Today
Want to Write a Memoir?
by Pat Samples
Posted December 4, 2006 2:00 PM
Posted December 4, 2006 2:00 PM
Posted in
Author, Body Odyssey: Lessons from the Bones and Belly
www.bodyodyssey.biz
Whenever I tell people that I write books, the response is often an eager "Really? That's what I want to do," and they start telling me a story of great importance to them. Everyone has had experiences worth writing about. In the second half of life, the desire to turn them into a book often becomes compelling. People want their story told in order to leave a mark on the world.
Do you have a story you'd like to write? Why not get started? Even if it doesn't turn into a bestseller or blockbuster movie, putting it in writing has merit. You'll satisfy a creative urge, gain greater clarity about the experience for yourself, and enlighten others.
But where to start? If you've been following this blog for a while, you won't be surprised when I say, start with your body. By remembering and describing what you saw, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled, you'll move the story from an idea in your head onto the paper as a living experience. Telling readers that your uncle was a "great guy" says little, but tell them he "laughed a deep, slow belly laugh and nodded his curly-topped head every time I asked him to help me with my math" and you'll have the readers smiling with you at the memory. They'll feel like they're there with you, seeing as you saw, hearing what you heard. They'll want to know more. The secret to good writing is in the details.
To recall details such as these, engage in what I call active reminiscing. Go beyond thinking about the story to putting yourself back in the story setting with the people who were there. If you can't go there physically, imagine and feel yourself there as fully as possible. Immerse yourself in the experience the way you were there back then. What are you touching? What colors, shapes, and sizes do you see? Do you smell burnt beans, coffee brewing, sawdust?
Rely on your body as your tour guide when you start to write the important stories from your life. Drawing on your sensory memories will help you bring these stories to life. Go ahead and try active reminiscing. Then, start writiing. Right now. I hope you'll tell me at least a little of the story you want the world to know.
Author, Body Odyssey: Lessons from the Bones and Belly
www.bodyodyssey.biz
Comments
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Posted May 23, 2007 9:04 PM
Both of my parents were blind. I marvel at what they were able to accomplish in their lives, especially as so much of our society considers blind people to be dumb and/or mentally handicapped.
Inasmuch as my mother taught me how to read, that logic fails. She also taught blind children who later would have amazing careers themselves.
In spite of that, my parents fought against extreme discrimination in their attempts to attain their career goals.
In writing the memoir, I also discovered that handicapped people progress through a grief process much as Kubler-Ross described in her classic "On Death and Dying".
Up to her death, my mother taught braille to the newly blind in the Tampa area.
I've written the memoir as "She Can See Now" - words spoken to me at her wake in Florida.
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