Theme, Purpose and Outcome
The three main foundational pieces of memoirs, what you write, why you write it and the end result.
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Who Cares?
Why would anyone want to read my memoirs? Who am I to think my story is worth writing down? Who cares? And if nobody cares, why should I bother? What’s the point? There are two main questions here: 1. Who do I think I am? 2. And who am I writing it for, anyway? The first question indicates a lack of confidence or a sense of insecurity, possibly about your writing ability or the value of your life story. Questioning yourself and the value of your story happens because you don’t know the answer to the second question, ”Who is my audience”? Until you figure out that answer, there is…
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Exploring the Antarctic at 96
There’s a gentleman in my writing group whom I’m proud to call my friend. An inspiration to me, he’s been writing his autobiography for the past several years. He’s been an explorer, an intrepid sailor, an engineer, an immigrant and a family man. He’s navigated his sailboat down the eastern seaboard to the Caribbean from the Great Lakes, sailed across the Atlantic, circumnavigated the globe and just last winter, travelled through the Panama Canal, around the Horn of South America and visited the Antarctic Peninsula. This epic voyage was a gift to himself for his 96th birthday and his written descriptions of this awe-inspiring land near the south pole were…