entries is to inspire other writers by sharing her journey and growth as a writer, as well as how she mines her [...]

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A Week’s Worth of Journaling Prompts: Using Your Journal for Memoir

September 12, 2011
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Journal writing is good for so many things: emotional catharsis, sorting out problems, recording life events, self-reflection, and personal growth. It is also a writer’s tool, in which we write about our characters, explore possibilities, and practice writing dialog. Often, though, we don’t make use of previous entries. We mull over things in writing, and [...]

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