Kia Ora,
I write to you from my COVID bed (it’s not tooo bad), the morning sun streaming in. A group of people just cycled past our house singing. I love that!
I recently asked you what was hard about writing your memoir, life story or family history, and you had a lot to stay.
Today, let’s start with Josephine’s (wondrous) problem: she’s on holiday and has no time to write! Though she is gathering intel for her book.
This might not really seem like a problem. But it does raise an interesting point: you’re out there living your best life, and sometimes it can be hard trying to fit in writing.
My take on it: enjoy your holiday. Actively gather your material, if there’s research to be done. But 100% enjoy it. Don’t even think about writing. And definitely don’t bother feeling guilty. Holidays are for recharging.
And when you’re home and things are settled, schedule your time to write, fiercely protect that time, and let that story out. You might write for one hour, between eight and nine, three mornings a week. You’d be surprised at how much work you’ll get done if you commit to that routine. Factoring in a warm up, that’s around three pages per week, or 30 pages in 10 weeks.
Who knows, you might get so caught up in writing your story that the last thing you want is a holiday! One student on my memoir course can’t help but stay up writing until one in the morning, and then he has to make himself go to bed!
My point: live your precious life and when it’s time to write your story, give it your full focus. You’ll be amazed at what you can achieve.
Charlotte x
PS and if you’d like some help to write it, my course Write Your Memoir will guide you, step by step, through the whole process, saving you time and costly mistakes. You’ll also join an amazing community of first-time memoir writers, who are persevering with finishing their stories.
PPS some of you have become superstars in a ‘then and now’ video I made with your gorgeous photos ⤵
Charlotte Squire 