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Journey of Memoir: The Three Stages of Memoir Writing
Journey of Memoir -- The Three Stages of Memoir Writing is a workshop in a book. Guiding you from your reasons to write a memoir, to how to begin, you will discover the answers to the questions you have about memoir writing. There are lessons on how to write a great scene; information on the difference between freewriting and outlining, and why you need both. Timeline and turning point exercises help you get started and create structure, and you'll learn what the narrative arc is and how to create plot in memoir.
Read Journey of Memoir to find out about legal issues in memoir writing, and how to find an agent and publisher. This unique workbook gives you the tools you need to begin, develop, and complete your memoir.
"Memoir guru Linda Joy Myers packs a lot into this useful manual. This is more than a workbook full of exercises and prompts-it's a guide from a veteran who understands the complexity of the memoir journey. If you're writing a memoir, this workbook will become your new best friend." -Brooke Warner, author of What's Your Book?
"This helpful workbook is crammed with practical advice, thought-provoking questions, resources, and space to jot down ideas. Linda Joy Myers has created a toolkit any writer can use to successfully write, refine, and publish a memoir. I only wish I'd had it when I was writing mine." -Eleanor Vincent, author of Swimming with A Mother's Story
"Myers has written the definitive guide on how to transform your life journey into a powerful, well-structured, memorable story that will touch readers. For the beginner or the seasoned writer, Journey of Memoir is destined to become a classic." -Jordan E. Rosenfeld, author of Make a Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time
"It's about time someone wrote a real guide for memoirists of all levels. A must-read for anyone who has ever wanted to write their life story but didn't know where to begin. Concise, simple, and highly effective." -Oksana Marafioti, author of American Gypsy
Read Journey of Memoir to find out about legal issues in memoir writing, and how to find an agent and publisher. This unique workbook gives you the tools you need to begin, develop, and complete your memoir.
"Memoir guru Linda Joy Myers packs a lot into this useful manual. This is more than a workbook full of exercises and prompts-it's a guide from a veteran who understands the complexity of the memoir journey. If you're writing a memoir, this workbook will become your new best friend." -Brooke Warner, author of What's Your Book?
"This helpful workbook is crammed with practical advice, thought-provoking questions, resources, and space to jot down ideas. Linda Joy Myers has created a toolkit any writer can use to successfully write, refine, and publish a memoir. I only wish I'd had it when I was writing mine." -Eleanor Vincent, author of Swimming with A Mother's Story
"Myers has written the definitive guide on how to transform your life journey into a powerful, well-structured, memorable story that will touch readers. For the beginner or the seasoned writer, Journey of Memoir is destined to become a classic." -Jordan E. Rosenfeld, author of Make a Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time
"It's about time someone wrote a real guide for memoirists of all levels. A must-read for anyone who has ever wanted to write their life story but didn't know where to begin. Concise, simple, and highly effective." -Oksana Marafioti, author of American Gypsy
216 pages, Paperback
First published July 9, 2013
20 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
About the author
Linda Joy Myers
17 books148 followersLinda Joy Myers has always been haunted by the power of the past to affect people in the stream of time. She learned about World War II through her grandmother, a passionate Anglophile who would rhapsodize about the unfairness of war. Together they watched black and white documentaries about the war when Linda Joy was young which led to a passion about history which she integrated into her own struggles with intergenerational trauma and her work as a therapist and a writer.
As founder of the National Association of Memoir Writers, Linda Joy is the author of four books on memoir writing. The Power of Memoir and Journey of Memoir help writers find their way to their healing stories. Her two memoirs Don’t Call Me Mother, and Song of the Plains have won the Bay Area Publishing Association Gold Medal award and the 2018 Next Generation Indie Book awards.
The search for layers of truth to help inform current generations about WWII led Linda Joy to explore the mostly unknown history of Vichy France in the weeks following the fall of France. Her new book is inspired by Varian Fry’s memoir Surrender on Demand and Donald Caskie’s The Tartan Pimpernel, and by the daunting courage of unknown and unnamed people who helped to save the lives of thousands of refugees, British soldiers, and other lost souls during the chaotic war in France. Memoirs were the most helpful books to find the “inside” secret stories.
Linda Joy loves to travel, tends her rose bushes and her two kitties, Harvey, a Maine coon, and Charlie, a Norwegian forest cat. They sit on her desk and dangle their paws over the keys.
To learn about The Forger of Marseille and what inspired it: https://theforgerofmarseille.com.
Linda Joy’s memoir links: www.namw.org and www.writeyourmemoirinsixmonths.com.
As founder of the National Association of Memoir Writers, Linda Joy is the author of four books on memoir writing. The Power of Memoir and Journey of Memoir help writers find their way to their healing stories. Her two memoirs Don’t Call Me Mother, and Song of the Plains have won the Bay Area Publishing Association Gold Medal award and the 2018 Next Generation Indie Book awards.
The search for layers of truth to help inform current generations about WWII led Linda Joy to explore the mostly unknown history of Vichy France in the weeks following the fall of France. Her new book is inspired by Varian Fry’s memoir Surrender on Demand and Donald Caskie’s The Tartan Pimpernel, and by the daunting courage of unknown and unnamed people who helped to save the lives of thousands of refugees, British soldiers, and other lost souls during the chaotic war in France. Memoirs were the most helpful books to find the “inside” secret stories.
Linda Joy loves to travel, tends her rose bushes and her two kitties, Harvey, a Maine coon, and Charlie, a Norwegian forest cat. They sit on her desk and dangle their paws over the keys.
To learn about The Forger of Marseille and what inspired it: https://theforgerofmarseille.com.
Linda Joy’s memoir links: www.namw.org and www.writeyourmemoirinsixmonths.com.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 6, 2020
This book definitely helped me organize my thoughts, which is probably the most important first step to getting any book written!
September 10, 2013
Journey of Memoir: The Three Stages of Memoir Writing (Paperback)
Linda Joy Myers' latest contribution to the art of memoir writing is a work that could well be a guide to anyone who has a story buried inside that is gnawing to get out, but is challenged by whether and how to get it written. She breaks the process down to three reasonably discrete stages and proceeds to lay out a path through each stage. The stages are 1) Kick-Starting Your Memoir, 2) The Muddy Middle, and 3) Birthing Your Book. As those stages are structured and described, the would-be memoirist will find great cues to get going and keep going until the story is developed and released.
While Journey of Memoir may be viewed as a "how to" guide to writing life stories, it is filled with nuance, deep and caring experience, and most importantly, bravery in tackling some of the most perplexing things life can bring. I wish I had had Journey of Memoir available to me as various life stories of my own began to take the form of a book, but unfortunately for me, Myers had not written it sooner.
Her first stage, Kick-Starting Your Memoir, is simultaneously practical and instructive. For example, I like Myers' approach to creating memoir lists, or topics you want to remember. She suggests, along with listing memories, that the memoir writer's "turning points" be clearly identified as a guide to writing. Then Myers illustrates how turning points and other important life events can be placed along a timeline. Just these two ideas alone could be a substantial stimulus to begin memoir writing in earnest.
Stage two, The Muddy Middle, at least in my experience, clearly conveys the things in our life stories that give us pause, things we worry about that we are not sure we should tell, and, if so, how much and in what tone. Part of the muddiness, part of the hesitations and halts, is in what Myers refers to as our inner critic and our feared outer critics--our family and friends. There are many potential reasons to enter this stage of memoir writing with deep uncertainty, even fear. By following her sensible guide through the mud, it is easier to visualize coming out successfully on the other side.
The final stage, Birthing Your Book, takes the memoir writer through the stages of polishing the work and getting it ready to present to the world. Journey of Memoir addresses revising, submitting to an editor, more revising--including filling gaps revealed by the editor, and moving through the necessary steps to have your published memoir ready to go all build confidence. Myers goes to great lengths to present a range of social media tools, publishing options, and approaches to promotion and marketing. Her insightful concluding section on writing inspirations could well be a part of the first stage, Kick-Starting Your Memoir.
My only objections to this work are (a) that the publisher chosen for the book is She Writes Press, a platform for women writers, and (b) a preponderance of women-oriented examples in the book. A gender neutral publisher and a balance of examples from men's lives would have helped make Journey of Memoir more appealing to men who are considering writing their own memoirs.
In summary, anyone who is contemplating writing a memoir should consult Linda Joy Myers' Journey of Memoir for its outstanding exercises and pointers. This volume could be viewed as a good and silent friend who will help you through the process. I recommend this new contribution to memoir writing unreservedly and enthusiastically--to men and women!
--Earl B. Russell
Linda Joy Myers' latest contribution to the art of memoir writing is a work that could well be a guide to anyone who has a story buried inside that is gnawing to get out, but is challenged by whether and how to get it written. She breaks the process down to three reasonably discrete stages and proceeds to lay out a path through each stage. The stages are 1) Kick-Starting Your Memoir, 2) The Muddy Middle, and 3) Birthing Your Book. As those stages are structured and described, the would-be memoirist will find great cues to get going and keep going until the story is developed and released.
While Journey of Memoir may be viewed as a "how to" guide to writing life stories, it is filled with nuance, deep and caring experience, and most importantly, bravery in tackling some of the most perplexing things life can bring. I wish I had had Journey of Memoir available to me as various life stories of my own began to take the form of a book, but unfortunately for me, Myers had not written it sooner.
Her first stage, Kick-Starting Your Memoir, is simultaneously practical and instructive. For example, I like Myers' approach to creating memoir lists, or topics you want to remember. She suggests, along with listing memories, that the memoir writer's "turning points" be clearly identified as a guide to writing. Then Myers illustrates how turning points and other important life events can be placed along a timeline. Just these two ideas alone could be a substantial stimulus to begin memoir writing in earnest.
Stage two, The Muddy Middle, at least in my experience, clearly conveys the things in our life stories that give us pause, things we worry about that we are not sure we should tell, and, if so, how much and in what tone. Part of the muddiness, part of the hesitations and halts, is in what Myers refers to as our inner critic and our feared outer critics--our family and friends. There are many potential reasons to enter this stage of memoir writing with deep uncertainty, even fear. By following her sensible guide through the mud, it is easier to visualize coming out successfully on the other side.
The final stage, Birthing Your Book, takes the memoir writer through the stages of polishing the work and getting it ready to present to the world. Journey of Memoir addresses revising, submitting to an editor, more revising--including filling gaps revealed by the editor, and moving through the necessary steps to have your published memoir ready to go all build confidence. Myers goes to great lengths to present a range of social media tools, publishing options, and approaches to promotion and marketing. Her insightful concluding section on writing inspirations could well be a part of the first stage, Kick-Starting Your Memoir.
My only objections to this work are (a) that the publisher chosen for the book is She Writes Press, a platform for women writers, and (b) a preponderance of women-oriented examples in the book. A gender neutral publisher and a balance of examples from men's lives would have helped make Journey of Memoir more appealing to men who are considering writing their own memoirs.
In summary, anyone who is contemplating writing a memoir should consult Linda Joy Myers' Journey of Memoir for its outstanding exercises and pointers. This volume could be viewed as a good and silent friend who will help you through the process. I recommend this new contribution to memoir writing unreservedly and enthusiastically--to men and women!
--Earl B. Russell
October 29, 2014
Very informative. A lot of it can be found on various websites but still informative. Something that I will probably skim again from time and time as I move on.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews