Writing About Writing: The Process Journal

Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler

“I do not so much write a book as sit up with it, like a dying patient. I hold its hand and hope it will get better.”~ Annie Dillard, The Writing Life.

 

As I approach the writing of my second memoir about the simultaneous battle of a cancer diagnosis and a young son’s downward spiral into substance abuse, I balk at the thought of reliving that time in my life while also feeling compelled to write about it..

It’s not just about writing the story. It’s about writing about the writing.  Tweet this

Photo Credit: dreamstimefree

Louise DeSalvo, in her excellent book The Art of Slow Writing talks about writing in a “process” journal daily to help jumpstart and stay in the game, reflect upon the process of writing and evaluate after writing.

She also highlights the importance of approaching each new project with a new slate:

p.57: “When we embark upon a new project, or try a new structure or style, we once again become students as we learn what we must for the next phase.”

 It makes me realize that each book I write has its own path. While it helps to have published one book, writing the second one will require starting the process from scratch—being open to what lessons this new story will teach me.

Authors  and memoir teachers Lynn C. Miller and Lisa Lenard-Cook offer excellent tips about uncovering your story’s narrative potential in their book, Find Your Story, Write Your Memoir.  What they promise and deliver to their readers is to provide a “guide for authors from the beginning impulse to write your story, the occasion of the telling, on to the dance of memory and experience, through plot, structure, character, landscape, and scene.”

It’s about storytelling strategies. Let’s face it, we all have stories to share but unless we take the time to learn the art and craft of shaping it into a story with a takeaway someone else will want to read, we have a litany of life events with no clear purpose. As I had an agent tell me at my first writer’s conference in 2009, “it will all be in the telling.”

In an attempt to jumpstart my next memoir writing project, I have decided to do a series on my blog starting in September where once a month I will discuss one theme at a time. It will be called The Story Strand Series and I will be blogging more about it soon.

Usually themes emerge through the writing and since I have been writing about this story for a number of years, here’s what I have so far:

Cancer diagnosis/treatment/survival

Mother of alcoholic son/impact of alcoholism on a family

Codependency recovery

The nurse as patient

The role my faith played in helping me find hope to heal and cope

The power of hope in fighting the battles

And who knows what else will emerge in the writing process…

My target audience includes single parents, Christians, mothers, women, health care providers, cancer survivors.

The overriding theme in most everything I write continues to be the power of hope in overcoming life’s challenges but underneath all the events and details, I need to find that common thread that ties it all together and offers something of universal value. The purpose of the series will be to open up the conversation and invite people to share  insights, feedback and their own stories.

The idea is to gain some depth and clarity via the conversation and feedback.

My search for a finely honed theme begins with the questions:

Why do I feel inspired to write this story?

What will be in it for the readers?

What is unique about my story?

What is the narrative question I intend to answer through my story?

 

Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons

 

There’s a lot of work to be done; lots of deep soul-searching to find the answers to my own questions. Perhaps the process will help others find their own story strands that need to be pulled together into a cohesive narrative.

 

 

 

 

I started a process journal and here’s my first entry in my process journal from July 27, 2015:

Today, I embark upon a new chapter, the next one in my writing journey. Facing the sheer terror again of receiving a life-threatening diagnosis of Stage 4 Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma after years of watching my beloved son fall prey to substance abuse. How can I do this story and my son justice? What is the value for others in the telling of this story? Why do I want to tell it? And what are the repercussion if I do?

I have written so much about it already, in my journals. I have crafted vignettes of agonizing scenes. My son has read the stories and been touched by them. I will keep writing through my doubt and fears…

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The Story Strand Series will be introduced in more detail on Monday, 9/14 and my first theme post will be on September 28…Topic TBA

I’m ready to move forward and would love you to join me on the journey to my next memoir.

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How about you? When you start a new project, what helps you get a jumpstart? Do you ever write about your writing? 

I’d love to hear from you. Please leave your comments below~

 

ANNOUNCEMENT: Congratulations to Anne Becker for being selected in a random drawing as the winner of Daisy Hickman’s memoir, Always Returning: The Wisdom of Place!

 

This Week:

Monday, 8/31/15:  

August 2015 Newsletter: “The Fine Art of Doing Nothing” (The sign-up for the monthly newsletter in is the right sidebar under the blog sign-up.)

Join us  on Facebook for the We Love Memoirs Day celebration with  free  book giveaways and prizes: https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/we-love-memoirs-day/

 

Next Week:

Monday, 09/07/15:  “When Memoir Writing Becomes a Labor of Love by Stephanie Collins”

Stephanie is the author of With Angel’s Wings and will be giving away a copy to a commenter whose name will be selected in a random drawing.