Memoir Writing: 5 Priorities and 3 Tips ? Memories and Memoirs

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In the Year of the Memoir, you have to juggle a lot of things: writing, combing through layers of history and thinking about your audience. So keep a few things in mind as you continue your memoir journey.?

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1. Muse and gather the threads of thought and memory that will weave into your memoir. Take notes and keep a notebook of your insights and mini-stories.
2. Research your story in family Bibles, ancestry.com, and journals. Gather and label your findings for easy access later.
3. Interview friends and family to patch memory holes. It doesn?t have to be ?dueling memories.? Just find out what they remember, and marvel at the way memory works.
4. Write regularly?several times a week?500 words. Bit by bit, you build your manuscript.
5. Build your audience and connections?known as ?platform? through social media and blogging. Just start small, and only do what feels right. Gradually you will build your audience.

Tips:

1. I discovered that writing 500 words at a sitting is doable. How many words do you write? Give yourself permission to freewrite a ?messy first draft.?
2. I?m having fun on ancestry.com and learning where people came from on my father?s side of the family?the Netherlands in 1620! Research is part of the writing process, so take notes at family gatherings and see if you can tape some of the stories.

?????? 3. Does ?social media? freak you out? It really can be fun and NOT a time drain?if you? know how to think about it and do it efficiently.

?Join us Friday for our National Association of Memoir Writers?Member Teleseminar with Beth Barany. She?s a lot of fun and has some great hints on how to get a handle on social media without losing your mind?or your writing time. Read her wisdom and suggestions on her NAMW blog post.

Beth Barany is the author of The Writer?s Adventure Guide: 12 Stages to Writing Your Book, and the bestselling Overcome Writer?s Block and runs an
active online community for authors who use journaling for self-development.

Connect with Beth Barany? on Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn.

These member teleseminars are free monthly benefits for NAMW members. Here are just a few of our membership benefits:?

• Free downloadable recordings of the Free LIVE Monthly Teleseminars ?
• Special Member Discounts for Workshops, Online Classes, and Webinars
• Access & Post Your Stories and Writing Samples in the NAMW Cafe Blog
• A PDF download of The NAMW E-book: Memoir Writing as a Healing Journey by yours truly?and more!

?Be sure to join Twitter or Facebook if you haven?t already. Learn about the world of social media, but don?t let it keep you from your writing! Keep building your memoir in the Year of the Memoir!

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Source: http://memoriesandmemoirs.com/2012/02/memoir-writing-5-priorities-and-3-tips/

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