Fun Things Camping with Kids in the Fall
Swim goggles may help keep smoke from children’s eyes while marshmallows droop and tan to perfection. If you haven’t tried family camping yet, autumn is a colorful season to introduce …
Beginnings: As in Where to Begin My Memoir
On a journey to a better beginning for the memoir Beginnings are the most important part of books, I feel, be it memoir or …
Size Matters in Camping and Nature
Finally…enough room at the dinner table Finding elbow space at the dinner table is always a problem when you camp with seven in a small pop-up trailer, especially as the …
The Voice in Memoir
Be true to your voice in memoir Restructuring the memoir is fine. Works in progress go through many revisions. The first draft is usually…ahem…vomit, anyway. Okay, at least mine are. …
Not All Who Wander Are Lost
Exploring a new beach in Maine “Mommy,” one of the twins asked, “why do we go some place different every summer?” I guessed, rightly, that she was referring to …
The Need for Universal Questions or Themes in Memoir
Darlings everywhere! Where’s the meat? The necessity to attend college brings to mind the universal questions through which to filter my story. To build suspense, I need to show the …
What to Do When the Power Goes Out
The evening sky after the storm. Our homes were dark, so everyone came outside to look. The sky turned to pitch. Trees seemed to …
Searching For That Need to Attend College
Kelly Writers House, my favorite place to be on the University of Pennsylvania’s campus Why did I attend college at the time in my memoir life? A time when my …
Summertime Means Family Camping And Star-Gazing
The Lees crew at Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland I don’t know about you, but where we live in suburbia light pollution mutes an otherwise star-filled night sky. So when we camp …
Revision: A Fact of Life—for Writers
Sometimes I feel like I’m always at my computer. Hook the reader in the beginning of a story or novel. Yes, even in memoir. It’s too easy to just close …