In her book, “Old Friend from Far Away”, Natalie Goldberg tells us to say the phrase “I remember” and let our minds go — recording it with pen and paper or keystrokes — whichever you prefer. “Go, 10 minutes” is one of her catch phrases. She introduces one or two word prompts, tells you...
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Chapter 14 of Lou Willett Staneks book — Writing Your Life — is called “Accomplishments”. Yes, no matter how big or small, we all have them. Writing your life means including acheivements. She says: “Don’t fret if you have been elected to office since you were the treasurer of the eighth grade chess club,...
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Let’s prime the pump to the well of your memories with music. We’ve all had a song come on the radio that reminds us of a certain time or event in our lives. I can be shopping at TJ Maxx and hear Rod Stewarts “Tonight I’m Yours” song come over the Muzak and immediately...
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I have been enjoying re-reading Lou Willett Stanek’s book “Writing Your Life – Putting your Past on Paper” to come up with weekly memoir prompts. This week I was reading Chapter 13 titled Shame, Embarrassment and Confusion. Ms. Stanek opens the chapter talking about how actors, ad agencies, editors and professors all get to...
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I went to Cocoa Beach this Summer. It was the first time I got to really sit and get lost in the movement of the ocean in years. My family splashed in the waves and built sand castles at the edge of the water and I sat there with my beer, daydreaming as the...
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In Chapter 6 of her book, Writing Your Life – Putting Your Past on Paper, Lou Willett Stanek talks about achieving distance. She says finding material for your memoirs is not difficult but selecting could be. “If your divorce is ranging in the courts and in your mind, as tempting as it may be...
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Last week’s memoir prompt asked for you to write about an outside event, non-family related, that impacted you. This week I want you to write about a family member. In her book, Writing Your Life, Lou Willet Stanek points out that families are a treasure trove of stories for a memoir. She says: “Remembering...
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As 2010 nears its’ end, I have to say, I am not that unhappy that it is almost over. It has been a rough few years and, like many others, I am more than ready to more onward and upward. During the holidays, it is not uncommon to look back on the year; it’s...
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The call came at 3:32 AM, January 6, 2006: 8 years and 4 days after we had signed the papers to become owners of a golf club. I mentally took inventory of my kids and husband as I blindly reached for the phone in the darkness. Yes, they were all home, I was sure....
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We make decisions everyday of our lives — which fast food restaurant to patronize, what brand of coffee or toilet paper or which cable company will we opt for — none of which are life changing decisions. Yet, we all have made life changing decisions, good and bad. This week’s memoir prompt is about...
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This is my response to the memoir prompt about something funny or odd that happened in or around my car. The event eventually became funny, and ended up telltale deep on many levels… It was just past noon on a beautiful early fall day in Southwestern Ohio. Harvest was just beginning, and the rural...
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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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