Category Archives: Memoir Writing Tips

Memoir Writing Tips, memoir-writing

9 Memoir Writing Tips from X-Pat, X-Pro Athlete Pat McKinzie

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A guest post by Patricia McKinzie-Lechault/@PattyMacKZ posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler

 

“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” Title IX legislation signed into law by President Nixon, June 23, 1972, full compliance required by 1978.

 

I am thrilled to welcome Pat McKinzie-Lechault back to Memoir Writer’s Journey in this guest post on how playing basketball helped her to write her memoir.  Pat and I first met in Dan Blank’s Build Your Author Platform Course in 2011 and have been “team mates” ever since.

 

Pat is a Title IX trailblazer for women’s basketball.  As the first recipient of a woman’s college basketball scholarship, she paved the way for women to have a legitimate place on the basketball court. In her memoir, Home Sweet Hardwood, she chronicles her journey from childhood dreams to woman’s professional basketball. Here is a blurb about her memoir:

 

“Written with an awe-inspiring resiliency and focus, Home Sweet Hardwood is more than just a book about sports. While possessing all of the drama and action you would expect in a blockbuster movie, this captivating book is a deeply personal tale of one woman’s triumphs over tragedy while continuing to pursue her dreams. Throughout her journey, McKinzie’s fight to play, her resiliency after each setback, and her unwavering spirit illuminate readers to the shocking strength of the human spirit and the power of a determined woman.”

 

Here are my book reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.

 

Welcome back, Pat!

 

Memoir Author Pat McKInzie-Lechault
Memoir Author Pat McKInzie-Lechault

 

Skills I learned as a professional athlete transferred to my career as a writer.

 

A child’s naïve hope helped me believe that one day I would be allowed to play ball like the boys. That same blind faith led me to persevere in publishing my own book. The self-discipline to practice the same jump shot for hours, trained me to rewrite the same sentence over and over to get it right. In rhythm to tunes blasting from my boom box, I shot hoops entering the zone when my body flowed. Now listening to jazz and R&B, I scribble first drafts, losing track of time and place in the artist’s zone of words.

 

Sports shaped the person I became and helped me to endure 5 concussions, 3 whiplashes, and 1 broken back as well as the countless setbacks and rejections that are an inherent part of any writers’ journey.

 

Here are 9 tips I’ve learned from playing basketball that helped me write my memoir:

 

1. Ideas are everywhere. Never get caught empty-handed. I carry a pocket notebook, always prepared for the muse, and jot down thoughts in class, while officiating soccer matches, and even during dinner parties.

 

2. Practice. Establish a routine! Butt-in-chair-daily-discipline helps ideas flow –journaling is a great warm up.

 

3. Start a blog. I used to write a weekly newspaper column about life abroad and that discipline carried over to blogging and helped in meeting deadlines.

 

4. Exercise. Oxygen to the brain helps you think sharper. Writer’s block? Walk it off. I am invigorated by the view of the snow-peaked Alps towering behind Lake Geneva. Water heals; mountains inspire.

 

5. Rest. As an athlete my inner drive exceeded the limits of my body. Due to injuries, pain imprints my spinal column like a tattoo; every day must include time to recline with my spine aligned to the floor.

 

6. Read. After my car accident, words jumped across the page for two years. When they stopped moving, I felt like I had my life back and could gain inspiration from other writers.

 

7. Form a team. My French husband, a printer, does the layout. My grown children, sisters, friends and former players read and edit. Bloggers like Kathy Pooler, Clara Freeman and on GenFab, NMWA and GIP groups offer weekly inspiration with their posts.

 

8. Persistence! As part of my personality – a feisty, in your face, never-take-no-for-an-answer kid – I became a focused, driven adult. Just as sport teaches you to win and lose graciously, writers must learn to handle defeat gallantly. Rejection stings. Don’t take loss personally, review mistakes, and move forward

 

9. Gratitude. After surviving a near death experience, I will never forget that life is a gift. Chronic illness presents challenges, but each day we face a choice, give up or go on. Thank your God, Great Spirit, and Higher Power for another 24 hours.

 

Over the years, I wrote countless different versions of the book and worked with a dozen editors and agents, but in the end the publishers said no thanks.

 

I felt like a loser. I moped. I swore. I cried. I kicked the wall. Then I picked up the pen again.

 

With a firsthand account of the monumental Title IX ruling, my book serves as an inspiring lesson in women’s history, but it is more than just a sports story. From expatriate life to cross-cultural marriage to motherhood, Home Sweet Hardwood touches on the transitions every woman makes as she bridges the gaps between genders, generations and cultures.

 

Though I suffer from pain, but no matter how awful I feel, I can muster the strength to read.

 

Writing saved my life. Words keep me from giving up. I exist to bear witness and record.

 

Whether I am teaching, coaching, or blogging, my life is dedicated to inspiring courage, breaking barriers, and creating connections.

 

Thank you so much, Pat for sharing these valuable lessons learned from your courageous life’s journey. You inspire us all to be the best that we can be.

 

Author Bio:

As a pioneer for women’s basketball, Pat McKinzie is the first female athletic scholarship recipient in Illinois and first female player to score 1,000 points at ISU. She is one of the first Women’s Professional Basketball League draftees and female inductees in the Hall of Fame at Illinois State. After a 1983 car accident in France ended her playing career, McKinzie began to focus her energy on coaching. With thirty years of experience in coaching, teaching, and writing, she has cultivated an impressive career from hall-of-fame coach to basketball agent, student advisor, columnist, and blogger. McKinzie has a bachelor’s degree in education from Illinois State University. She is married to a Frenchman with whom she raised two Third Culture Kids, and she currently resides in Switzerland.

Links:

Google+ : https://plus.google.com/u/0/

Blog http://pattymackz.com/wordpress/

Facebook    https://www.facebook.com/pat.mckinzie

http://pattymackz.com/wordpress/book/

Twitter:@PattyMacKZ

Home Sweet Hardwood can be ordered from Amazon or Pat’s blog:

 

HOMESWEET HARDWOOD book cover
HOME SWEET HARDWOOD book cover

Pat will give away a free copy of Home Sweet Hardwood to a commenter whose name will be selected in a random drawing.

 

How about you? What life skills have you been able to transfer to your writing projects? How has writing helped you in life?

 

We’d love to hear from you. Please leave your comments below~

 

This week: Pat and I are also over at Clara Freeman’s Clara54Weblog in an Interview on Memoir Insights. Hope you’ll stop by there , too!

 

Next Week: Writing Teacher, Author and Editor Cate Russell-Cole of the popular CommuniCATE Resources for Writers blog will discuss “Thinking Inside the Frame: Using Photographs to Tell Your Story.”

 

Memoir Writing Tips, memoir-writing

Why “Wild” Works: Memoir Writing Tips

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Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler

 

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” Anton Chekov

 

 

Wild Book Cover by Cheryl Strayed
Wild Book Cover by Cheryl Strayed

 

 

Sometimes, our greatest teachers are found on the pages of a book. That’s what happened to me when I read Cheryl Strayed’s memoir, Wild as it apparently has for many others.

 

A #1 New York Times bestseller since its 2012 release, it holds many memoir writing tips.

 

So, I set out to look at what Cheryl does to captivate my attention, keep me turning the pages and then leave me with the sense that I have not only accompanied her on her journey but I have experienced a connection to my own journey.

 

Wild is a story within a story of a twenty-six year old woman who decides to take a hike along the Pacific Crest trail in the wake of her mother’s sudden and untimely death from cancer, her failed attempts to bring her siblings together after her death and a divorce from a man she loves but does not feel capable of relating to in a mature, committed way. The fact that she is an inexperienced and ill-equipped hiker further adds to the drama and tension of the journey.

 

Strayed weaves in her inner and outer struggles seamlessly, tapping into universal themes throughout the story. I found myself grieving over the potential loss of my own mother; I could almost feel the pain in my feet as she recounted the blisters that develop from poorly-fitting hiking boots and I marveled at her ability to walk alone through snake and bear-infested trails. With raw honesty, she reflects on her own flaws and needs in a way that makes me root for her.

 

I was spellbound by this book.

 

Here’s are the lessons I take away from reading “Wild “:

The author:

 

  • Transforms real-life events into a story that matters by tapping into universal issues: death of a parent, divorce, grief, regrets, hiking alone on a trail.

 

  • Reflects upon the meaning of the experiences by weaving in the voice of innocence and the voice of experience. By sharing her inner thoughts about her losses, I feel her deep pain and understand why she took off by herself to try to sort it all out.

 

  • Uses graphic sensory details to bring the reader into the story. Not only do I feel the blisters on my feet but I experience thirst when her water supply is dwindling and the water tank on the trail is dry. I nearly gasp out loud when her boot goes sailing into the precipice below. And,oh those rattlesnakes…

 

  • Conveys the meaning of the story clearly through the theme of searching for self after devastating losses and regrets.

 

  • Develops multidimensional, believable characters whom I can see and  root for or disdain, like the two bow hunters she meets on the trail and has a “creepy” feeling about: “They both looked in their midthirties. One man was sandy-haired and wiry, though he had a little belly; the other was a redhead tall and meaty enough to be a linebacker. They both wore jeans with big buck knives hitched onto their belts and enormous backpacks that had bows and arrows slung across them.”

 

  • Uses fiction techniques effectively. She writes in scenes using sensory detail, dialogue, conflict, tension, a defined plot that moves along at a steady pace.

 

  • Crafts a beginning, middle and end. I see the reason for her hike, feel the rising action of hiking it alone with dangers everywhere from wild animals to temperature extremes, snow-covered mountains, questionable human predators and come full circle with her to the end of her hike where she sees her life with new eyes. Tranformation.

 

Speaking of craft, Cheryl has admitted taking a long time to write her memoir. She took the hike in 1995 and her memoir was released in 2012. When asked in an interview why it took her so long to write, she replied:

“For a number of reasons. It took me years of apprenticing myself to the craft before I could write a book. Once I did that, the story I most urgently had to tell was the one I told in my first book, Torch. I don’t write about something unless I feel a stirring inside of me to do so and it wasn’t until 2008 that I felt that in relation to my experience on the PCT. I think the years between my hike and writing about it made for a better book. I gained perspective that I wouldn’t have had if I’d written about it immediately.”

 

  • Writes from a position of strength and perspective by allowing time and emotional distance to guide her story.

I have heard that a good memoir:

       *invites the reader into a personal experience ,

       *keeps him/her engaged throughout and

       *provides a level of satisfaction at the end.

 

Isn’t that something we all want to do for ourselves and for our readers?

 

I am grateful to Cheryl for inviting me into her world and showing me how she faced and overcame her life challenges. Not only did I enjoy her story but I learned some important tips about memoir writing.

***

The National Association of Memoir Writers is co-sponsoring a workshop with Cheryl Strayed June 1, 2013 in Petaluma, CA. Click the link to sign up for the great opportunity to work with Cheryl.

Learn from the New York Times bestseller about how to write a successful memoir!

 

Workshop Schedule (subject to change):

8:30 Continental Breakfast
9:15 Welcome and opening remarks.
9:45 Introduction
10:00 Talk & First Writing Session
11:00 Sharing Q&A
12:30 Lunch
2:00 Craft Talk & Second Writing Session
3:30 Sharing and discussion
4:00 Reading 4:30 Q&A
5:00 Book Signing & Close

 

 

How about you?  Have you read Wild?  If so, what lessons did you take away?

 

 

Announcement: Congratulations, Debi Wandrey! Your name was selected in a random drawing of commenters to receive Barbara Techel’s memoir, Through Frankie’s Eyes: One Woman’s Journey to Authenicity and the Dog on Wheels Who Led the Way.

 

 

Next Week: Memoir Author Linda Kovic-Skow will discuss her memoir, French Illusions. Linda will give away a free copy of her memoir to a commenter whose name will be selected in a random drawing.