Denis Ledoux's Blog, page 56

Memoir: Mindful Use and Misuse of Words in a Memoir

Words as memoir-writing tools

As writers, how can we not be mindful always that words are our tools! Words communicate meaning—our meaning—to readers. So often however, we use words (and the phrases they are embedded in) without understanding the full weight they carry—their connotations for ourselves and for others. Many words are loaded with multiple connotation.

Now most writers have a somewhat clear enough sense of denotative [dictionary definition] and connotative [emotional : house vs....

Eight Reasons to Share the Inner You

Eight Reasons to Share the Inner You

Our lives are composed not only of facts and dates but also of dreams, expectations–realized or denied—and hopes. You are not alone in having lived an inner life. Others too have experienced much of what you felt and dreamed for yourself and are likely to identify with some, or even much, of what you say. You are more likely to attract praise rather than scorn for sharing your inner life.

You’ll derive several benefits when you share the inner you.

1) I...

A Top Memoir Editor Gets the Job Done

Have you wondered why even writers of the highest caliber need a top memoir editor?

Is memoir editing really important?

Following are reasons even the Hemingways, the Kerouacs, and the Woolfs need editors. As you (and they) write day after day, over the months and years it takes to complete a manuscript, some of the pitfalls we all become prey to include any three of the following:

becoming attached to your prose. Often, we are enamored of particular scenes and go from tolerating their ext...

Three Tips For Creating an Effective Writing Schedule

It’s time to commit to creating an effective writing schedule.

You’ve already taken several steps in lifewriting. You have begun to write your stories and memories. perhaps the summer got in the way of your perseverance or perhaps it was something else—an illness, a temporary job, travel. Now you need to recommit to memoir writing by creating an effective writing schedule for yourself.

Rather than think in the general terms of “I’ll write as much as I can” (who are we kidding here!), base...

Word Redundancies

Word Redundancies Practitioners in every endeavor or field have tools that are specific to accomplishing their work.

These people use tools with discrimination and, one hopes, effectiveness. A carpenter uses a ball peen hammer and a claw hammer and a club hammer. Each is different and each has a different use. While a carpenter might on occasion, perhaps to save the time to fetch a tool for a very small task, use one of those hammers in an inappropriate way, he will be embarrassed doing so...

Our First Evening Coping with Cancer

Martha Blowen, my partner in life and in work, died on August 18, 2008,  from metastasized breast cancer. The following is from collated excerpts of journals we both kept at the time.  (Before she passed away, she gave me permission to share her entries.)

The memoir is called My Eye Fell Into the Soup, after a dream in which one of her eyes fell into a cauldron. She later interpreted this to mean she was not paying attention to her health. (This is written about elsewhere.) As with most peo...

Don’t Give Your Memoir Gold Away

People want their stories told.

People everywhere have an urge to make their stories public—in any format that will satisfy the impulse. Because in human development, speech comes first and writing later, the impulse to make a story public is almost certainly to be initially to speak and only subsequently to write it. Talking over a cup of tea may be just as satisfying a release for the tension inherent in needing to tell a story as shaping a memorable written lifestory—or poem or novel. B...

Get Your Memoir Going Again

You want to get your memoir going again, but you feel stuck.

Get your memoir going again today. Writing a memoir is a long-term project. Like all long-term projects, it has its ups and downs. The ups are easy to deal with but the downs are a bit more challenging.

1. Set a schedule for writing.

Many people work better when they commit to a schedule. Try this to get your memoir going again: Write down specific days on which you will work and specify your start and stop hours. Modify this as...

Writer’s Block Is Often Caused by Lack of Discipline

Is discipline necessary for success overcoming writer’s block?

Yes, absolutely!

Writer’s block is often a symptom of a lack of discipline.

This thought will help to place writer’s block in perspective. After all, it’s an excuse—sanctioned by the notion of inspiration—for not getting work done. Writing is a job that has a number of requirements and stages, and each in turn must be approached with discipline—a respect for the inner exigencies of the tasks. To approach writing otherwise is to...

Writing About Religious Beliefs in a Memoir

How To Write About Religious Beliefs

Writing about religious beliefs can be a quagmire for the memoir writer. How can you write about religious beliefs without sinking your memoir? The answer that I can offer you comes down to the same old suggestion: show and don’t tell. Showing one’s religious beliefs in action or in a scene allows the reader the freedom to accept or reject the belief itself while continuing to read the memoir.

Every piece of writing has a theme.

The theme is the why of o...