Writer and musician
Kia Ora from wintery Tākaka. This is perfect writing weather! I’ve been cosying up beside my slumbering dog and a heater all morning, working. As you may know, writing your memoir takes time and focus. How long does it take? Well that depends. I’ve worked on books ranging from 10,000 to over 100,000 words. The …
Kia ora lovely, I’ve been thinking about the many different ways you can write memoirs. They can be themed, held together by a thread that has run through your life. They can be about one chapter of your life. You might like to focus on your career, your travels, your family … it’s up to …
Kia ora lovely, When I was a little girl my father would take great pride in cooking big pots of veggie soup for us. He would take his time, chopping the onions and the parsley and the carrots, adding the ingredients one by one, filling the house with the smell of hot soup stock. I …
Kia ora lovely, how’s your story going this week? I write to you from the Dangerous Kitchen cafe, Tākaka, where they have the best smoked salmon pizza in all of the world. Have you hit a roadblock in your story? Perhaps you need more information. Maybe you’re writing about a chapter of your life that …
Continue reading "How to keep going when you hit a roadblock in your story"
Kia Ora 👋🏼 Before you even start writing your story, it’s good to know who you’re writing it for. This will clarify what you do and don’t share as you write. You may not want to share sensitive and personal family information in a book beyond your family. I’ve just finished a life story and …
Kia ora, It’s great to beam into your world from my rainy one, this Wednesday. Today I’d like to share five reasons with you, that now’s a great time to start recording your memoirs, life story or family history. For all the bad rap it gets, AI is actually making it easier and easier to …
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Kia ora, Today some students of my memoir course gathered to share their writing. I think I cried through half of it. Each memoir writer shared around half a page and received feedback. Derek read half a page about his trip to Mongolia, sharing his perceptions of the landscape and history. Mike read the prologue …
Continue reading "Memoirs: healing to read, healing to write"
Kia Ora, Are you mid-way through writing your story but struggling to finish it? I know some of you are, because it was the top problem you told me about, when I asked you what the hardest thing was about writing your memoir a few weeks ago. So! Here are three habits I’ve learned to …
The longer I’m a mother, the more I appreciate mine. As you know, they come in all shapes and sizes, and motherly approaches. Some love to do it; some do it because they should; and others just don’t feel cut out for it. Some are not biological mothers, but they willingly take on the mother …
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. …
Kia ora! How are you? And how is your memoir coming along this week? If you’re anything like me, my feelings about my writing can change by the hour. Like the weather! Ha! One thing that can build confidence is making steady (if imperfect) progress. In response to my question to you recently: ‘What’s hard …
Kia ora! If you’re new to this blog, welcome aboard! If you’ve been around for a while, thanks for being part of my mid-week connection with a lovely, growing community community of Kiwi and Aussie memoir writers This week I want to talk about enjoying the process of writing your memoir, life story or family …
Some days, or maybe some weeks, you're not going to enjoy writing your memoir. I'm writing this because I bumped into a student of my course Write Your Memoir in the Tākaka library car park yesterday, and she told me she'd lost her enthusiasm for writing her story. While a few weeks ago she’d been …
Kia ora lovely one, Every now and then I like to remind you to keep writing. It seems easy enough in theory, yet so many people don’t ever finish their precious stories. Why not? Fear that your book isn’t good enough is a top reason for people to stop. Also, overwhelm and confusion about how …
Kia Ora dear one, How is your story coming along this week? As you write, it’s important to occasionally step back from your story to ask yourself if it would make sense to people who don’t know you. This can be hard to do! So I use the 100 years trick. In 100 years, there’s …
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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 …
Charlotte Squire 