INSIGHTFUL TIPS

Earlier this month, I posted the second installment of my "Memoir Writing 101 Series: Getting Started" for Writers In The Storm. Today comes Part 3: Different Ways To Revise Our Memoir. (In case you missed it, here’s Part 1 and here's Part 2.) Somewhere along your memoir writing path, you probably asked yourself “Why am I writing this?” As an editor, I like to follow that question with: What is your goal with writing this? What are you hoping to accomplish? Who is this really

This post could also be called: What I Wish I Knew Before I Started Writing My Memoir. This is part two of a three-part series (previously posted on Writers in the Storm on June 14th, 2021). Today I’m sharing Part 2, where we discuss with the same authors I wrote about, the positive things and surprises that came out of their memoir projects—the unintended consequences memoir writing can have in our lives. When I work with memoir writers as their editor or writing coach, ther

This post could also be called: What I Wish I Knew Before I Started Writing My Memoir. This is part one of a three-part series (previously posted on Writers in the Storm on April 14th, 2021). As a nonfiction editor and writing coach, I often work with first-time memoir writers who have a story to tell and need help shaping it. These writer-editor relationships may last from six months to three years until what really needs to be said makes its way to the surface of a page. Me

When did you first decide to write about your grandfather’s story? I decided to write about my grandparents after coming across an original land real estate transaction document from 1907. It was the deed for the first and only farm my grandparent’s owned. That place was Grandpa Charly’s farm. When I met you and read your story, you had a very different book than the one we have today. How do you feel the manuscript evolved? I recall you telling me there was a story worth tel

There are many reasons why you should write a historical memoir. Let me share with you one story. My neighbor-turned-friend, Ed Kuehn, was born and raised in Ripon, Wisconsin. When we met, Ed was retired, enjoying his free time, and doing family research. He’d come across his grandfather’s house deed, from the early 1900s, and was investigating some names and landholdings. I was a California transplant and had moved to rural Wisconsin because of my husband’s work. Once we set