Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler

 

My journey to memoir has led me to self-discovery and healing. It has made me look at my life and understand the choices that have led me to the woman I am today. At 67, I look back at the young woman who made many self-defeating life decisions. In writing my story, I have learned to embrace my flaws and setbacks and forgive myself for the path I chose. For it is through this path that I ultimately found the joy and contentment I am experiencing today.

 

EVER FAITHFUL TO HIS LEAD helped me answer my own burning question:

How does a young woman from a loving, stable family make so many wise choices about career, yet so many poor choices about love that she ends up escaping with her children in the middle of the day from a second abusive marriage?

 

Here’s my journey to memoir….

 

Writing a memoir is really hard work. It’s like having a homework assignment every day of your life.

It means showing up and getting in a writing zone where the words flow, or not. It means fighting your inner critic , facing rejection.

It means allowing yourself to be vulnerable and genuine, revisiting painful memories and gleaning the life lessons.

 

One word, one thought at a time. Like a huge jigsaw puzzle. You pour the pieces on the table, then begin sorting them Into a recognizable pattern.

 

But a memoir is not a string of vignettes–delightful and compelling as these stories may be. It’s a story with a takeaway. All those pieces of the puzzle need to be shaped into a narrative arc, with a theme, plot points, scenes, dialogue, sensory detail, dramatic tension, conflict and eventually resolution.

 

 

A story of transformation that will benefit the reader and connect them with their own transformation.

 

When I sent my manuscript to a developmental editor, her response was , “you have more than one memoir here.” I had poured my heart and soul into those pages and now I had to rethink the whole process.

 I had to be the one to find my own story and once I found it, I had to claim it and honor it as the story I needed and wanted to tell. That took another few months to process. I set the manuscript aside and went off on my own to pout, grieve, stew, until one day a friend I hadn’t seen in years visited. She asked me to read the chapter she was in and when I finished, she said, “It reads like a novel” .

 

This, of course, was music to my memoirist’s ears. And I never looked back. I claimed my story and began the next arduous leg of my journey, rewriting, shaping, editing through professional editors and beta readers.

 

After a year of digging deeper, I reached the polishing stage. My publisher offered a final proofread…

 

After five years of writing and rewriting, Ever Faithful to His Lead is getting ready for its debut. It is a story of hope, resilience and courage. My greatest wish is that it will touch the heart of those who need it the most–women who find themselves in the grip of an abusive relationship and are searching for their inner strength and freedom.

 

Please join me I spreading this message through my Pubslush campaign for Ever Faithful to His Lead which went live on May 12 for 30 days.

 

Here’s the link:

 

http://pubslush.com/books/id/2076 

 

Thank you and please let me know your thoughts and questions.

 

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

 

 

This week:

 

Thursday, 5/14:  “Google+Hangout Interview with Memoir Author Cindi McVey: To Live in Paradise: Dreams Found and Lost in Africa”