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....