Kia Ora!
How’s it going, memoir writer?
I’m working on book number 24 at the moment, and I was thinking: do you know what I’d do if I was at the very beginning and thinking of writing my own memoir, life story or family history? I’d simply be gathering stuff. I’d be finding my old photos, letters, records, diary entries, recipes, ideas in a notebook and saving them somewhere.
I’d be keeping it all in one place (maybe a cupboard, or a container if it was in hardcopy form) or an easy to locate place on my computer (in one folder). I wouldn’t worry about the order or whether it would, or wouldn’t, end up in my book, I’d just start pulling things together, messily, chaotically, and with wild abandon, until eventually, one day, I was ready to write my story.
Most books emerge from chaos.
Embrace yours 🙂
And one regular reader of this newsletter who has wrangled her many memories into one large story is Cathy. She has written her memoir entirely from reading this weekly email!
After I put the call out for ‘before and after’ images, she sent me the images above, saying:
“One [photo is] of me with my best friend, Lou, taken August 1964, in England. We are sitting on top of the Wendy House roof, I am the dark haired one on the left holding my kitten, Tabby. Another of myself, with Lou in June 2023, my last trip back to the UK … We have been friends for over 60 years.”
I love these photos of Cathy in her youth, and today. Feel free to send yours to share too
Write on,
Charlotte x
PS If you’d like my guidance as you write your memoir, think about joining my online course Write Your Memoir. It’s on special (20% off) for another 11 days.
Also, one thing I seem to be doing a lot of lately, is editing books for people who read this newsletter! If you’d like to talk to me about editing and designing your story into a printed book reach out for a chat. Just hit reply to this email.
Charlotte Squire 