Kia ora, hello there 👋🏼
How are you? And how is your precious story?
Last night award winning author Gerard Hindmarsh spoke to members of our Write Your Memoir course and I wanted to pass on something he said that inspired me.
He said: ‘get your blood moving’ before you write. He likes to cut gorse, then sit down at his computer.
I was astounded and inspired by such an idea! Most days I spend hours on my computer writing, and Gerard’s idea that to think clearly, we need to move our bodies first, struck a long, clear chord with me. Most days I rise, drink hot chocolate, and get straight to work. My body has begun to complain with a stiff back.
So this morning I set off into the frosty air with my faithful friend Tom the dog for a walk/jog. I felt extremely athletic as I sat down to write, and pure genius flowed from my fingertips. No, that last part isn’t true, but still, I did feel much more enthusiastic as I got to work.
How about you? Do you think this might be helpful? What would you do to get your blood moving? I know some of you love to garden, and at least one writer is obsessed with wood lathing in his basement!
Now here are 100 words from her story, that ‘Aunty’ (who has the pen name ‘Erica Bodley Christiansen’) sent in:
Back in the day Aunty’s job in the Department of Health included helping the Nation to become smokefree. This was a pretty big ask because back then it was considered quite normal for staff to smoke in their offices and during meetings.
She watched the powerful international tobacco industry court susceptible politicians, public servants and journalists with freebies, sweeteners, donations to party coffers and heaps of false information to go with it. Those tobacco industry reps even tried unsuccessfully to approach her. Aunty wonders just who these wealthy and utterly unscrupulous business people have got to this time.
What did you think? I found it fascinating reading about Aunty’s time helping change New Zealand’s smoking culture, I hadn’t considered what a big deal that would have been at the time. I loved that she wrote her story from ‘Aunty’s’ perspective.
And how about you? Would you like to share 100 words from your story? Email me – we’d love to read it. charlottesquirecoms@gmail.com
Keep writing dear one, because as my aunty Hilary used to say: it’s not what you start, but what you finish.
Charlotte x
PS Last night, Gerard Hindmarsh shared so many nuggets of wisdom with our memoir group that I lost count. He spoke with great passion about writing his award winning stories and books. He covered: writing habits, paragraphs, images, what to do when your story seems reeeally long, editing, design, travel writing, printing and more.
To gain access to his hour-long talk in our friendly Facebook support group, as well as my seven module online course Write Your Memoir, join my course Write Your Memoir for 30% off before this Friday at 5pm.
Use the coupon: 30%-OF-WRITE-YOUR-MEMOIR-COURSE-AUGUST24.
Charlotte Squire 