Post #160 – Women’s Memoirs, Writing Prompt – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
Write Your Memoir by Shaping Your Story
The 1931 music of Ray Henderson with lyrics by Buddy G. DeSylva and Lew Brown created the popular song ‘Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries.” Ethel Merman introduced the song in the musical Scandals by George White and an enduring phrase entered popular culture.
The 1985 Erma Bombeck book If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits? picked up on the phrase and gave it a twist, a humorous, laugh-out-loud twist.
Now, in 2012, we give you a writing prompt based on these phrases.
“Memoir writing is like composing your bowl of cherries, pits and all.”
Vancouver, Cherries, and Memoir Writing
Last week, I strolled the aisles of Vancouver’s Granville Island Public Market. My feet occasionally stuck to a piece of fruit that had rolled to the concrete floors and been squashed by previous visitors but my eyes feasted on the displays of fruits and vegetables. While I got a steaming hot cup of Japanese Sencha tea from a vendor, my life partner sniffed his way to the salmon vendor. Even after standing in a long line for my drink, I found him still standing in front of the salmon case trying to decide if it would be smoked salmon jerky, salmon candy or salmon sausage to be eaten there or vacuum-sealed salmon we could take home.
But for me, it was the displays of cherries that merited getting the camera out. Why? They immediately made me think about memoir writing.
Think of each cherry in this photo as one of your life stories. You could pick up any individual one and describe it to someone or write about it. You could put it down and pick up another one and do the same. But this doesn’t really tell people about your life. Your life is more than the sum of the individual stories.
You need to compose your life stories when you offer them to others. Here are two photos of beautiful displays that I saw. Where did my eye go? Which interested me more — the loose cherries jumbled together or the carefully composed baskets? You guessed it, the compositions.
Memoir Writing Prompt
1. Think about the life story you want to tell. Write a brief statement – just a couple of sentences – about the heart of the story.
2. Then make a list of stories (think individual cherries) that collectively encompass the story you want to tell.
You’ve made good progress, now, on beginning to see what you will (and won’t) cover in your memoir.
