Fifty-Two Snapshots: A Memoir Starter Kit

by Sonja Livingston

Many people want to write their memoirs or family stories but have no idea how or where to begin. Award-winning memoirist, Sonja Livingston, uses her years of experience as a writer and teacher to help you jumpstart your writing project. This series of 52 writing prompts, one per week, is designed to get you going, one short “snapshot” at a time. This booklet is made up of exercises designed to guide you as you begin to mine the stories that only you can write.

Genres: Memoir

78 pages, Paperback

Published December 20, 2020

About the author

Sonja Livingston is the author of four books of literary nonfiction. Her latest, "The Virgin of Prince Street: Expeditions into Devotion," chronicles her startling return to Catholicism and uses the return to launch various expeditions through space and time to explore Roman Catholic tradition with new eyes. "Ladies' Night at the Dreamland," combines memory, research and imagination to provide poetic profiles of historic women. "Queen of the Fall," weaves together strands of memory with icons from 1980s/90s pop culture, religion and mythology to consider the lives of women, while exploring beauty, fertility and longing. Her award-winning memoir of pervasive childhood poverty, "Ghostbread," was widely adopted for classroom and book club use. Sonja's writing has earned an AWP Book Award in Nonfiction, a NYFA Fellowship, an Iowa Review Award, and a Susan Atefat Essay Prize. She teaches in the Creative Writing Program at the Virginia Commonwealth University.

Reviews

[Wendy Fontaine]

This is the most useful prompt book I've ever had. I've drafted several pieces from these pages, including one that was recently accepted at a literary magazine. I can see myself going to this book over and over again and getting something different onto the page each time. Best of all, the writing is fun. It doesn't feel like work. If I like what I get from a prompt, I go further. If I don't, I move on to the next page.

[Joanne Nelson]

Fifty-Two Snapshots: A Memoir Starter Kit by Sonja Livingston is an excellent gift for anyone wanting to tell a story. Every page is filled with ideas, inspiration, and prompts for writers of all levels needing an extra nudge to get pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). Livingston is a friendly guide to the process and provides plenty of additional resources for educators as well as writers.

[Lara Lillibridge]

This is my #1 most recommended prompt book for my students.

[Catherine Stratton]

Love her nonfiction flash work but got a bit bored with this craft book. Not useful to me.

[Anne]

A reference book with great writing prompts for nonfiction/memoir