Writer and musician
Kia Ora dear memoir writer, How’s your story coming along? I’d love to know. I bumped into a student on my memoir course a few days ago, and she asked me if it mattered that she couldn’t remember exact dates that events happened. Great question. It depends. Some writers seek to be as accurate as …
Kia ora from the rain drenched top of the South Island, New Zealand! My family came through the weather events safely, with only a few leaks here and there, plus I got stuck on the other side of the Tākaka Hill for a night when eight landslides closed it! But I’m aware that many didn’t …
Kia ora!How are you?We’ve had an intense week of rain here in Golden Bay, including one day with no internet or cell phone reception! It was very 1980s.We’ve just nudged over the halfway mark of 2025, and this week I thought I’d remind you what you could achieve by the end of the year, if …
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, 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, 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! 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 …
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 …
Kia Ora! A memoir writer once told me she was writing her story because she wanted her children to learn who she was, before they arrived. She wanted them to know that she had travelled the world and lived a big life pre-children. She also wanted them to know about the way she was raised, …
Kia ora! How are you? We had our monthly memoir writers ‘connection session’ last Saturday and one writer said she was making progress, though writing it ‘out of order’, because that worked for her. And she reminded me of the power of doing it that way. She’s going to finish that story of hers, because …
Charlotte Squire 