Denis Ledoux's Blog, page 58

Memoir Trash Talk

Three Ways Memoir Writer’s Use Trash Talk

Most of us use a certain amount of trash talk when we think about our memoir writing projects or talk about them. We are very clever about our evasive tactics however and disguise the trash as thoughtfulness. Here are a few examples of trash talk.

1. I need to do more research and interviewing before I can write my story.

Research and interviewing are essential to a memoir project but these tasks can occur during the writing of an autobiography. Fo...

Motivation Technique for Writing

We All Need a Motivation Technique At Some Point

All writers eventually need a motivation technique to spur them on to the finish line. They face the atrophy of motivation that seems to come with writing a long memoir over months and months and even over a period of time.

Let’s face it: writing can be hard and discouraging. The most interesting of topics (at least they seemed so at one time) may now grow stale and uninteresting as you write and rewrite (and ask yourself who would possibly w...

Telling the Truth About your Life

Telling the Truth About your Life

In a world where we are constantly being bombarded with subtle—and not so subtle—messages about who we ought to be, it is a bold statement to take a stand for personal truth and authenticity.

The telling of your stories is a revolutionary act.
—Sam Keen, Writer

One of the most transformative statements an individual can make is to tell his/her story with honesty and objectivity. At its best, this is what a memoir is—a statement that declares “this is who I a...

Does calling yourself a writer make you a writer?

“How do you become a writer?” people ask me. While many of my memoir-writing clients are one-time authors, not everyone is in that category. There are a whole lot of people who join The Memoir Network who secretly want to become “a writer” and are hoping that memoir writing will be their ticket into the writer’s life.

I might, in all seriousness, respond, “Start calling yourself a writer and see what happens.”

“Does saying you are a writer make you a writer?” might be their comeback and lik...

Three Tips That Will Keep You in the Memoir-Writing Conversation

Tips to Keep Writing

Recently, someone asked me what are the biggest barriers memoir writers face to being prolific. The following three came to mind right away. Below, I write about them and offer suggestions for eliminating these impediments to staying in the writing conversation.

1. Don’t hold out for a perfect memoir.

Writers often put off writing a good memoir in favor of struggling unsuccessfully forever to create a perfect one. This is insidious because no one says they are putting o...

Writing During Illness

“Writing is a way of processing our lives. And it can be a way of healing.”~ Jan Karon

Most writers write because not writing creates distress.

I speak for myself when I say, if I don’t get my quota of writing in during the day, I am up half the night, unable to sleep for all the ideas ricocheting in my head.

But what happens when a writer becomes ill and does not have the stamina or the desire to write?

In 1996, my life came to a sudden halt when I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Non-Hodgkin’s...

Dare to Share

To Share Is To Grow

One of the critical steps you can take as a writer is to find ways to share your work with others. Those others might be writers, they might be friends, or they might be family members. Don’t let your hard work sit in a drawer unread. Writing is meant to be read. We write down words hoping someone will find them interesting. When you first start writing, you must take the lead in asking people to read what you have written.

A Method To Learn to Share

Try this: Select a t...

The Family Gathers Around Martha

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 pe...

Two Tips For Conveying Theme Effectively

Conveying Theme Effectively

Underlying all of your stories is its theme. The theme is really a message, the global way in which you understand your story—either in its entirety or in its parts.

The theme conveys the essence of the you (or the them) that you want the reader, and history, to know and understand. The theme provides spirit to your piece, the breath of life that individualizes your life story.

1) The theme is dependent on your insights. Insights are glimpses of understanding. (“...

Not Telling the Truth or Being Insincere Can Stop Your Writing

Not Telling the Truth or Being Insincere Can Stop Your Writing

Many writers suffer from writer’s block, yet few understand its possible causes. Memoir writing certainly has its difficulties which can cause writer’s block. There are a number of reasons that contribute to difficulty in writing. I don’t want to use the term writer’s block because it has been made to answer to too many problems.

1. Dealing with uncomfortable material

In memoir writing, sometimes work stoppage can be the result...