October 10, 2019
4 PM PDT | 5 PM MDT | 6 PM CDT | 7 PM EDT

Linda A. Curtis

How Long “Should” It Take to Complete Your Memoir?

I was raised as a Jehovah’ Witness and was an unquestioning true believer who knocked on doors from the time I was nine years old. One day, in my early thirties, I had a jarring doorstep encounter that raised doubts and opened me to question long-held beliefs.  Unable to reconcile those doubts, I eventually decided to leave the religion and divorce my Witness husband. For this I was shunned by the entire community including all members of my immediate family.

This happened over twenty-five years ago but I always knew I would write a book about the experience, simply because it was such an extreme situation and I wanted to help others who find themselves in similar circumstances. Shunned follows me as I step into a world I was taught to fear and discover what is possible when we stay true to our hearts, even when it means disappointing those we love (especially our mothers). This is a story about leaving home, breaking free from a cult-like religion at tremendous personal cost and striking out alone to find happiness.

At the time of my departure (1994) there was no internet or social media to help me find resources or connect to others going through the same thing. I have since learned that approximately 40,000 people leave the Witnesses every year, and it has the lowest retention rate of any other religion in the United States.  That represents a lot of pain and unnecessary suffering.

I started writing my memoir in 2002 and published in 2018.  In retrospect, that was perfect timing, but I sometimes felt shame and discouragement that the process took as long as it did.

I will discuss:

• How long it ‘should’ take to complete a memoir
• What I did to remain resilient and committed to the writing and publication process
• How and why a memoirist must reconcile with a heart-wrenching topic
• How, when and why to inform family members if they are featured in your book
• How to manage pre-publication fears of criticism (from family and strangers)
• The joys and rewards of seeing it through to publication.