Back in January, we had a memoir prompt titled “It’s a Wrap” — encouraging everyone to write about an embarrassing moment or a “boner”. I had a blast reading and writing a response to that prompt and wanted to repeat something along the same lines this week. I know it may be rough for...
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I know we are all busy this time of year — getting outdoors, gardens, riding and such, so I am extending last weeks memoir prompt another week. It’s not a difficult prompt. Most of us remember that time in our lives pretty vividly. Dig into that memory bank and tell us a story! Click...
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The old saying is: “graduation is not an end but a beginning”. My daughter is graduating high school in about a month. We’re dealing with prom, Grad Bash, end of the year award programs, graduation announcements, relatives traveling to the festivities and party plans. We spent the other evening picking out her announcements and...
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Following up last weeks memoir prompt is this week’s “Part II”. We have arrived and you have introduced us to your destination — the reasons it holds a place in your memory. This week give us a specific memory, a story from that destination. It may be fleeting vision of a view you will...
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For some reason, spring brings along with it a longing for adventure. After being cooped up all winter we want to get out and do something – Alex’s answer to last week’s memoir prompt is evidence of that. So, this week let’s write about travel destinations. I have been working on some travel related...
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It’s coming, it’s almost here, it’s here…spring! While Florida has been experiencing some pretty warm days these last few weeks, I am sure that those of you a little farther North are ready to get outside after a rather hard winter. Spring is a renewal, a time of year that flowers begin to bloom,...
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I am short on time this week, (meaning I have to work my real job more days than normal – ugh) so I am borrowing a memoir prompt from an awesome writer, mentor and teacher of memoir — Natalie Goldberg. It is a fun prompt with only one rule. It will help you exercise...
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Thanks to Alex and all those supporting me throughout my recent ordeal with my dad. After a little more than 3 weeks in the hospital and then, pulmonary rehabilitation, he is home now and on the road to recovery — thank God. It’s been a while since my last memoir prompt, so I would...
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Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Today’s Memoir Prompt is going to deal with “Love” in honor of the holiday. However, you can write about anyone you have loved or do love. The trick is giving us details. Describe the person you loved(ed) — physically, but SHOW us this person too. Write to create a picture...
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In honor of the Christmas holiday this Saturday, this week’s memoir prompt is about Christmas. I know in my life Christmas has had many a metamorphosis over the years; what used to be the center of my celebration and the meaning as a young child is different today. I want to find out what...
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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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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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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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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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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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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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