Fran Macilvey's Blog, page 33

Memoir writing for starters

Memoir writing for starters

(The title of this blog post is tongue-in-cheek. We all have to begin somewhere.)

How we write memoir depends hugely on why we are writing. But assuming we have sorted through our motivations and decided to go ahead, there are a few more practical tips that might help to get our particular story written.

~Write someone else’s story first. You don’t need to write ‘the truth’ or anything like it. You don’t need a book length endeavour either: A couple of good anecdo...

A very patient woman

I’ve become a very patient woman.

I’ve become a very patient woman. How to explain that in the last two years our family has endured upheavals and difficulties that, even five years ago, would have torn me apart. Yet now, I am more relaxed, much happier and more accepting of all circumstances. Even awful times make me grateful for the good times, and for every shaft of light that settles on my face after a hard day.

My mother is unwell, and it is not much of an exaggeration to say that the s...

No laptop for me

No laptop for me, IDS

Funny what I think about in the middle of the night. I can’t use a laptop. Strange, the realisation that it’s not worth the heartache of buying one of these svelte beauties only to see it crushed or dented when, as will come the day, I trip and fall while carrying it. Not to mention what that’ll do to my wrists, elbows, etc.

Which led me inexorably on – as these things do – to the injustices of Universal Credit, a scheme dreamed up, in all its complacent cruelty by the g...

One step at a time

One step at a time

One step at a time, one paragraph. One page, one chapter. That is how we write anything – novels, memoir – and there are no short cuts, really, in the process of producing reams of writing.

So the best thing I can recommend if you are in a hurry is to learn to type properly. It always astonishes me that in this age of technology, that people still type with one finger…Must drive them nuts! You cannot write anything well if you are typing one finger at a time.

I can only gi...

Memoir nuts and bolts

Memoir nuts and bolts

So we have decided we have the time, and we are going to do this. Pen in hand, we sit at our PCs and we start writing.

People ask me, “How do you start writing memoir? I mean, how do you actually do it?” And the answer is, one word at a time. Yes, it sounds simple, but everything we do, all our endeavours, can be broken down into small steps, in which case, writing memoir begins with the decision to write, followed by that tap-tap at the PC which means we are busy.

I st...

Ready to begin writing

Ready to begin writing

So, if we are ready to begin writing. Whether memoir or fiction, sweet stuff or friction, we will need:-

~Computer at the ready.

~Phones off the hook or switched off.

If we work from home, the first thing to realise is that not only are our own personal temptations to stop writing legion, but everyone else we come into contact with on a daily basis will assume, because we answer the phone or the doorbell, that we are available. To them, a body at home = a free hand to h...

Frankfurt Bookfair 2017

Frankfurt Bookfair 2017

I’m just back from Frankfurt Book Fair 2017, a phenomenal achievement of organisation and planning, in vast spaces, in huge halls with enormous corridors on several levels….

So why did I go? I’ve not been especially well and have had a very sore foot, so going to a place where I knew I will have to walk for miles – kilometres, these days, I suppose – would seem to be the maddest, almost a masochistic ambition. Though I honestly can’t give you many practical reasons wh...

Are we ready to write?

 

Are we ready to write

Let us assume that we have examined all our most pressing excuses for not writing and are finally prepared to face them down, ignore them, and get on.

We are prepared to hear, ‘Oh, I don’t see why you are wasting your time. Millions of books are published every year. What makes you think yours will have any chance?’ and blithely we can dismiss this and other discouragement because we are happy to undertake the pilgrimage. We have decided it is what we want to do, so t...

4 October 2016

4 October 2016

A year ago today, my brother died. He slipped out of this life peacefully, having fought so hard to stay. He had every incentive to stay, children who needed him, and many, many work projects and ideas that he was developing. How he kept track of all that, while working and running a household is mind-boggling. But he did it all, and the reality now, looking back at what he did, and the way he lived, is that his example has taught me so much of the small lessons, the big lesso...

How to write our memoirs

How to write our memoirs

I may want to write my memoirs, but for some reason – maybe our curtains need washed, or maybe I need to have coffee with my friends – I constantly put it off. Which is interesting in itself, and worthy of a whole book alone. Why do we forever put off doing those things we really want to?

I’m forever making excuses not to write: I’m far too busy, I have to collect the kids in ten minutes, what do I know..? though I have found that as I get older, those excuses and man...