The Journal

thinking, writing, learning

Archives for December 2013

A Life Story

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A_full_moon_reflecting_off_the_river_-_NOAA

I’ve signed up to take a Memoir Class at my studio.

I love being able to bring in experts and learn from them. Steve Watkins, the workshop leader, is a former UMW professor and award-winning author. I’ve worked with him before so I know this will be fabulous.

The hardest part for me is deciding what to write about, which slice of life I should tackle. Growing up as an Army brat? Spending summers in Rhode Island? Nearly killing myself in Germany one stormy night? The fun of raising two boys? Part of me wonders why I want to write memoir at all. And, yet, the genre appeals to me.

I’ve found a couple of starting places (because I want to be prepared before the workshop begins next week!):

5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Writing a Memoir

How to Write a Memoir

Memoir Project

I really like what Marion Roach Smith says: “An autobiography is really the story of a whole life,” she says. “A memoir, if you want someone else to be interested, should really be [about] an area of expertise within that life.”

Now I have to figure out what I’ve learned in my 61 years. This could be interesting.

Priorities

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Diskflaskor

I could take offense. David suggested we might need a regular housekeeper. He was smiling.

But he’s right. He works outside the home full time. I have flexible hours. And cleaning the house always seems to be last on my list or when company is coming. Instead, I write. Think. Work on block prints. Walk. Visit in the studio.

This morning I began writing a poem about forgetting, the prompt for my Wednesday writing group. I’d been thinking about it all week, and today the words pieced themselves together. The waiting, staring, dreaming, pausing–are all necessary for me. I am grateful to have the time.

But I did give the bathrooms a once over before I left the house.