How to Write a Memoir

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A woman looks out in the foreground with a map in her hand pointing into the distance of lush trees to suggest that avoiding plagiarism has a natural vibe filled with light and leisure

The No-Excuses Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism

Avoiding plagiarism seems like a simple task: Just don’t steal someone else’s work. But when you’re immersed in research with...

A woman in a bookshop look at novels with a camera beside her as a visual parallel for how to adapt a book into a screenplay

How to Adapt a Book Into a Screenplay

Months, maybe even years, have been invested in crafting your novel or memoir, and now you have decided to adapt...

A woman at attention watching someone perform in the foreground and a captive audience behind her suggest the way to write a cumulative sentence that would pull an audience in.

The Cumulative Sentence: How to Write Lines that Pull Readers In

The cumulative sentence is a versatile sentence structure that helps writers develop rhythm, reveal character, and enrich description within a...

People surrounded a paper with highlighter and pen to suggest a light collaborative and beautiful feeling to line editing as a process

Line Editing: Transform Good Writing Into Great Writing

Perhaps you’ve been working hard on your rewrite, but something is still off and you’re not quite sure how to...

A daily calendar that has a bunch of notes saying to "write!" suggesting that writing challenges offer a daily rigor.

Writing Challenges: How Small Daily Commitments Create Extraordinary Results

The writing challenge is a commitment to write each day. A few years ago, I noticed that the writers in...

Writing journals are set open to show a large volume of notebooks and convey that writing journals is a flowery process

Writing Journals: A Conversation with Your Creative Mind 

Some people think writing journals are only for recording your feelings, venting frustrations, or documenting daily life. But for creative...

Prehistoric cave archeological cave carving of six men in a boat used to symbolize the deep meaning of a 6-word memoir
Blog
Alan Watt

6-Word Memoir

Writing a 6-word memoir might feel impossible at first, too restricting, maybe even unfair. You might think, How do you tell a

Read More »
Tell Your Truth
Blog
Alan Watt

Tell Your Truth

  “A book must start somewhere. One brave letter must volunteer to go first, laying itself on the line in an act of faith,

Read More »
writing memoir
Blog
Alan Watt

Writing Memoir

“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have

Read More »

Recent posts

Neat ivory notebook with empty pages and a coffee cup beside it, suggestion of royalty and elegance in how to start a memoir

How to Start a Memoir

How do you start your memoir when there are infinite places to begin, and every idea leads to ten new...

A picture of photographs in a wooden crate suggests examples of memoirs to help writers find their own stories

Examples of Memoirs: What Great Memoirs Can Teach You About Storytelling

A memoir is not simply a retelling of your life story. It’s about finding meaning in your experiences and shaping...

Advice on writing memoir from authors depicted by eight people standing at a beach in sunset, looking at the horizon

Advice from Authors on Writing Memoir – 8 Helpful Hints

Even accomplished writers balk at writing a memoir. While you may labor for years developing fictional narratives, screenplays, or essays,...

A woman reading a book wistfully in fall foliage to represent Memoir writing prompts

Memoir Writing Prompts to Help You Find the Real Story

Most writers think a memoir begins with memory. It doesn’t. It begins with tension. A feeling you can’t shake. A...

When excavating photographs and old memories one may find what they need in memoir ideas for their next stories

Memoir Ideas: Finding the Story Only You Can Tell

Some writers believe you need to have lived a dramatic life in order to write a great memoir, but that’s...

Prehistoric cave archeological cave carving of six men in a boat used to symbolize the deep meaning of a 6-word memoir

6-Word Memoir

Writing a 6-word memoir might feel impossible at first, too restricting, maybe even unfair. You might think, How do you...

How to Write a Memoir

How to Write a Memoir: From First Draft to Lasting Impact

A memoir is a narrative written from the author’s perspective, focusing on a specific moment or theme of their life....

memoir

What is a Memoir? From Personal Experience to Universal Truth

The desire to write is, at its core, the desire to evolve. To dig deeper into something you’ve experienced in...

Memoir: Mastering the Impossible

Memoir: Mastering the Impossible

“While they were saying among themselves it cannot be done, it was done.” – Helen Keller The purpose of art...

Tell Your Truth

Tell Your Truth

  “A book must start somewhere. One brave letter must volunteer to go first, laying itself on the line in...

writing memoir

Writing Memoir

“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they...

Permission to Write theTruth

Permission to Write Your Truth

What is the Truth of your story? OK, you’ve outlined your story and you’re getting ready to write your first...

Making the Impossible Possible

Making the Impossible Possible

Turning the impossible into something possible is the magic of story. We often have an idea of the direction our...

Difference between Journaling and Storytelling

The Difference Between Journaling and Storytelling

The difference between journaling and storytelling is context. Journaling is simply documenting what happened. Storytelling involves illustrating the meaning of...

Intimacy Hangover

The 90-Day Memoir – Intimacy Hangover

In the first day of The 90-Day Memoir workshop the writers often have some major insights and revelations. But it...

Memoir: Personal & Universal

Memoir: Personal & Universal

The challenge in writing a memoir is that self-examination is not typically meant to be shared. The goal in writing...