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About the National Association of Memoir Writers (NAMW)
The National Association of Memoir Writers (NAMW) is a membership organization that invites memoir writers from all over the world to connect, learn and become inspired about writing their stories. The goal of our organization is to help memoir writers feel empowered with purpose and energy to begin and develop their life stories into a publishable memoir, whether in essay form, a book, a family legacy, or to create a blog. » Learn More
Benefits of Membership
Not quite ready to become a member of NAMW? Take a look at the 18 initial* member benefits our 12 Month Members & Lifetime Members Receive! Considering a Lifetime Membership? Our Lifetime Members pay a one-time fee and receive access to an additional 20 audio recordings not currently available as part of our annual memberships. Additional Membership benefits are being created for our Lifetime Members, so be sure to check back often!
1.) Special Member Discounts for Workshops and Online Classes
NAMW members get exclusive discounts for each workshop and class offering at the National Association of Memoir Writers.
Connect, create & relate with fellow memoir writers. Share your stories, learn about publishing avenues, techniques, contests, editors and agents from fellow community members. Be a mentor or find a mentor!
3.) Access & Post Your Stories and Writing Samples in the NAMW Cafe Blog
If you have any stories you’d like to share, we offer this special space for you to write your experiences. This space will serve as your training ground to hone your writing skills and at the same time, you’ll be able to allow other people to discuss these stories with you via the comments section. The NAMW Cafe blog is visible and accessible only to NAMW members.
4.) A listing in the NAMW Member Directory
Showcase your commitment to your craft and create an authoritative link to your web site or blog! Be found by your audience as well as agents and publishers! When you become a member of NAMW, you can simply edit your account settings after logging into the members area and add a link to your blog, book and/or author site. Share a little bit about your writing journey with anyone who visits the NAMW website and drive traffic from the NAMW website to your blogsor websites!
5.) Receive an Exclusive NAMW Member Logo
Demonstrate that you are serious about your work! The NAMW Member logo can be used in your print materials as well as on your blog or website!
6.) An Invitation to attend and participate in Free LIVE Monthly NAMW Member-only Teleseminars.
From the comfort of your home, you can call in to talk with experts about memoir writing, spiritual autobiography, creating plot from dreams and memories, the psychology of memoir writing, how to write the truth and still be invited for the holidays, the healing power of writing, and much more. These teleseminars are over a $600 value and are included at no additional charge to members of NAMW.
During these teleseminars, our members learn about the important elements in memoir writing. Inspirational, instructive, and valuable telecourses that help you begin, develop, and complete your memoir.
Our growing list of experts in memoir, writing, and creating include Kay Adams, Matilda Butler of Women’s Memoirs, Sheri McConnell, owner and founder of the National Association of Women Writers, Patricia Pando and Susan Albert of Story Circle Network, Denis LeDoux of Turning Memories into Memoirs, and Dotsie Bregel, owner and founder of the National Association of Baby Boomer Women. Many presenters are being scheduled for the coming year. Check out our teleseminar page for an up to date listing of teleseminars!
7.) Free Downloadable recordings of the Free LIVE Monthly Teleseminars.
If you are not able to join us live, you can listen at any time to the audio downloads of 25+ NAMW Memoir Writing Member Teleseminars.
Many memoir writers find that writing a personal history helps to integrate past and present, and gives them a new perspective about their lives.
This book discusses the important research of Dr. James Pennebaker and other researchers that show how writing heals both body and soul, and makes a case for free expression and the wisdom of healing the past through writing the truth.
Memoir Writing as a Healing Journey helps you with the journey of memoir writing, from how to get started to taming the inner critic. You will learn to how to make the transition from memory to memoir, and soon have many small stories or vignettes. There are powerful writing invitations to help you bypass your critic, and stories by other writers to encourage your path. You will find out that writing the truth is freeing and can be done without alienating the family.
9.) Access to The NAMW Jumpstart Your Memoir Questionnaire.
This questionnaire helps you to focus on the meaning, themes, and structure of your story. Using this tool, you will discover the title, turning points, and affirmations that will keep you writing and help you conquer your inner critic.
Don’t Call Me Mother: Breaking the Chain of Mother-Daughter Abandonment won the Gold Medal Award by the Bay Area Independent Publishing Association.
“Linda Joy Myers eloquently renders the details of her past in this transformative memoir, allowing all of us to find redemption through her honest courage…a compelling guide on a journey to wholeness. I love the book.” – Michelle Weldon, author of I Closed My Eyes and Writing to Save Your Life.
11.) CD of an interview with Kay Adams, founder of the Center for Journal Therapy, Inc, about Writing as Healing conducted by Linda Joy Myers, PhD. This cd will be mailed to the address you register when you purchase your membership.
Kay Adams is well known in the therapeutic writing community for her work using writing as a healing.
She is founder and president of the Center for Journal Therapy, Inc., and the author of Journal to the Self, The Write Way to Wellness, The Way of the Journal and three other books. She is a past-president of the National Association of Poetry Therapy. In June 2008, Kay is hosting Journal Conference 2008: The Power of Writing in Denver. Guests include the top names in the field of therapeutic writing, journal writing, and spiritual autobiography, such as Dr. James Pennebaker, Christine Baldwin, Tristine Rainier, and 40 other authors and experts. I’ll be there too, teaching a breakout session on writing “Secrets, Lies and Scandals”!
Please visit www.journaltherapy.com to learn more about Kay and her programs in Journal Therapy.
Learn about the reasons other memoirists most frequently cite as the motivation to write about their lives. It will help you become more focused on your reasons.
NAMW is pleased to bring you The Top 10 Reasons to Write a Woman’s Memoir by Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett, co-founders of www.WomensMemoirs.com and co-authors of the inspiring collective memoir, Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells Its Story.
13.) The NAMW Newsletter sent to you monthly via email.
Keep up with the happenings in the memoir world through our monthly newsletter. Stay tuned for featured members, member news, articles, and stories from other members. Each week you receive writing prompts and inspirational quotes to help you writing!
We want you to be able to share your successes, news, and stories with others. Our mission is to help you connect with other memoir writers for support, education, and inspiration. Membership benefits also include access to contests, grants, agents and publishers as well as exposure to cutting-edge news and information about the memoir-writing field. Check out the NAMW Memoir Writing Community Forum as part of this effort!
Memoir writers must develop structural skills to unravel memories and create story lines, transforming memories into dramatic action scenes. Martha Alderson has developed visual plot tools to help writers achieve these goals.
Martha’s book Blockbuster Plots Pure & Simple demonstrates the Plot Planner and Scene Tracker techniques. These tools show how plot weaves together layers of dramatic action, character emotional development and transformation, and thematic significance.
Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett are the co-authors of the important and inspiring new collective memoir Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells Its Story. This book is important to women memoir writers for two reasons. First, Rosie’s Daughters tells the personal stories of women born during World War II, the precursors of the Baby Boom generation. And second the format breaks new ground for a memoir and provides insights on how to combine photographs, timelines, and quotes to create a memorable personal narrative.
17.) SPECIAL BONUS BENEFIT: NAMW Member Only Discount at the Memoir Coaching Connection with Linda Joy Myers, Ph.D.
What is memoir coaching like with Linda Joy?
“When I coach writers, I help them to discover the inner story and the inspiration to write. We talk about what helps to keep the flow of writing going, how to calm the inner critic, and ways to deal with the guilt and shame that can arise when writing very personal and intimate stories. I tap into my own enthusiasm and experience to help writers find their own voice and be able to write what their heart is whispering.” –Linda Joy Myers, February 2002
This unique benefit is not offered anywhere else.
The Memoir Coaching Connection helps you begin, keep writing, and complete your memoir. You can be a beginner or advanced writer, writing your first draft or coming to the end of your book with questions about editing and publishing. We will talk about writing techniques, tools, how to write a healing memoir, issues of truth, shame, guilt, family loyalty–many problems that memoir writers struggle with as they write stories or a whole book.
Please contact NAMW at info@namw.org if you have any questions about this special program. You’ll receive one-on-one, focused advice about your own work and can follow your progress with a special coaching journal.
18.) 30% Discount on Book Cover Design and Interior Book Layout Services
We are partnering with Susan Daffron of Logical Expressions, Inc. to help you turn your memoir into a finished book. In addition to publishing her own 10 books, Susan is a designer with more than 15 years of experience laying out books and other long documents using industry-standard software, such as Adobe InDesign and Photoshop. You’ll receive a custom designed book cover and a professionally laid out interior at a special discounted rate. The end result will be a book you’ll be proud to hand out to people.
Join NAMW to start receiving these benefits today!
You may have noticed that we mentioned “initial*” membership benefits at the introduction to our membership benefits listed above. That’s because NAMW is a true membership organization. Our mission is to continue to provide on-going and new resources that bring value to your membership, year after year.
If you have any questions about membership or any of these benefits, please contact us via email at info@namw.org or contact Staci in our Member Benefits department via telephone at (952) 210-7657. She can join over the telephone or follow the link to join online.
We are thrilled to be part of your memoir writing journey!
Join NAMW today to start receiving these benefits!