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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Guess what kids? It’s contest time again here at Extreme Writing Now. Well, actually it is contest time over at one of the satellites of EWN, the Facebook Fan Page, but it starts here. Guess I better get moving with the details before I start confusing myself. We will be using the Memoir Writing...
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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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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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“To have an old friend visit from far away – what a delight!” What if that old friend was you? The quote just mentioned is from the introduction to Natalie Goldberg’s book, “Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir.” It was a birthday present from a dear friend and I thought...
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Series Learn To Write» This week’s entry in the Sunday series, , maybe the most important entry in the entire series. At least I think so. Personally, I believe that any subject that involves creativity is a very had subject to teach and learn. Sure, we can study the mechanics of how to hold...
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