Should we or shouldn’t we? Talk about religion, that is. Lately, I have heard so many stories about childhood memories around religion, many not very favorable. Mainly, I think, it’s the unfavorable ones that have a profound effect on us. Tell us about a memory you have that has to do with religion –...
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I have a real longing for my grandfather’s grapes. When I was little, we would go out in the vineyards on my great-grandparent’s property and pick grapes. Many a grape would go into our mouths before reaching the kitchen, and I can still taste the sticky goodness. My teeth would break through the thick...
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The memoir prompt for this week has to do with cooking and you have two options to choose from. When did you taste your favorite fruit for the first time? If you don’t remember, imagine it. Goldberg says that imagining often leads to the real deal. Also, it might not be the first time...
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For Memoir Prompt: Feeling Different – This prompt extended another week. Being as quiet as I was growing up, there were many, many instances where I felt left out or like I didn’t fit in. Fortunately, I always had a few close friends and family that I could count on for feeling loved and...
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What about those little (or sometimes big) hurts from childhood? We’ve all had them. There is a lot about bullying in the news these days. Whether we were bullied or not, I know that everyone has times when they felt different or like they just didn’t fit in. Or maybe great times when you...
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Natalie Goldberg, in “Old Friend from Far Away,” writes about Allen Ginsberg. Many people don’t know who he is, and those who do remember him think only of his sexual or drug-related adventures. However, Goldberg says that Ginsberg was one of her most important teachers. At age 28, she studied with him at the...
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Natalie Goldberg talks about love being a four-letter word. “Being in love is a loss of control. Suddenly your life is dependent on the eyebrow twitch of Joe Schmo. It’s terrible – it’s thrilling. Everyone wants it.” (pg. 22 – Old Friend From Far Away) She says that writing is also a form of...
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For the memoir prompt – A moment that changed my life Today, I was writing a new Squidoo page on how an Ansel Adams book and George Winston CD piqued my interest in photography. What they really did was make me want to visit Yosemite National Park in California. After visiting Yosemite with my...
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Thanks to Alex and Carrie for braving the six-word memoir. Feel free to add your six-word memoir to the post at any time. We received the following note from Larry Smith, editor of Smith Magazine regarding that post. Hey EWN — Thanks for the Six-Word Memoir mention. Love your site. And I’m sure your...
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This week I am out of town again (without Natalie Goldberg’s book) and I know you’re all going to be busy writing ghost stories. So, for this week’s memoir prompt, can you distill your life story into six words? Mine is “Trying to figure it all out.” Just reply to this post with your...
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It was a hot, blue-skied summer day. The sunlight created glistening pinpricks in the apartment complex pool. My babysitter had brought me and my siblings there because she had friends who lived in the building. No lifeguard, but since it was such a nice day, there were many adults and children in and around...
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For this week’s memoir prompt, we are going in over our heads to write about swimming. Here are some ideas: * A memorable time swimming with family or friends * Learning to swim or not being able to swim * A competitive swimming event * First swim in the ocean * A moonlight swim...
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My entry for the memoir contest to write about a father, uncle, or grandfather. Just like everyone, Grandpa, you had your rough and smooth edges. I just wish I had known and understood both a little better. Although we had Sunday dinners at your place for many years, I feel like I know very...
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Monkey mind, we all have one. It’s that mind that never stops thinking. It is also your critic and judge, telling yourself that you can’t write. Natalie Goldberg says, “Monkey mind can take the form of your mother, a nun, a professor, a priest.” That’s why you need to make yourself write, schedule it,...
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Writing about itches, especially metaphorical ones, was not as easy as I thought it would be. I can think of several times in my life when I felt an itching to do something and jumped a little too quickly. Sometimes those don’t work out so well, like the time my neighborhood friends and I...
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Yes, the memoir prompt is that simple this week. Write about a time you itched, physically or metaphorically. (pg. 50) And here is a clip from an interesting section of Natalie Goldberg’s book called “Sideways Step” about not entering your memoir writing head-on, but sideways. She talks about a friend who wrote really good...
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Memories of elementary school are scarce indeed, yet second grade (known as Grade 2 in Canada) at St. Patrick’s School, will always stand out for me because of two very different incidents. St. Patrick’s School was aptly named because of its location on the border of the city of St. Catharines and the small...
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Do you remember kindergarten? If you don’t remember much, Natalie Goldberg says that’s okay. Begin from there and start writing. In one her workshops, she assigned third grade as a prompt. One person wrote about how he had missed third grade entirely because he was in Bergen-Belsen, a concentration camp. He did not talk...
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Frank Sinatra has been a part of my life since as far back as I can remember. My parents came of age in the Rat Pack era. In the early 60′s, it was cool to smoke, drink, and party to the music of Dave Brubeck or Frank Sinatra, depending on your mood. In my...
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On page 46 of Old Friend from Far Away, Natalie Goldberg writes, “Think of the history of nuts in your life.” Notice the word “history” here. By adding this word, she is not asking us for feelings about nuts. History implies details – dates, places, depth. Also, the history of nuts could mean nutty...
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