Writer and musician
Today I want to encourage you to celebrate how far you’ve come in writing your memoir, family history or life story. This includes those of you who haven’t started writing yet, who are still researching and organising your information (a big job in itself!). I was reminded of this after talking to a beloved participant …
Kia ora, hello, how's your story coming along this week? So - your writing routine. Let’s talk about that. Do you have one? Comment here and let me know? I’m curious. After a few years of teaching folk to write their stories, I’ve moved into the ‘yes, you do need a writing routine’ camp. Before …
I write to you from my other living room - The Dangerous Kitchen cafe, in downtown Tākaka. How’s your memoir feeling today? Honestly, email me back with three words to describe how it’s feeling, I’d love to know! I’m in the design stage of two books right now. This is where we take the text …
Continue reading "Preparing for the design stage of your book 📙"
Kia ora, how is your story coming along? You may know by now that I’m big on letting your first draft be gloriously imperfect, so that you can get on with writing it, without questioning whether it’s good enough. Because usually, it’s more than good enough and it’s a wondrous thing to have written it. …
Kia ora, how are you? Today I’m writing to you from my cosy kitchen to encourage you to keep going, keep writing your memoir, life story or family history. Think of the satisfaction of seeing your family reading it in the future, and of knowing you’re leaving them with the facts, and your perspective of …
Kia ora, hello there 👋🏼 How are you? And how is your precious story? Last night award winning author Gerard Hindmarsh spoke to members of our Write Your Memoir course and I wanted to pass on something he said that inspired me. He said: ‘get your blood moving’ before you write. He likes to cut …
I was talking to an avid reader of my newsletters earlier today and she told me about her impressively long (90,000 words, after being edited down) story. She said it was quite dense with text. That got me thinking about something I often use to break up text, in memoirs, and anywhere I want to …
If you’d love a lot more support and guidance to write your memoir, life story or family history, join my online course Write Your Memoir (learn about it here) before August 1st to get: Access to my online course Write Your Memoir, which will teach you to write your story One on one support with …
Kia Ora, if you’ve just joined me, warm welcome from a Tākaka writer. This week I want to invite you to take stock of how far you’ve come with your memoir. Sometimes celebration is called for. I know some of you are making great headway, you’re persevering, despite some hard days, and you’re writing amazing …
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Did you ever think about writing your history as a fictional story? Meet Gerard Hindmarsh. He calls this ‘faction’ - fiction based upon fact. I first met Gerad 20 years ago after I read his book Angelina - From Stromboli to D'Urville Island: a family's story.’ He wrote this story about his grandparents Angelina and …
Continue reading "Gerard’s book ‘Angelina’ – where fiction meets fact "
Kia ora from my cosy kitchen, I’ve got curry and rice on the stove and the fake fire ablaze. How’s that story of yours coming along? I’m just about to finish a book for a client and we’re working on the cover. We’ve gone back and forth about it quite a few times, and I …
Kia ora, Warm welcome to you if you’re new here, and good to see you if you’ve been on this journey with me for a while. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, it’s ok for the first draft of your story to be messy and imperfect. In fact, it’s kind of hard …
Kia ora, hello from a beautiful mild winter’s day here in Tākaka, New Zealand 👋🏼 My mother and I have just walked a five year old, a nine year old and one prancy dog home from school. And speaking of steps, this week I was reminded of the value of them. I’m starting an exciting …
Hello lovely 👋 This is Charlotte tuning in from Tākaka, Nee Zealand. How are you on this fine day? How’s that story of yours? Today I want to share one thing with you that I talk about in module four of my online course Write Your Memoir - it’s about photo captions. Most people I …
Continue reading "Four things to include in your photo captions"
Hello lovely human 👋🏼 This week I had the delightful experience of welcoming a new student to my memoir course, who turned out to be the daughter of one of the first people I ever wrote a memoir for. I remember writing about her childhood. She said her mother’s book had been a “Godsend”, mentioning …
Continue reading "Deirdre’s wood chopping & two generations of memoirs"
Whitford Wharf - photo from Natalie Birch's personal collection Mōrena/Good morning from chilly Tākaka, How is your story coming along this week? Remember to keep taking small, imperfect steps towards your goal. I have a glimpse into memoir writer Natalie Birch’s world to share with you today, including the photo (above) of Whitford Wharf that …
Continue reading "Eel watching from Whitford Wharf & Nelson course starts soon soon"
Charlotte Squire 