Memoir Authors discussion

Hello to all group members,
Just a reminder that this group is only for authors who have written or are busy writing their memoirs! Please make sure that you either have an author profile on Goodreads which points to your memoir, or you introduce yourself here if you are still busy writing your memoir. This is a group strictly for memoir authors so that we can discuss all our hopes and fears.

Is one permitted to remain if one writes in other genres as well? I have published two memoirs, about different areas and am working on a third. However, I am also working on two more works of fiction (I have published two already). If one is only permitted to be in this group is one is solely a memoirist, it is perhaps best if I bow out.

I assume by 'their memoirs', you are also including biographies/novels that are written as memoirs?

Of course Sharon!! And Chris! I just want to make sure that members of this group are indeed authors. I feel it's important to have a space to share honestly without holding back. (o:

I should have said memoirs, autobiographies, life stories etc.

Hey, guys! I just did a TV interview down in Alabama on a program called 'Veterans Issues' about my military memoir, "MEANTIME." If ya'll want to check it out, here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zfMZ1...

Hi everyone. Thanks for inviting me to join the group, Leila. My memoir, Six Cats In My Kitchen, is available on Amazon in Kindle format. This a comedy/drama featuring six special felines who played important roles in my family. The book touches upon subjects such as grief, traumatic life changes, and living with a disability.

Although Six Cats is the book of my heart, my primary focus is on historical romance. I've published two volumes in my trilogy, Texas Druids, along with a novella which serves as a prelude to the series. I'm currently working on the third book in the trilogy.

Hi Lyn, that sounds great, I am a big cat lover! Thanks for sharing, I'll be adding it to my list (o:

Congratulations, Lyn on great publishing success! I'll check out your books. A cat theme should attract lots of readers. Are you engaging with cat-lovers blogs? I'll bet you'd find interested readers there.

Stephen wrote: "Hey, guys! I just did a TV interview down in Alabama on a program called 'Veterans Issues' about my military memoir, "MEANTIME." If ya'll want to check it out, here's the link: http://www.youtub..."

congratulations, Stephen!

Hey there fellow memoirists! Just ripped another TV interview and thought you guys would like to know about it. Happy writing! http://youtu.be/wFSXd4YTE_Y

Well done Stephen, you are a natural speaker!!

Leila wrote: "Well done Stephen, you are a natural speaker!!"

Thank you, madame! You are too kind.

I just this moment joined this group but need to clarify. I am writing a fictionalized version of my parent's life together but i am including many of my father's entries in his journal while he was in prison camp...am I legite for this group?

Hi Everybody,

I've been trying to write a message in the section for free books but can't get it to save. I do not know whether it is my clumsiness or the website to blame. Anyway I keep getting this strange, ungrammatical message:

1 error prohibited this record from being saved:
Body user text is too short (minimum is 1 characters)

The message I am trying to put across is:

You can download my memoir, Emigrating Home, over two days, June 16 and 17, next weekend. I write about growing up in Jamaica and England during the days of the British Empire (names of people and some places changed to avoid embarrassment for anyone). I then find myself a national of a third country,Egypt, and I join my Egyptian dad there and try to fit into a country I do not know.






Emigrating Home

Hi Nikki
Great to have you join us. Of course, you are welcome!
Leila

Yasseen, I got your book at last! Thank you.

Leila wrote: "Hello to all group members,
Just a reminder that this group is only for authors who have written or are busy writing their memoirs! Please make sure that you either have an author profile on Goodre..."

I've written several mini-memoirs, including one published recently at Thickjam.com. Of course the ending morphed into fiction. Such a blurry line sometimes.

I'm considering starting a memoir (well, started) and then morphing into fiction. Why not?

Monique wrote: "I'm considering starting a memoir (well, started) and then morphing into fiction. Why not?"

Starting with what you know is great. Add drama, tension, conflict, believability, and adjust the people as you want them to be when the time is right. Best of luck with it, Monique.

Leila, you are a natural born nurturer. That is clear from your book and from the way you nurse each of us through our writing/ publishing troubles. I for one, am happy to be in this group. This is not a 'suck-up'. I never say what I don't mean and the truth often leaves one open to arrows.
On a memoir writing note - I have given frequent thought to the differences between a memoir and a family history. Memoirs often tell very little about family background which is entirely optional.

Thank you June! For everyone else reading this, I have just finished June's book and you all have to read it! Incredible story! :)

Lynn, some words I have heard used are 'creative nonfiction' and 'fictional memoir', but I'm not sure of their precise definitions. I think all memoirs are in essence, creative, as well as nonfiction. Creativity is a part of writing, as none of us can remember every detail and some slight changes are made for ease of writing and reading. But in general, all the facts should be as correct as our memory allows. And that doesn't need to be called anything else other than memoir. Obviously we are creative... we are writers!

I do think that any major changes should be disclosed by the author at the beginning of the book or if some memories are vague, that could also be mentioned with something like - this is my story as best I can remember it, or some such thing.

Great review btw :)

Leila, thank you for your help. Just a reminder to members that my husband Carmen Viglucci's memoir, "Albany Street Kid," is free today only. We would appreciate reviews both on Goodreads and Amazon.com. Thanks to all. http://www.amazon.com/Albany-Street-K...

picking up on the thread from September on veracity...reading Pam Houston's "COntents May have Shifted" which she bills as a novel, though anyone reading it can recognize much autobiographical in it, down to the name of her protagonist. I think if you are going to call something memoir it's got to be pretty truthful, unless you call out some of the common ways to craft: ie names and identifying characteristics have been changed in some cases (Jill Ker Conway's A Road From Coorain does this- as does my memoir North of Hope, our next March). There are slightly fuzzier but frequently accepted things too like character or time compression, but I think if you call it out it can still work; else call it fiction.

See my most recent Goodreads blogs for some thoughts on the subject of "Memoir, Fiction, or Just Prose."
http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...

Just saw this. I have had many short snippets of memoir (micro?) published but I am half way through my full length MS, so yes - I am one of you!

Hi Leila and Group, I (finally) landed a publisher for my memoir. I've been working on the back-cover blurb and have it posted on my blog. I would love feedback. If you've got a minute please visit and comment. Thank you and best wishes to all! www.gacepete.com

Congratulations Grace that is wonderful!!! Great blurb, I can't wait to read it! Typo in your blog address above, it is http://www.gracepete.com/ for others :)

Sure enough Leila. I goofed on my blog address. Silly me. Thank you for correcting it. And thank you for your kind words. I still have your book on my to-read list. Soon, I promise.

In case you've missed previous posts the next transcript on the Memoirs of a Medium blog at www.memoirsonly.com will be posted late tonight (UK time.

The end of this transcript will, hopefully, bring some comfort to anyone who has been unfortunate enough to have had an unfulfilled pregnancy or lost a child/or sibling.

Richard wrote: "In case you've missed previous posts the next transcript on the Memoirs of a Medium blog at www.memoirsonly.com will be posted late tonight (UK time.

The end of this transcript will, hopefully, br..."

lookin forward to it. thanks richard.

Checked and 'liked' Richard.

Good to see you touching base Leila. You and children must be busy right now. Have a good one!
I, on the other hand, no longer do Christmas. In the past I have celebrated some great ones. I've also experienced some sad and lonely ones.
If anyone out there, for any reason, is alone on Christmas Day and wants someone to talk too, speak to me on Facebook. I will be available to have a 'chat'.
http://www.facebook.com/GoodbyeJunieMoon

Just to let you know The Monday transcript that should have been posted on the Memoirs of a Medium Blog (www.memoirsonly.com) for last Friday has now been posted.

The transcript provides explanations on what happens when we ‘cross over’ and, its conclusion should hopefully bring some comfort to those who have suffered an unfulfilled pregnancy, or the loss of a child.

June wrote: "Good to see you touching base Leila. You and children must be busy right now. Have a good one!
I, on the other hand, no longer do Christmas. In the past I have celebrated some great ones. I've also..."

Hi June,

Will try and get past the household for long enough to have a quick chat - maybe I'm a bit too long in the tooth but Christmas doesn't have the shine it used to have.

I've also let books blogs and authors know that I'm going to start posting soul rescue transcripts on the Memoirs of a Medium Blog (www.memoirsonly.com) that were carried out by the two mediums in the 1970s.

It is my intention to keep the main transcripts to Monday and Friday and post the actual soul rescue cases every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (with the grace of God, a good internet connection, and no interference!)

The first couple of postings give insights into the soul rescue process, although they were not 'communicated' until the 1990s,

These introductory posting should also help explain the meaning of the terms this situation' and 'these conditions', which do crop up from time to time in several of the transcripts.

It's time TWO MORE added a book to fill up that bottom line...

Hi June,

Thanks for the comment! Just to let everyone who did join the memoirs only library we are moving in the right direction, up the search engine charts.

The blog - Memoirs of a Medium - has within one month attracted 2,167 unique visitors, generating 2,350 page views. Both the books in the library and the blog are climbing the google chart (especially chrome) very rapidly.

When I finish the 5 days a week blogging, in a week or so, I still have enough transcripts to post 3 times a week for at least a year and maybe a lot longer than that.

With or without any more 4/5 star authors it looks like all the books on the library will be very prominent in the public domain, within a month or so.

Thanking everyone who trusted me to do the right thing with their works.

Wonderful news Richard!!!

Thanks, Richard, for putting so much effort into the blog. I have not missed a post yet.

Love ya Richard!!!! June

Hi Guys!

Thanks for the support. I only wish the other memoirists in this group could understand what they are passing up.

Not only do they get a space on the library, but because they also have their own page, with instant access to their books on amazon, their websites and their blogs, they also get seperately indexed by google.

This means that as the blog pushes the library up the search engine charts, their own seperate pages get their own seperate listing/mention/feature on the search engines and it doesn't even cost them a penny to promote their books!

All they have to do is message me and send the details - does the phrase 'lead horses to water....' come to mind?

How do I add my book to the Memoir bookshelf? It may be posted elsewhere, but I've missed it.

Hi Faith, just go to Richard's profile and click send message. Then send him all your book details as well as your website/blog links etc. I think you may have to email him an image of your book cover, but at least you can start with the message and he'll give you his email address.
Leila x

Just a quick note to let everyone know that even if you haven't achieved a 4 or 5 star review on either Goodreads or Amazon you can still get extra publicity by having your work included in the submissions section.

Just send your book details (Amazon etc description), links to websites, blogs and a minimum 350 x 400 JPEG image of the cover to memoirsonly@gmail.com - the same image you uploaded to Amazon will do.

I do all the work in converting the cover to a 3D image effect and it doesn't cost you a penny!

Richard wrote: "Just a quick note to let everyone know that even if you haven't achieved a 4 or 5 star review on either Goodreads or Amazon you can still get extra publicity by having your work included in the sub..."

Hello Richard. I've just emailed my information to you at memoirsonly@gmail.com. Thank you for your help!
Mirta

With Love, The Argentina Family: Memories of Tango and Kugel; Mate with Knishes

Mirta wrote: "Richard wrote: "Just a quick note to let everyone know that even if you haven't achieved a 4 or 5 star review on either Goodreads or Amazon you can still get extra publicity by having your work inc..."

You're welcome!

Will get the work done tommorrow.

Hi Leila, fellow memoirists. I did post elsewhere on Memoirs only within the last couple of hours but I can't find where.(As usual, I'm a loggerhead) I was commenting, not boasting, that my recently ended 2 day promo on Amazon generated 9026 free downloads. and shot me up to #28 at my highest point on the ratings and #1 in 'military and spies, and one or two others. The reason I am NOT boasting is because I spent $160 this time to advertise the freeby promo. I will not know if it was worth it until I see how sales go in the following weeks. IF they are good and it was worth it, I will future post the advertisers I paid.
MEANWHILE, it has been my past experience that soon after a promo, the rankings drop back again. SO PLEASE HELP me prolong the numbers a little longer by LIKING my book. If you do so and let me know. I will reciprocate. Presently I have 28 LIKES on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B008BDWE1Q