Write your memoir, life story or history
With Kiwi writer Charlotte Squire
Kia ora, With this month’s theme being ‘harvest’ (today I’m freezing grapes and grated zucchinis, and it’s thrilling), I want to ask you to consider what you’ve grown in your lifetime? Is this a story you could include in your memoir? Perhaps you’ve grown a family, a community or a home? Maybe you grew a …
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/S32Ru-E0YbM How’s life this week? I have some exciting writing projects on the go, one of which I’m going to tell you about soon (it’s big, for me anyway!). Recently someone asked me why people would bother writing their memoir if they hadn’t done something deeply impressive. I had a lot to say in response. …
Continue reading "Do I need to have done great things to write my memoir or life story?"
Kia ora fellow writer, How are things coming along this week? I love it when people ask me questions and last week a farmer called me asked me ‘will you need to write it all proper and formal? There’s a lot of humour in my family and we do swear sometimes.’ Great question. Here’s what …
Continue reading "How ‘myself’ can I be in my memoir or life story?"
Kia ora *|FNAME|* It’s nice to pop into your world today, and exciting to welcome you newbies to my (mostly) weekly memoir chat. I’d love to know how you found me (considering how little marketing I’ve been doing lately)! If you want to explore a few years of memoir tips, pop into my blog. The …
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying ‘never let the facts get in the way of a good story.’ When it comes to writing your memoir, this line often proves true! So how important is it for you to fact check? Well, it depends. The more accurate your info is, the more seriously folks will take …
Kia ora, This month, in honour of Valentine's Day, I’m focusing on love stories. Because, I can. I am, at heart, a romantic. I love the ‘how did you meet’ stories. My dad met my mum at the Whakatu Hotel in Nelson. She wore a full suede outfit. Think long suede boots, a suede skirt …
Kia ora, I was talking with a memoir client today who sighed and said, “the photos seem to take longer than writing the book!” I thought this might be a good reason to prepare you! Not all of you will be using photos in your stories, but if you are, here are five things you …
Kia ora lovely, How’s that memoir of yours coming along today? Yesterday I met with my Golden Bay memoir group, and someone was saying they were unsure whether to dive deeply into one aspect of their story, or write more generally. They saw they could very quickly end up with waaaay too much info for …
Kia ora from mid-summer in Tākaka 👋🏼 I write to you from a busy home, overflowing with teenage boys, a clingy dog, a husband who keeps escaping to his man-shed to paint water colours, and social butterfly of grandmother. Have you wondered how to write a story that people can’t put down? Every now and …
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Kia Ora How are you on this fine summer's day? Are you finding time to work on your story? This will be the last email from me this year, and I want to talk to you about your memories of your parents and grandparents. Sometimes people ask me if I think they should include them …
Kia ora, I thought I’d show you a short video about Mike Brown’s new book today. He’s currently in Christchurch excitedly delivering it to his grandkids. How cool is that? Mike had been working on his book for 20 years off and on until he stumbled upon a free memoir course I was giving at …
Kia ora lovely human, I think the time has come 🎄 Yes, let’s dust off those Christmas memories of yours and share them with readers of our memoir writing community. Would you like to email me half a page (about 200 words) about a favourite Christmas memory of yours? Don’t hold back. Be it strange, …
Kia ora 👋🏼 It’s good to drop into your world today. How’s that memoir of yours coming along? Have you started it yet? Or are you at the ‘thinking about it stage’? Some of you are in the depths of writing, and still more of you are polishing up the first drafts of your stories. …
Kia ora dear writer, How are you on this fine Thursday? Did you manage to work on your memoir this week? I hope so. I’m neck deep in editing Mike’s book, researching the history (or should I say ‘her-story’) of a hydro power station, and helping Jodie produce the second edition of her dad’s book …
Kia ora lovely human, How’s your story coming along? Did you do any work on it today? Do me a favour and arrange to do one small thing on it before the end of the day, OR tomorrow. And then keep doing more ‘one small things’ daily, and watch what happens. So let's talk about …
Kia ora lovely, how’s that story of yours coming along this week? Remember, the first draft needs to be messy, because creativity isn’t tidy. It’s gloriously expressive. So let it out, and go easy on yourself ❤️ there will be plenty of time to tidy it up later, during your second, third and fourth drafts! …
Continue reading "Josephine’s hair experiment (+ last few days to join new memoir programme)"
Write your memoir, life story or history 