Memoir isn’t the summary of a life; it’s a window into a life, very much like a photograph in its selective composition. It may look like a casual and even random calling up of bygone events. It’s not; it’s a deliberate construction. ~ William Zinsser, On Writing Well (30th Anniversary Edition) I am often […]
In Memories to Memoirs, Part 6, I wrote about the importance and impact of fresh metaphor to the life of our stories. Not only does metaphor engage the imagination of our readers, it is key to our own writing voice. Because metaphor is the frame through which we understand concepts, it reveals […]
You have been working on ways to remember and write your life story vividly, with concrete and sensory details that draw your reader into the world of your story. Now, consider how the verbs you choose effect tone and pace. In the midst of a story, when you describe a static object, you are in […]
Having just released two books in six months — the first, a collection of women’s stories and poems about the ’60s and ’70s, and the second a memoir that took seven years to write — I felt lost, empty, and spent. I would sit at the computer with the intention of writing, only […]
In every discipline and art form, it’s important to practice the fundamentals in order to keep them sharp. Years ago, I was a competitive ballroom dancer; yet, no matter how skilled or accomplished I became, my accomplishments were all built on the solid foundation of the fundamentals of each step: […]
