This month I'm focusing on how to write your book and get it done--and I'm looking forward to the course I'm doing with Brooke Warner--Starting Your Memoir Journey Now which begins next week. Most memoirists get stuck in what the family will think, in rewriting too soon, and in the emotional remembering that's part of writing a memoir. But when we pay attention to our work and give it time and effort, we move through those challenges.
Remember Tough Love? It was about parents setting strong boundaries with their children about the rules—curfew, friends, drugs etc. If they didn't comply, they’d have to suffer the consequences, and these could be daunting! It put people up against it so they’d think, dig deeper and make new choices.
So…what does that have to do with writing?
Most of the problem with being able to write, to get started and to finish a book is just in our heads! Makes sense, sure, you say. But wait—that means YOU can change your thoughts and habits, and create a new template of expected behavior. Instead of negative consequences you get to have a reward!
There’s a great REWARD for shifting your mindset: becoming a successful author and having a published book.
To obtain your reward you need to:
- Write every day for 15-30 minutes. Get in 300-500 words—a messy first draft. DO NOT keep going over the beginning again and again. Write forward into the unknown!
- Create a structure to unpack your story: List the most important moments of your life-- 10 - 20 turning points that helped to shape your life.
- Write these turning points in any order—in your journal, your computer, or on a blog. Extra tip: when you think you have finished your story, write a little longer. You will discover parts of your story that needed to be discovered.
- Research your book -- your home town, the times you lived in, and family ancestry. Research feeds your creative mind and reveals new stories.
- Read, read, read. There’s a Recommended Reading list at the National Association of Memoir Writers--http://www.namw.org
