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Writers! Stay On Topic!
How often have you started off writing a memoir, an article, a blog post, chapter or scene and found yourself wandering off-topic, down a fascinating rabbit hole, or chasing squirrels? Your story gets off-track and lost in a muddle of ideas. You end up frustrated and discouraged because the piece is nowhere near as dynamic and insightful as it appeared when the ideas first occurred to you. It’s easy to do when you’re in Flow, the ideas spilling out faster than you can keep up with them and you feel like a conduit for an unending outpouring of inspiration. You don’t want to leave out even one of these…
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Words of Advice to My Younger Self
One of the most important life lessons I’ve learned is to listen to my own inner voice. We all have that “still, small voice” inside that tells us when something’s not right — whether it be a subconscious distrust of someone but we can’t put our finger on quite why, or a family or personal situation that makes us uncomfortable, or simply a feeling that what we’re about to do is wrong or selfish. Call it a gut feeling, conscience, instinct or bad vibes, it’s important to listen to it. It’s our subconscious doing its best to keep us safe. Now, there are two sides to this inner monologue…
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Use Clichés to Find Your Theme
How Do You Start Your Memoir? You start with an idea — that magical moment when something sparks the desire to write. It might be a title that suddenly pops into your head, a concept that lights you up, a lightbulb moment, a realization or epiphany that lets all the puzzle pieces of your life fall into place. However it happens, you are inspired and you want to write your story. For the most part, you likely already have a rough notion of what story you want to tell. It’s about a character (you) who has experienced events which illustrate a universal truth, a life lesson or message you…
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There but for the grace of God
In the past, we’ve discussed the concept of emotional layering, and I’ve been exploring the realm of layered emotions in depth for the past few days. Last week, my mentor, Joseph Michael, The Scrivener Coach, asked me to help with the live accountability sessions on his membership site, Unchained Writer. These online accountability meetings are live writing sessions where writers show up and write together on their various projects. It’s a way to share our writing journey each day within a tight-knit, friendly community, one that understands the perils and tribulations of being a writer. Little did I know when I agreed, what lay in store. It started…
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New Year’s Revolution
Three years ago, I wrote a blog post that is still relevant today. In that post, I talked about the necessity of reining in our big hairy audacious goals so that we can start small. In the three years since I wrote that post, I have to admit, I haven’t accomplished as much as I’d hoped I would. I’ve accomplished a lot, but the goals I set myself back then were unrealistic. So, of course, I failed. And failing, beat myself up because I screwed up. Again. And again. And again. What I didn’t take into account was how much I’ve learned in the meantime. I didn’t…
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The Joy of Structure
When we first begin writing our memoirs, more often than not, it’s dull. Boring. A recitation of the facts of our life. Devoid of emotion. A bland telling of the stuff that happened without any of the emotional involvement that makes a story great. Meh! And that’s totally okay. First drafts are supposed to be a dull recitation of plot, without all the bells and whistles that make a story come alive for the reader. First drafts are meant to get the ideas out of your head and down on paper or screen so you can do something with them. It’s only as we revise and revise and revise…
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What Comfort Zone Can I Step Out Of Today?
On a Jim Fortin podcast this week, I heard the phrase, “What comfort zone can I leave today?” This really resonated with me. To leave a comfort zone means we need to change, and that’s not an easy thing to do. We like our status quo. It’s comfortable. We understand it. It’s not challenging or painful or hard. We love our routines. I’m reminded of the hermit crab. This little guy carries around the empty shell of another creature as his home and his protection, but whenever he grows too big for his current shell, he must find another, larger one and take a leap of faith that he’ll be…
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When It’s Okay To Act Out
Okay, so you’re writing away and you have no idea what motivates your main character (or yourself at age twelve). Or you can visualize your MC’s best friend, but you can’t hear her voice. Or you’ve finally finished your fifteenth draft and you’re ready to share with your beta readers or your writing group or your editor or (gulp!) your publisher, but you have a niggling feeling there’s something missing. Take a step back and try a couple of editing techniques that are a little different. When we read, we tend to “hear” the words in our heads. If the story’s well-written, we “see” the…
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How Not To Be A Wimp
Using Blind Spots and Limiting Beliefs to Power Your Memoir In my memoir classes, one of my favourite things to do is ask questions of my students to get them thinking more deeply about their stories, their characters and ultimately themselves. One of my students brought up the topic of fear of success the other day. She mentioned that she had a crippling fear of being successful, ie. “a public figure”. When I asked her what she thought was scary about that, she couldn’t tell me exactly, although, for her, it was tied up with public appearances, maybe interviews or readings of her work. They terrified her. It came down…
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Just Who Do You Think You Are?
One rainy day many years ago, while I was still in college, I was stomping along the street, resentful and annoyed, on the way to buy some milk since nobody at the house had even considered what happens when you use up the last few drops. Somehow, it always ended up being I who ran these little errands, and I was sick and tired of it. Suddenly, out of the blue, I heard a voice in my head say, “I am me.” Wait, I thought and stopped walking. What does that even mean — I am me? I know that. Who else could I be? The words held vague overtones of self-awareness, integrity,…
