by Memoir Mentor on January 25, 2011
The thought of sitting down at my computer and writing my entire life story from birth-to-now makes me want to take a nap. It’s not that I don’t think writing a personal history is important: You know I do. It’s my current raison d’être, after all. Nevertheless, I would NEVER counsel anyone to approach personal [...]
Tagged as:
Family History,
Henry David Thoreau,
life story,
life-story-writing,
memoir,
personal-history,
Phyllis Theroux,
The Journal Keeper,
writing tips
by Memoir Mentor on January 9, 2011
My daughter-in-law emailed me this week to say her family had a blast at our house on Christmas. She’s thoughtful that way, but her statement gave me pause. When did people start having a blast again? I thought that term went out of fashion about the time I got married and my blast days tanked. [...]
Tagged as:
Banished Words List,
Lake Superior State University,
life-story-writing,
writing tips
by Memoir Mentor on November 18, 2010
I love having students from different cultures attend my classses. They tell such interesting stories about places and experiences I’ve only read about in general terms in school textbooks. My students’ stories are far more powerful and engaging, however, because they capture the individual experience in personal terms. The narrative that follows is one such example. Lillian Lejeune, a Belgian who [...]
Tagged as:
Belgiummand,
Family History,
Farciennes,
life-story-writing,
Lillian Lejeune,
memoir,
personal-history,
writing tips
