Meet Memoir Writer Leslie Ferguson: As a child, all Leslie really wanted was a normal family and a mother’s love. Instead, she found herself trying to navigate a terrifying world with a schizophrenic mother, who tried to kill her. Hungry, afraid, and intermittently homeless, Leslie knew she had to leave to survive. But […]
5 Ways a Beta Reader Can Help Your Memoir
Memoir Tip: Try a Beta Reader! I confess I hadn’t used Beta readers, until my latest book (a novel). But now I’m hooked! My goal in assembling a Beta reader team was simple: encouragement to write regularly. Knowing I had readers eagerly awaiting my next chapter helped keep me on-schedule. That accountability […]
Memoir Writing Tips from Margaret Agard
From High-Tech to Arctic Circle – and Peacocks Too! Margaret Agard is right up there among my memoir-writing heroes –with not just one memoir, but two and a half under her belt. (Number Three is currently in the works, and she’s contemplating a possible Book Four!) Her life has included plenty of […]
An Autism Diagnosis Was Just The Beginning:
GUEST BLOG: Q&A With Memoir Author LeeAndra Chergey Memoir writer LeeAndra Chergey recognized that her son faced special challenges by the time he was two years old. Speech was difficult for him, and his sleeping patterns were irregular. But when she first heard the word Autism as a diagnosis, it was a bolt from the […]
The Boy Refugee: From POW Camp to Surgeon
Today he’s a medical doctor with a passion for surgery. But as a young boy, Khawaja Azimuddin spent two years in a civilian prisoner-of-war and refugee camp. Read more about his recent memoir here!
Valentine’s Day Memoir Tips
Everyone loves a good love story. And Valentine’s Day is a great reminder to think about love stories as you write your memoir! Perhaps you have your own great love story to tell. And don’t forget to include other sweet love stories handed down through your family. How did your parents first meet? […]
Hot Memoir Tip: Go for a List!
True confession: I used to laugh at my mother for her constant list-making. She loved those long, narrow “list-size” tablets. There was always a grocery list in our kitchen, of course. But she’d keep lists of all sorts of things right there on the counter, too. It was a place to jot […]
Old-Fashioned Sayings
The Legacy of Old-Fashioned Sayings . . . . I remember standing in the kitchen while my mother was cooking. If she wanted us to pitch in and help, she’d nudge: “Make yourself useful as well as beautiful!” That meant, jump in here and start chopping! It just made […]
Try a Virtual Family Reunion!
Used to be, family reunions were a great way to reconnect with folks you hadn’t seen in a while. And reunions were a fun way to collect some great family history, too! Sadly, “social distancing” has changed all that. For now, at least, cruise ship get-togethers and globe-trotting gatherings […]
Falling Down & Getting Up Again: More Memoir Tips
We’ve all had a few hard landings. Usually, those seem to arrive just when we thought we had things alllll figured out. You know. Just when we were absolutely, positive certain this was the right direction, or the right person, or the right job. That’s when Life steps in to slap us upside the head […]
Memoir Tips Just for Labor Day: What Did Your Ancestors Do?
Did you know that Labor Day got its start in 1894? It was a “workingman’s holiday,” back when a typical job meant 12-hour days, 7 days a week. Ugh. Just think of that. But jobs or occupations can make a great entry point for a memoir! So, […]
Brother, Brother – A Memoir Journey
Some American soldiers in Vietnam never came home. Some came home, but were never the same. Rich Duffy joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1964 at the age of 18, and was sent to the front as a Forward Observer – one of the most traumatizing and dangerous posts imaginable. Then while deep in the jungles, […]