Post #6 – Women’s Memoirs, Conversations – Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett
I’ve another great interview with a memoir author that I’d like to share with you. In the third of our continuing series called Memoir Moment, I talk with Betty Auchard. Betty took time away from work on her second memoir to discuss openings.
In the interview, Betty reads two of the vignettes from her first memoir, Dancing in my Nightgown, the sad, sweet, touching, funny story of her life after the death of her husband, Denny. When asked how she crafts her beginnings of individual vignettes, Betty says they are often already in the story, you just have to look for them. Sometimes the perfect opening is down in the middle of a paragraph.
Those of us who have struggled with the best way to start a memoir can take encouragement from her advice that we should just keep writing. Then, when we have finished, when we are in the midst of our “wrapping up thoughts,” we’ll find the right way to begin our story.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
*If you wish to go forward/rewind this mp3 file, please allow the file to fully load first, then simply place your mouse-cursor over the progress bar in the middle of the player (shows up in gray). You can then drag the gray area from left to right.
Want to read Betty’s memoir? It is a wonderful book and, if you know someone who has lost a close family member, Dancing in my Nightgown: The Rhythms of Widowhood is the perfect gift. Click on the book cover for a direct link to Amazon.
What are your thoughts on writing an opening to your memoir? Leave us a message in the comment section and we’ll respond to you.
