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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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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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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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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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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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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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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The ice was like a mirror, as the Zamboni found its way back to its parking space. The entrance door creaked open, the skate guards were placed on the ledge, and the first blade hit the shiny, hard surface. The fresh, cool air filled her lungs, and a cloud of mist emerged from her...
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Oh, this is going to be good. We are going to write about our obsessions or passions this week in the memoirs group. Here is some guidance from Natalie Goldberg (paraphrased) from her book, Old Friend from Far Away. “Memoirs are not about your whole life, they are more an expression of your life...
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For the memoirs prompt on a storage unit. This is no ordinary blue trunk. Our relationship has spanned about 36 years now, longer than I have known my husband. Like me, it has a few dents and scrapes, but its beautiful blue color still shines through. The first memories of my blue trunk are...
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Here’s how memory works according to Natalie Goldberg. “With memory, you need to wake up different angles. You might stub your toe one morning and your mind tumbles back to an old friend, who wrote poems, and introduced you one May to peonies. The buds secreted a sticky sweet juice that attracted ants. The...
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My Dad had business in Chicago and he decided to take my brother and I with him. We were, I think, about 16 and 17 years old at the time. His client, a trucking company executive, and his wife took us out one evening. We arrived at a nondescript door, knocked and were granted...
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Is happiness as compelling as fear? That’s what I wondered after last week’s exercise on remembering fear. Like fear, happiness for me is best remembered in moments. It’s often fleeting, but oh so delicious. Contentment tends to be longer lasting, but happiness? That is when you experience a joy so profound that you suddenly...
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The terrorizing thoughts would hit when I was in bed for the night. I don’t even know how old I was,probably around 10, but I’m not sure. I don’t know how long it lasted either, but I did get over it. While I didn’t dread going to bed, I did dread the thoughts coming....
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Getting to the emotional truths underlying a story. Do you remember the first time you were afraid or any time you were afraid? Set up the story. Where were you and why? Describe the setting. What happened next and what were you thinking and feeling? What happened after? In her example from Old Friend...
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A Memorable Meal There is a lot I don’t remember about this meal, yet it was one of my most memorable. Growing up, I was a painfully shy figure skater. My passion for skating bordered on obsession. On the ice I could let loose, but talking was not my thing so my fellow skaters...
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This week’s exercise for writing memoir is all about coffee and you could win a copy of Natalie Goldberg’s book Old Friend from Far Away. Being from Canada, I grew up drinking tea. When I started working, we used to go to a little coffee shop in an office building across the street and...
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