Writer and musician
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 …
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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 …
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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 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! 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 …
Kia ora, Wishing you a fabulous start to 2025! Here we are at the first chapter of the year again 😉 So now’s a good time to ask you: Can you spare 30 minutes a few days a week to write your memoir? Think about it, the average person can write nearly 400 words in …
Kia ora! Sometimes readers send me stories that make me smile, and today I have one from Cathy Monnington. When she finishes writing it, her life story promises to be very entertaining. Before I share her words, I think it’s a great idea to share some insight into what you did for Christmas, in your …
Kia ora, It’s good to tune into your world today. How’s that story of yours coming along? I’m editing a life story/family history for someone who is writing it for future generations, including for those who she might never meet. This makes me very happy. They will get to know her well through her stories …
Kia ora from rainy Golden Bay 🌧️ This week I’m focused on book design and I wanted to remind you: it’s never too early to thinking about your book cover. I have four suggestions for you: Start gathering examples of book covers you love now, because at some point your story will need a cover. …
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Charlotte Squire 