I’m jazzed! It’s such a privilege to be learning from our terrific Telesummit presenters Sue William Silverman, John Kremer, Chris Houser, and Martha Alderson today at the NAMW Telesummit–Spring 2014!
A few tidbits of what I learned. Those of you who signed up were either on the line or will be getting the audio, once we edit it a bit. We had a couple of tech glitches–who knows why–and the audio will go out to all who signed up as soon as we can make it available.
- Don’t try to cram your whole life into one book! You can write more than one memoir–and focus each one into a new angle or voice.
- Look at your life through different lenses–just as with a camera, that helps you to focus on the theme you need for that memoir.
- Write to discover what your story is, to find the meaning and the message in the stories of your life.
- “Follow the whispers into the dark mysterious place of discovery.”
- Be open to discovering the metaphors that illuminate your story.
- The reason people want to read your memoir is because they feel they know you, and they care about you.
- Connect to people live as much as you can–at bookstores, clubs that need speakers, libraries, and even Costco. Chat with real people in real time.
- Create a blog where you build excitement and interest for your story. People want to read your story! You can blog parts of your story, not the whole book.
- Everyone needs a website and/or blog. Blog on other websites too to build a new growing audience.
- Use social media to be social: retweet, favorite, and add people to your lists. Connect with them, and they will connect with you.
- Find your tribe(s) on the web, and help each other.
- A flash story is 300-1000 word.s
- Jump in the middle of the action.
- Focus, and use action words.
- Choose the ripe–and right–words.
- Circle all your nouns and verbs, and find just the right ones to keep your prose lively.
- Write a vignette–focus on mood, setting or a particular object and moment
- Create atmosphere in your flash memoir.
- Find more tips at www.flashmemoirs.com
- Put your hook at the beginning and create a great ending. Your ending creates a new fan.
- Interweave your backstory wounding–that shows how far the character–you–needs to go to create a transformation.
- 3 plot threads: Character emotional development, action, and meaning.
- Look for the energetic markers in your story to help you preplot your story.
- Write your memoir all the way through, then step back and find the moments of meaning, change, and transformation to highlight in the next draft.
Thank you all for joining us. We had nearly 100 people on the phone during each call, and nearly 600 people signed up. We appreciate too the words of thanks and appreciation at the end, and wish you all well in your journey to write your memoir!
Please join us at our free NAMW Facebook Group! Ask questions, list your books and writing process.
