Helen Sedwick, author of Coyote Winds, believes “Memoirists are the bravest of writers.” “In exploring the journeys of their lives, they [memoirists] delve into the private (and imperfect) lives of others. Can a memoirist write about surviving abuse without getting sued by her abuser? Can a soldier write about war crimes without risking a court-martial? Helen answers these questions in her guest blog post “A Memoir is not a Voodoo Doll.” We lead rich lives, most of us. Rich in experiences, in friendships, in family, and in our work. I think you can find riches to write about. So, whatchya waitin’ for? Start writing. And don’t worry about a thing. Just write.
Figuring out the important thing
“Writing essays is like therapy because you’re figuring out: What was the important thing in that incident? ” — Etgar Keret Keret, an “acclaimed Israeli writer . . . known for his unique and distinctive writing style” began writing essays after the birth of his son. “. . . because I’m sensitive about family issues. . . It never stops me from writing it, but it might stop me from publishing it.” He wrote personal essays to “have a literary tombstone” for his father. He is able to create work that is “moving and deeply affecting in only a few pages.” Excerpted from the February 2017 issue of The Writer magazine. Your turn: No pressure to write the next great American novel, just write what you know, what you experience. Write about your trip to the grocery store where you observed an act of kindness or had a weird encounter….
Every Moment of A Fall by Carol E. Miller
Every Moment of A Fall by Carol E. Miller Carol’s true account of her life, beginning with a plane crash that killed her sister and severely injured her and her parents, through her turbulent years, ending with healing through EMDR – Eye Movement and Desensitization and Reprocessing. The book jacket describes this as “a brave and revealing memoir of recovery and a vividly narrated account of the author’s experience using the increasingly popular eye-movement therapy developed to heal the wounds trauma leaves in its wake.” A good read for anyone who has experienced trauma. An excellent resource for researching alternative methods of therapy.
How we affect others. Prompt #307
It’s after the holidays, when some of us spent time with family. It’s inauguration day. Lots of energy. Lots of emotions. Today’s prompt, “How we affect others,” is something I’ve been thinking about for awhile. We don’t live in a bubble, immune to the thoughts and emotions of others. Today, I suggest writing about how we affect others. If that doesn’t work for you, how about: Do we affect others? What does that mean? I look forward to your response.
A Memoir is Not a Voodoo Doll
Guest Blogger, attorney Helen Sedwick, writes: Memoirists are the bravest of writers. In exploring the journeys of their lives, they delve into the private (and imperfect) lives of others. Can a memoirist write about surviving abuse without getting sued by her abuser? Can a soldier write about war crimes without risking a court-martial? Yes, but a cool head is key. Considering the thousands of memoirs published each year, there are relatively few lawsuits. Claims are difficult and expensive to prove. Most targets don’t want to call attention to a matter best forgotten. However, it’s important for memoir writers to be aware of the legal risks. You can’t avoid risk 100% of the time, but you can learn to take the ones that are important to your narrative arc and minimize those that are not. What is Safe Territory? You may write about a person in a positive or neutral light….
Envision your best year ever
Guest Blogger Suzanne Murray writes: Amid what seems like a world gone mad, can you relax, take a deep breath and consider the possibility that all that is happening around us, that seems so disturbing, is really an opportunity for so many to awaken to the divine spark within each of us? The place that holds the light and the creative solutions our world so very much needs. This, I suspect, is what Albert Einstein meant when he said that the problems we face won’t be solved by the same level of thinking that created them. We need instead to approach the monumental challenges we face in our lives and the world from the level of our heart, soul and spirit. We need to work with our creative imagination which is really our hotline to the divine. From here we can respond to situations from a place of love that we…
Despair and broken promises. Prompt #306
You might know that I facilitate Jumpstart writing workshops. One day, a participant read her freewrite which contained the phrase, “Despair and broken promises.” I immediately thought that would make a great writing prompt. What do you think? And that reminds me, during this season of many deaths, if you need to write a condolence note and are stymied about what to write, take a look at “The Condolence Note – What to Write.” You might get some ideas. Today’s writing prompt: Despair and broken promises. Post your writing on The Write Spot Blog and I’ll offer commentary . . . always positive.
Favorite Recipe . . . Prompt #305
Do you have a favorite recipe? Write about that recipe . . . where did the recipe come from? What kind of occasion did you have it? Photo: Fried eggs on top of sauteed kale on top of grits, sausage patty on the side. Yum! My new favorite recipe inspired by a trip to Athens, Georgia, where every meal was delicious!
“I was very careful never to take an interesting job.” —Mary Oliver
Poet Mary Oliver was born in 1935 in Maple Heights, Ohio. She had an unhappy childhood and spent most of her time outside, wandering around the woods, reading and writing poems. From the time she was young, she knew that writers didn’t make very much money, so she sat down and made a list of all the things in life she would never be able to have — a nice car, fancy clothes, and eating out at expensive restaurants. But Mary decided she wanted to be a poet anyway. Mary tried college, but dropped out. She made a pilgrimage to visit Edna St. Vincent Millay’s 800-acre estate in Austerlitz, New York. The poet had been dead for several years, but Millay’s sister Norma lived there. Mary and Norma hit it off, and Mary lived there for years, helping out on the estate, keeping Norma company, and working on her own…
Nostalgia and writing
When responding to a writing prompt, you are completely free to write the absolute truth, with no worries about what anyone will think. You are also free to write fiction. You have the freedom to write whatever you want . . . these writings are called freewrites. There are over 300 prompts on The Write Spot Blog. You can choose one at any time and just write. Sometimes our writing takes us to memories from our childhood, a very powerful place that is important and so intoxicating. From Writers Dreaming, by Naomi Epel, chapter by James W. Hall: “One of the things that I’ve discovered through reading a lot of best-sellers, studying a lot of popular fiction for courses that I’ve given at the university, is that there are certain recurrent, mythic qualities in books that we could consider, from an elitist academic viewpoint, to be pulp or low-life, mass-market…