Exploring the Inner Self in Memoir
Santa puts the tinsel on the tree! I need to show my hard-won epiphanies through self-reflection. I need to present my memoir in ways to allow readers to enter upon …
The Importance of Internal Dialogue in Memoir
Remember, memoir is not autobiography. Memoir recounts an important time in the writer’s life, an important journey, happy or sad, triumphant or not, where a …
Going to College with the Family in Tow
Photographs are necessary especially on holidays when life becomes a blur. Did you ever wish there could be two of you? When I was attending college for ten of my …
How to Write When Life Gets in the Way
My writing notebooks, sometimes notes, sometimes passages Five children, one husband, a home, work inside and out of the home. I thought it was difficult when the children were smaller. …
Revising in Stages
Hiding among the stacks at the library Now back to my memoir about going to college as a mother of five. I find that if I try to fix all …
How to Succeed in College While Raising a Family
Studying with fellow classmates increases understanding. That’s the catch, isn’t it? Attending college while your children are growing up. College study, and all it entails, is not easy—even without children. …
What’s at Stake in the Memoir?
What’s at stake for the memoirist at the beginning of her journey? What’s at stake for the reader? Why should he or she invest time reading your memoir? Aside …
Was It Like this for You?
Author Beth Kephart I had the pleasure of attending a mini workshop in memoir on Penn’s campus with Beth Kephart, a memoir teacher at the University of Pennsylvania. Beth …
Make Memoirs Unique
Hush, the writer is thinking. What makes my memoir different? A very good question. If you’ve been reading memoirs, you’ll notice that each experience is unique, whether the memoir …
What to Include in Memoir
Hard-working mother in college Memoir isn’t a life story. That is autobiography. Memoir is one particular period in a person’s life, one instance or one experience in which the memoirist …