Posts tagged as:

Life stories

Memoir News: Women’s Memoirs Needs Your Help

by Matilda Butler on August 21, 2011

catnav-news-active-3Post #60 – Women’s Memoirs, News – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler



memoir, journaling, autobiography, memoir writing, how to write a memoir, lifewriting

Asking for Details Before It is Too Late

Kendra and I talk every day. Most of our conversations focus on memoir writing, but sometimes we veer toward other topics. One that comes up fairly often centers around things we wished we had asked our parents but didn’t think to until it was too late. We thought it might be helpful to put together a list of questions we wish we had asked our parents or grandparents. Such a list would help others document family stories before the story is lost forever.

We have a list that we are developing. It’s one of those things where you can’t just sit down and write 100 items. They occur to us at odd moments — often when we’re talking about something that a mother or father did once upon a time. Kendra has a fragment of a story that she calls “Who Killed Rosemary?” It’s a cute, funny story but details are missing and Kendra has no way of ever reconstructing it.

Here’s Where You Can Help Women’s Memoirs

memoir, journaling, autobiography, memoir writing, how to write a memoir, lifewritingHave you ever wished you knew something about a parent or grandparent that you can no longer ask? If so, send us your question or other details. We’ll add your question to our list. Then when we get enough, we’ll share our list with everyone so that we answer these questions for our own children and grandchildren. Here are several examples from our list:

1. How did my parents meet?

2. When did they know they were in love?

3. Where did my father propose? Was he nervous? What was he wearing? What kind of ring did he give my mother?

4. What was a typical breakfast that my mother ate when she was small?

5. What were the chores that my father did on Saturdays?

Help Put a Stop to Unanswered Questions.

You can either put your question in the comment section below or send it directly to: matilda (@) womensmemoirs DOT com.

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Writing and Healing: Secrets of Silence

by Pamela Jane BellMay 1, 2011
Writing and Healing: Secrets of Silence

In a time when technology bombards us with noise, Pamela Jane Bell shows us how silence can be used as an element of healing and how silence and writing allow us to discover the pathway to healing.

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ScrapMoir How To #22: Use Your Life’s Soundtrack to Write Scrapbook Stories and Memoir, Part 2

by Bettyann SchmidtDecember 23, 2010
ScrapMoir How To #22: Use Your Life’s Soundtrack to Write Scrapbook Stories and Memoir, Part 2

Listen to the voices in your head. No, I’m not talking about being crazy. I’m making a reference to Bettyann Schmidt’s important new post that helps us recall voices that have made a difference in our lives.

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ScrapMoir How To #20: Writing Life’s Sensations in Scrapbooking and Memoir

by Bettyann SchmidtOctober 14, 2010
ScrapMoir How To #20: Writing Life’s Sensations in Scrapbooking and Memoir

Bettyann Schmidt looks in the compost heap of her life and extracts some of the memories (and the name) that makes her the personal she is today.

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Journal Writing for Memoir: Setting the Scene

by Amber Lea StarfireOctober 9, 2010
Journal Writing for Memoir: Setting the Scene

If one of the reasons you journal is to capture significant events and memories for future memoir writing (or if you just want to capture the memories as fully as possible), you’ll want to do more than just write about what happened. You’ll want to go beyond recording the emotional impact to describing the environment — the scene — in which an event occurs.

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ScrapMoir How To #13: Writing Self in Scrapbooks and Memoir

by Bettyann SchmidtApril 29, 2010
ScrapMoir How To #13: Writing Self in Scrapbooks and Memoir

We welcome Bettyann Schmidt, our regular guest blogger, as she returns with another important post about the intersection between scrapbooking and memoir writing. This time, Bettyann writes passionately about the need to dig deep into our emotions and then write about ourselves when we scrapbook. There is more to your baby’s picture than how cute she or he is. Write about your feelings for your new baby. That’s what will be cherished in years to come. A photo of a beautiful scene? How did you feel? Did seeing that place change your life? These and other ways to find and express you through your photos are explored by Bettyann.

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Author Conversation with Memoir Writer Sue William Silverman Emphasizes Tenacity

by Matilda ButlerOctober 26, 2009
Author Conversation with Memoir Writer Sue William Silverman Emphasizes Tenacity

Sue William Silverman shared her experiences that helped her grow as a writer, talked about how to overcome problems as a writer, discussed a technique for recalling early memories, highlighted her use of the five senses, and much more. Listen to an audio of our interview with Sue.

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