National Association of Memoir Writers, NAMW » Linda Joy Myers http://www.namw.org Sat, 31 Jul 2010 11:54:04 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Our First Roundtable Discussion: Nonfiction, Memoir, and Essays http://www.namw.org/blog/our-first-roundtable-discussion-nonfiction-memoir-and-essays/ http://www.namw.org/blog/our-first-roundtable-discussion-nonfiction-memoir-and-essays/#comments Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:04:04 +0000 NAMW Web Team http://www.namw.org/?p=5629 A few days ago, I enjoyed speaking with Nina Amir, Jerry Waxler, and Sharon Lippincott in our first roundtable tele-discussion. We decided to talk about the intersection between memoir and nonfiction— how to help memoirists think beyond writing a book, to think about smaller pieces that can help build both writing skills and lead toward publication long before the book is complete.

Memoirists usually take years writing a memoir, but there are so many ways to get your work out into the world. Nina triggered lots of ideas for us when she talked about all the ways that she uses personal experience to get her work published—from personal essays that begin with an event that day—taking her son to his dance class for instance, or writing about an idea to muse about in meditation—she writes a blog about spirituality too, along with dance and writing topics.

Writing a personal essay sounds easy when Nina talks about it: choose a topic, write a scene that invites the reader into the topic, discuss the topic and then end the essay with another small scene.  And writing a smaller piece does something that we all need to do—it gives a focus to the point  we are making and helps us not write too much.

And we can use what we know as memoirists—our knowledge base from life experiences, and write a how-to article. For instance, I could write about how to have compassion for parents with mental illness, based on my experiences growing up with wild and crazy women.

Sharon and Jerry added to the discussion and we all shared our excitement at the idea of writing and publishing shorter pieces on the web.

So the challenge this week: choose a moment when something significant happened that you learned—and you think the lesson is something that can help others. Write about the scene, what you learned, and how someone else can use what you learned. Keep the word count to 800 words. Good luck!

Interested in listening to the full audio recording of the teleconversation?  NAMW members who are logged in to the NAMW website can access a link to download the audio mp3 of this call below. If you are a current NAMW member and can’t see the details below, please be sure to login as a member to access the details from this page or the Audio Download–look for the link in the left sidebar of any page on the NAMW website!

[Content protected for Namw members only]

Not already a member of NAMW? Click here to become a member now!

]]> http://www.namw.org/blog/our-first-roundtable-discussion-nonfiction-memoir-and-essays/feed/ 1 Today, Wednesday March 10, 2011, Linda Joy Myers, Author of the Power of Memoir and National Association of Memoir Writers President and Founder, asks “How Does Writing Help You?” http://www.namw.org/articles/today-wednesday-march-10-2011-linda-joy-myers-author-of-the-power-of-memoir-and-national-association-of-memoir-writers-president-and-founder-asks-how-does-writing-help-you/ http://www.namw.org/articles/today-wednesday-march-10-2011-linda-joy-myers-author-of-the-power-of-memoir-and-national-association-of-memoir-writers-president-and-founder-asks-how-does-writing-help-you/#comments Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:34:57 +0000 NAMW Web Team http://www.namw.org/?p=4811 10 Memoir Writing Tips Included!

Join Linda Joy Myers today, Wednesday March 10, 2011, on her blog tour stop with Meryl K. Evans, hostess of the Meryl’s Notes Blog. Linda Joy has written an article on Meryl’s blog about Interweaving Dark and Light Stories that includes as list of 10 writing tips. Learn more about writing for healing inside the Power of Memoir: Writing Your Healing Story, Linda Joy’s latest book.

Leave a comment on the the Meryl’s Notes blog and share the answer to Linda’s questions for you today: How does writing help you?

Linda Joy and Meryl are both looking forward to hearing from you!

You may be wondering, what is a blog tour? A blog tour is a virtual book tour. Instead of going to your local library or bookstore to see an author speak, you go to a website before an assigned date to post questions OR after an assigned date to read an author’s interview in the comfort of your own home. You can meet Linda Joy and learn more about her without even leaving your chair!
DatesFeatured Sites
March 5 Women’s Memoirs:
http://womensmemoirs.com/memoir-writing-prompts/memoir-guest-blog-and-writing-prompt-linda-joy-myers-discusses-the-power-of-memoir/
March 8The Muffin:
http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/blog.html
March 9http://writerinspired.wordpress.com
March 10www.meryl.net/blog
March 12http://daybydaywriter.wordpress.com
March 15www.pickthebrain.com
March 16 & 17www.cathychall.blogspot.com
March 19www.jodiwebb.com
March 23http://shaicoggins.com
March 24 & 25http://www.100memoirs.com/
March 26http://www.annettefix.com
March 29http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog

]]> http://www.namw.org/articles/today-wednesday-march-10-2011-linda-joy-myers-author-of-the-power-of-memoir-and-national-association-of-memoir-writers-president-and-founder-asks-how-does-writing-help-you/feed/ 0 Linda Joy Myers, President of the National Association of Memoir Writers Makes First Blog Tour Stop This Friday, March 5, 2010 to Promote the Power of Memoir http://www.namw.org/articles/linda-joy-myers-president-of-the-national-association-of-memoir-writers-makes-first-blog-tour-stop-this-friday-march-5-2010-to-promote-the-power-of-memoir/ http://www.namw.org/articles/linda-joy-myers-president-of-the-national-association-of-memoir-writers-makes-first-blog-tour-stop-this-friday-march-5-2010-to-promote-the-power-of-memoir/#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:20:20 +0000 NAMW Web Team http://www.namw.org/?p=4572 Women’s Memoirs Blog to Conduct Interview

Join Linda Joy Myers on her first blog tour stop as she discusses the Power of Memoir: How to Write Your Healing Story.

Linda has written a beautiful blog entry, Writing from the Inside Out—Open Your Mind and Change Your Life on the Women’s Memoirs website.

Linda will be interviewed this Friday, by Women’s Memoirs and will answer the questions you post in advance of Friday. Post your questions now at http://womensmemoirs.com/memoir-writing-prompts/memoir-guest-blog-and-writing-prompt-linda-joy-myers-discusses-the-power-of-memoir/

]]> http://www.namw.org/articles/linda-joy-myers-president-of-the-national-association-of-memoir-writers-makes-first-blog-tour-stop-this-friday-march-5-2010-to-promote-the-power-of-memoir/feed/ 1 [Book Reading by Linda Joy Myers] The Power of Memoir at Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore http://www.namw.org/upcoming-events/book-reading-by-linda-joy-myers-the-power-of-memoir-at-mrs-dalloway%e2%80%99s-bookstore/ http://www.namw.org/upcoming-events/book-reading-by-linda-joy-myers-the-power-of-memoir-at-mrs-dalloway%e2%80%99s-bookstore/#comments Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:02:03 +0000 NAMW Web Team http://www.namw.org/?p=4233 Sunday, February 21, 4:00 p.m.
The Power of Memoir—How to Write Your Healing Story
Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore
Berkeley, CA

If you wish to place an order for The Power of Memoir at Mrs. Dalloway’s, you can order books from them by phone (510.704.8222), fax (510.704.8228) or e-mail (orders@mrsdalloways.com). They offer free delivery in the Elmwood (and to Alta Bates Hospital), and they ship worldwide.


Linda Joy Myers reads from The Power of Memoir: How to Write Your Healing Story (Jossey Bass, $16.95), her groundbreaking work for healing long-term emotional problems. This is a pioneering how-to book that provides a new step-by-step program to use memoir writing as a therapeutic process. By going through these steps you’ll learn how to choose the significant milestones and turning points that make up a coherent story leading to a life-changing epiphany. Included are sections that help uncover the secret stories that are the keys to healing; explore the dynamics and roles of dysfunctional families; and heal old wounds, creating a better present and brighter future.Using many examples from her students and clients, Myers shows how creative, well-planned, and carefully researched memoir writing can offer a process for sorting out the truth from lies and family myths. Click here to learn more from source.

]]> http://www.namw.org/upcoming-events/book-reading-by-linda-joy-myers-the-power-of-memoir-at-mrs-dalloway%e2%80%99s-bookstore/feed/ 0 The Power of Memoir is on Kindle! http://www.namw.org/uncategorized/the-power-of-memoir-is-on-kindle/ http://www.namw.org/uncategorized/the-power-of-memoir-is-on-kindle/#comments Sat, 09 Jan 2010 03:06:22 +0000 NAMW Web Team http://www.namw.org/?p=4098 Surprise, surprise. I just discovered that Kindle already has my new book. No yet officially released, it’s available already on Kindle! The wonders of the digital world! So now people are buying it, downloading it and writing me–this is great.

No matter how many times a writer gets published, there is the thrill of knowing that your words and ideas are moving out into the world and being shared with others. I’m passionate about the power of memoir to heal and to create new connections with others. Every week in my work with other writers, I see how writing our stories helps us to be more creative in our personal lives and gives us joy.

I wish everyone a Happy New Year, and I hope that if you feel the desire to write, that today you will sit down and listen to that voice within you, and write.

]]> http://www.namw.org/uncategorized/the-power-of-memoir-is-on-kindle/feed/ 0 New book: The Power of Memoir by Linda Joy Myers, Ph.D. http://www.namw.org/updates/new-book-the-power-of-memoir-by-linda-joy-myers-ph-d/ http://www.namw.org/updates/new-book-the-power-of-memoir-by-linda-joy-myers-ph-d/#comments Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:55:04 +0000 NAMW Web Team http://www.namw.org/?p=3633 POWER-OF-MEMOIR

The Power of Memoir is a groundbreaking book that presents an innovative step-by-step program using memoir writing on the journey of emotional and physical healing. By drawing upon the eight steps outlined in The Power of Memoir, you’ll learn how to choose the significant milestones in your life and weave together your personal story. You’ll discover how writing your truths and shaping your narrative propel you toward a life-changing transformation. The Power of Memoir offers the tools you need to heal the pain of the past and create a better present and brighter future.

Visit ThePowerOfMemoir.com
$16.95 U.S. | $19.95 Canada | Click here to order from Amazon.

]]> http://www.namw.org/updates/new-book-the-power-of-memoir-by-linda-joy-myers-ph-d/feed/ 1 Inaugural National Day on Writing http://www.namw.org/uncategorized/inaugural-national-day-on-writing/ http://www.namw.org/uncategorized/inaugural-national-day-on-writing/#comments Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:33:42 +0000 NAMW Web Team http://www.namw.org/?p=3530
Linda Joy Myers, Ph.D.

Linda Joy Myers, Ph.D.


Listen in to this downloadable audio as Linda Joy Myers Ph.D., MFT, President and Founder of the National Association of Memoir Writers (NAMW) shares her thoughts on this inaugural National Day on Writing.

MP3 File

]]> http://www.namw.org/uncategorized/inaugural-national-day-on-writing/feed/ 1 Linda Joy Myers Discusses Memoir Writing by Mary Yerkes http://www.namw.org/recommended-reading/linda-joy-myers-discusses-memoir-writing-by-mary-yerkes/ http://www.namw.org/recommended-reading/linda-joy-myers-discusses-memoir-writing-by-mary-yerkes/#comments Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:39:03 +0000 NAMW Web Team http://www.namw.org/?p=197 National Association of Memoir Writers Founder Shares Her Story
by Mary Yerkes (NAMW member)

Linda Joy Myers, Ph.D., MFT, is the founder and president of the National Association of Memoir Writers and author of the award-winning book, Don’t Call Me Mother.

A practicing California therapist, Ms. Myers specializes in using creativity, art, and writing as tools for personal healing. The following interview offers a glimpse into the life of one of today’s significant voices in memoir writing.

Suite 101: You are very passionate about memoir writing. What ignited that passion?

Linda Joy Myers: When I was eight and my great-grandmother was eighty, I lay in a feather bed next to her, where she whispered to me the stories of her life in the 19th century–the farm life in Iowa where she was a midwife, raised seven children, cooked, baked, and gardened all day long before electricity or telephones. I learned that the legacy of her daughter, my grandmother, and my mother was not one she approved of. As I lay beside her, I realized that the history of everything was inside her, that her understanding of my mother and grandmother was something I needed for survival. I saw that everyone was simply living out a history that had begun long before I was born. Memoir is the capturing of these stories, one of the most important things we can do: creating the thread of understanding and perspective that is part of our own legacy.

]]> http://www.namw.org/recommended-reading/linda-joy-myers-discusses-memoir-writing-by-mary-yerkes/feed/ 0 Discovering Midlife Creativity by Dotsie Bregel http://www.namw.org/namw-guest-speakers/discovering-midlife-creativity-by-dotsie-bregel-2/ http://www.namw.org/namw-guest-speakers/discovering-midlife-creativity-by-dotsie-bregel-2/#comments Wed, 18 Jun 2008 09:08:44 +0000 NAMW Web Team http://www.namw.org/?p=138 Teleseminar: Discovering Midlife Creativity by Dotsie Bregel
Date: June 8, 2008
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