Tag Archives: NAMW

2013, Memoir

Annual Review of Memoir Writer’s Journey: 2013

20 Comments

Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler

 

“A man must have dreams–memory dreams of the past and eager dreams of the future. I never want to stop reaching for new goals.“– Maurice Chevalier

 

It’s that time again to take inventory on what worked and what didn’t in 2013. Thanks to all who filled out the survey. The results of my survey showed areas you liked–variety of guests, memoir moments, feeling of community as well as a few areas I need to work on–loading of my website, comment system viewed as cumbersome.

My take:

2013 has been a year on continual growth with many talented memoir writers and authors sharing their projects and stories as well as giving away their books…enlightening, inspiring and enriching all of us.

 

I love that Memoir Writer’s Journey continues to grow and be a gathering place for people to learn what other writers are up to.

 

As previously mentioned, I have reached the final editing stage of my journey to my first memoir, Ever Faithful to His Lead: A Memoir About Choices, so the goal of publishing in 2014 has become a reality. Still lots of work to be done with this and the completion of my second memoir, Hope Matters: A Memoir of Faith (working title). My focus will be on exploring publishing and marketing options.

I’m hopeful the tough lessons I’ve learned through writing my first memoir will facilitate the completion of the second one. I realize the publishing/marketing phase will bring a whole new set of challenges and learning curves.

 

dreamstimefree_204269
Dreamstimefree_204269

 

 

I want to thank all my guests who posted this year. You are all winners in my book!

 

Top Post of All-Time:

Evoking Emotions-The Power of Sensory in Storytelling

Top Guest Post of All-Time:

Why I Chose to Write a Memoir as Opposed to Fiction: A Guest Post by Memoir Author Laura Dennis

 

Let’s look at  the Top Tens for 2013. . . 

Top posts of the year:

Seven Lessons I’ve Learned in Revising My Work-In-Progress Memoir

Seven Lessons on Using Beta Readers During Revision

Journal to Memoir: Planting The Seeds for Story

Reflections on My Mother’s Circle of Love: A Memoir Moment

The Face of Alzheimer’s Dementia: A Memoir Moment

Why “Wild” Works: Memoir Writing Tips

Writing with the Reader in Mind: Memoir Writing Tips

Preserving My Dad’s Stories: A Memoir Moment

The Role of Faith in Finding Freedom From Domestic Abuse

Back to My Roots: A Memoir Moment

 

Top guest posts: 

 How Vulnerability Can Be a Beautiful Gift: A Guest Post by Memoir Author Barbara Techel

Finding Peace Through Memoir Writing: An Interview with Karen Levy

The Healing Power of Poetry in Memoir: An Interview with Louise Mathewson

Do You Recognize Your Authentic Voice? A Guest Post by Dawn Herring

Turning Mundane into Magic: Memoir Writing Tips by Carol Bodensteiner

How to Review a Book in Eight Easy Steps: A Guest Post by Memoir Writer Sherrey Meyer

What Do Writers Read? A Guest Post by Memoir Author Belinda Nicoll

Publishing Slants of Light Anthology: An Interview with Memoirist Susan Weidener

Fine Wine and Memoir: A Guest Post by Mary Gottschalk

How a Chance Encounter Sealed My Reason for Writing BLUSH, a “Real-Life Plain Life” Story by Shirley Showalter

 

 

Other Highlights:

* Named to the National Association of Memoir Writers (NAMW) Advisory Board with Linda Joy Myers, Sharon LIppincott and Jerry Waxler.

* Taught Journaling Workshop, “Journaling; A Voyage of Self-Discovery” in Exton , PA for Susan Weidener and The Women’s Writing Circle.

* Guest Posts for the following blogs:

Your Best Writing Group (Cheryl Stahle):  Six Tips for Building Community Through Blogging

My Rite of Passage: Series on Theme and Premise (Belinda Nicoll): What is the Gist of Your Story #4

Your Best Writing Group (Cheryl Stahle): Summer Day Along the Hudson River: Nothing Quite Like it

Writing a Memoir (Lorenzo Martinez): Defining Moment: Where Will My Memoir Begin?

Victoria Johnson‘s blog: Creative Spaces

Clara Freeman54: Memoir Writing Insights From Kathleen Pooler and Pat McKinzie

DIYMFA (Gabriela Pereira): How Practicing My Pitch Helped Me Write  Better Book

Nancy Stephan’s blog: Healing Each Other Through Storytelling: The New Face of Narrative Medicine

Pubslush (Justine Schofield) blog: Blogs We Love: Memoir Writer’s Journey

Your Authentic Refreshment (Dawn Herring): My Authentic Refreshment, an Interview

Southern Writer’s blog, Writing Your Memoir, If It Feels Right.

Write by Grace (Sarah Freeman): God’s Grace in My Life: A Reflection

Mary C Gottschalk‘s blog: Growing Past Self-Defeating Behaviors

Write Your Life Story (Cate Russell-Cole): The True Confessions of a Memoir Writer

Women, Beauty, Purpose, Empowerment (Winsome Campbell-Green): Woman of Purpose Spotlight: Kathleen Pooler

Utterances of an Overcrowded Mind (Paul Dorsett): 7 Tips I Have Learned About Connecting with My Purpose for Writing a Memoir

Choices (Madeline Sharples): 6 Tips for Honoring the Heart of Your Story: A Memoir Writer’s Challenge

 

Publication:

“Choices and Chances” story published in My Gutsy Story Anthology: True Stories of Love, Courage and Adventure from Around the World, editor Sonia Marsh, Gutsy Publications, 2013

 

Goals for 2014: 

 

* Publish/market my first memoir and complete the second memoir.

 

* Continue monthly vignettes, “Memoir Moment” and featuring other writers and authors in book promotion tours and giveaways.

 

* Present a NAMW online workshop on memoir writing. It is in the works…TBA.

 
*Enjoy the ride!

Thank you all for your loyal following and for making this year an enjoyable and productive one. I love how we continue to learn so much from one another—enlightening, enriching and inspiring each other along the way.

 

Here’s to more gathering “ around my kitchen table” in 2014 and to all we have yet to learn from one another.

 

Let’s keep sharing hope one story at a time. Our stories matter.

 

Sunflower Field
Photo credit: Sunflower field by Dreamstimefree.

 

 

I’ll leave you with an inspirational quote from lifehacker.com:

““Try not to become a person of success. Rather, become a person of value. ”

Next Week: 

What better way to start out 2014 than with a series about Hooked on Hope~

Monday, 1/6 and Thursday, 1/9/14:  Memoir Author and Teacher Maureen Murdock will share excerpts from her upcoming memoir, Hooked on Hope: ” A Mother Speaks out on Bipolar Disease and Prison.” She will give away a copy of her newly released ebook, The Emergence of BiPolar Disorder: A Mother’s Perspective to a commenter whose name will be selected in a random drawing.

From blog to book, Self-Publishing, Writing as a Business

From Blog to Book: An Interview with Sharon Lippincott

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Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler with Sharon Lippincott/@ritergal

 

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

 

I am thrilled to interview author and writing coach Sharon Lippincott on how she turned blog posts into a marketable e-book and paperback.  Sharon and I met in 2009 through The National Association of Memoir Writers(NAMW) and have been following each other ever since.

Her recently released e-book and paperback, The Heart and Craft of Writing Compelling Descriptions, is rapidly gaining international attention as an excellent resource for writers from many genres who want to take their writing to a deeper level. My reviews are on Amazon and Goodreads.

Welcome back, Sharon!

SML-ProfilePic
Life  Story and Memoir Writing Coach and Author Sharon Lippincott

 

 

KP:     Please tell us about your book, The Heart and Craft of Writing Compelling Descriptions.

 

SL:      The book is a compilation of forty-eight blog posts relating to description writing. Collectively, they cover the gamut from using adjectives to pruning dead “would.” Several posts include tips for widening windows of awareness and using vocabulary you already have. These tips will add zest to your writing and life in general.

 

KP:     Your The Heart and Craft of Lifewriting blog posts are always rich in descriptive details so I’m not surprised you have packaged them so effectively into a book.

What made you decide to tackle this ambitious and creative project?

 

SL:      Three years ago I compiled a shorter anthology of posts about description and on a whim I thought I could pop that into a .99 Kindle book “in about three hours.” I immediately ran into snags. All my blog posts include images, and those proved to be a huge challenge in eBook format. The simple solution took weeks to discover.

Meanwhile I discovered two dozen additional posts and all forty-eight needed editing. Thank goodness for my awesome writing group buddies!. More writer friends kept my feet to the fire until the cover worked. With the additional posts, the book was long enough to justify a print version, and the rest is history.

 

KP:     I know your knowledge and skill with the technical aspects of being an author have come about from your sheer determination and initiative to master the how-to’s.  I have known you to be very generous with sharing what you have learned with others.

What tips on learning the technology would you share for those of us who may not have the same “technical fortitude” as you to take on a project such as this.

 

SL:      I do love being a tour guide for segments of the writers’ journey!

 

Tip #1:  Learn to use Styles in Word and you have the keys to the publishing kingdom. Once you get the drift, you’ll see how easy it is to begin with predefined styles while writing your draft. They are mandatory for uniform layout, and if you hire someone to do that for you, your groundwork will save the designer time and you money

.

YouTube has hundreds of tutorials to help you understand and use styles. Download your free copy of the Smashwords Style Guide from Smashwords.com. The process it describes works for both print and eBooks. Your time investing in learning to use styles will pay huge dividends.

 

Tip #2: Find a strong group of writing buddies and trade critiques. You’ll learn from each other, and your stories gain depth from additional perspective. Join a group online or form your own. Paid editors are great if you can afford them, but they are most valuable as icing on a cake leavened by group input.

 

KP:  Can you briefly outline the steps you took to turn your blog posts into a marketable book?

SL:      I did not follow a smooth path, but here is a list of things that must be done for any book, whether paper or pixels:

  • Select posts or stories (write content for new book).
  • Arrange anthology parts in logical order.
  • Edit! and proof-read! everything. Many times. Get help with this, whether paid or from qualified writing buddies.
  • Study published books for placement of copyright info, Table of Contents, etc.
  • Finalize design details.
  • Prepare cover.
  • Prepare promo material.

 

Here the path diverges. Save a second copy of your file before proceeding. For print prep:

 

  • Add blank pages as needed for proper layout.
  • Insert headers, footers and page numbers according to design.
  • Convert to PDF layout.

 

For eBook prep:

  • Check with Kindle and ebook consolidators like Smashwords.com for latest instructions.
  • Create new Table of Contents with hyperlinks instead of page numbers.
  • Add bookmark for TOC.
  • Save as HTML (filtered). This is optional, but recommended.

 

KP:     Are there any tips you’d like to share on marketing your book?

 

SL:      Start working on your book description when you start writing. Do NOT leave this for the last minute! Get lots of input.

Send out emails asking skilled reviewers if they are interested in receiving a review copy of your book. Do this a month or more before your planned launch date, and let them know when you want them to post (as soon as the page goes live). Ideally you want at least ten great reviews posted before you formally announce the book.

 

KP: Do you have any final thoughts you’d like to share?

 

SL:      There has never been a better time to publish. You want your book to be awesome, but don’t invest more than you can comfortably afford to lose. The reader pool size is stable, and the number of books is skyrocketing. Give it your best shot, rejoice in a monumental achievement, and be happy with whatever results you achieve.

 

Thank you , Sharon for sharing so many helpful details about turning blog posts into a book. Your expertise is greatly appreciated and your enthusiasm is contagious!

 

***

Author Bio:

Sharon Lippincott is an evangelist for lifestory writing and memoir and the author of four books including The Heart and Craft of Lifestory Writing. Her most recent, The Heart and Craft of Lifestory Writing Compelling Description helps writers transform blah stories into brilliant ones.  She teaches memoir and other writing courses online and in Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh Osher programs and cohosts the Life Writers’ Forum YahooGroup. She is founder of WE WRITE! Creative Writing University in Pittsburgh and serves on the National Association of Memoir Writers advisory board.

She blogs at http://heartandcraft.blogspot.com

email: ritergal@gmail.com

Twitter @ritergal

Amazon: http://ow.ly/k1l2U

 

H&C Description Cover 600
The Heart and Craft of Writing Compelling Descriptions book cover

 

Sharon has agreed to give an e-book copy of  The Heart and Craft of Writing Compelling Description, in the format of your choice, to a commenter whose name will be chosen at the end of the week in a random drawing.

 

How about you? Have you thought about turning your blog posts into a book? We’d love to hear from you. Please leave your comments below~

 

Announcements: 

Congratulations to Lorenzo Martinez and Audrey Chin. Lorenzo is the winner of Singing to Silence by Pam Richards and Audrey is the winner of The Woman I’ve Become, an anthology compiled by Pat Lapointe.

Congratulations to  Barbara McDowell Whitt. You are the winner of Mary Gottschalk’s memoir. Sailing Down the Moonbeam.

 

This Week:

I’ll be  over at Sarah Freeman’s blog Write by Gracewith a guest post on “God’s Grace in My Life” starting on  Tuesday, July 2.

 

Next Week: 

“The Crooked Lake: A Memoir Moment” on Monday, July 8

“Do You Recognize Your Authentic Voice?” , a guest post by #journalchat host Dawn Herring on Thursday, July 11

Memoir Writing Tips, memoir-writing

Why “Wild” Works: Memoir Writing Tips

36 Comments

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.