Is it time to write your memoir, life story or history?
I'm Kiwi writer, publisher and newspaper owner Charlotte Squire and I'd love to help
Kia ora from rainy Golden Bay ๐ง๏ธ This week Iโm focused on book design and I wanted to remind you: itโs 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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Kia ora from Golden Bay, Howโs that story of yours coming along today? Even if itโs simply bubbling away inside you, having not yet been written. Thatโs still something. That still matters. And I hope one day youโll share it with the world. A few weeks ago I asked you for 100 words from your …
Today I want to encourage you to celebrate how far youโve come in writing your memoir, family history or life story. This includes those of you who havenโt 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. Letโs talk about that. Do you have one? Comment here and let me know? Iโm curious. After a few years of teaching folk to write their stories, Iโve moved into the โyes, you do need a writing routineโ camp. Before …
I write to you from my other living room - The Dangerous Kitchen cafe, in downtown Tฤkaka. Howโs your memoir feeling today? Honestly, email me back with three words to describe how itโs feeling, Iโd love to know! Iโm 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 ๐"
Kia ora, how is your story coming along? You may know by now that Iโm big on letting your first draft be gloriously imperfect, so that you can get on with writing it, without questioning whether itโs good enough. Because usually, itโs more than good enough and itโs a wondrous thing to have written it. …
Kia Ora, Howโs your memoir coming along this week? Whatever stage youโre at with it, just keep going. Last week my 16 year old son Kฤhu headed off on an adventure to the West Coast of the South Island with his dad to sit his restricted licence test. The nerves were high. For my boy, …
Continue reading "Writing about that time you did that hard thing."
Kia ora, how are you? Today Iโm 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 youโre leaving them with the facts, and your perspective of …
Kia ora, hello you. Just a short blog tonight, which is fitting for a question that someone on my memoir course asked our guest speaker Gerard Hindmarsh earlier this week: โHow do I know if my story is too long and rambly?โ Actually I may have made the word โramblyโ up. But moving on, here …
Continue reading "9 tips to avoid writing a long and rambling memoir"
Kia ora, hello there ๐๐ผ 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: โget your blood movingโ 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 …
Kia Ora, hello there lovely, Iโm loving the cosines of winter. Weโve had a few days of rain and itโs been a great time to write, sitting as close as I can get to our impressively real looking fake fire, ha ha! Iโm most productive as a writer in the mornings. How about you? If …
Continue reading "When you write, and 100 words of your story"
Kia ora, If youโre new here, welcome! Iโm Charlotte, I live in Tฤkaka, Golden Bay, top of the South Island of New Zealand, with my family, and Iโve been a writer for decades - journalism, blogging, social media, reports, marketing, books - you name it, Iโve written it! And youโre here to learn how to …
Continue reading "Let’s get back to the basics memoir writer"
If youโd 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 …
Continue reading "Winter special on my memoir course! โ๏ธ"
Kia Ora, if youโve just joined me, warm welcome from a Tฤkaka writer. This week I want to invite you to take stock of how far youโve come with your memoir. Sometimes celebration is called for. I know some of you are making great headway, youโre persevering, despite some hard days, and youโre writing amazing …
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Did you ever think about writing your history as a fictional story? Meet Gerard Hindmarsh. He calls this โfactionโ - 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.โ He wrote this story about his grandparents Angelina and …
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