Memoir Writing: The Inside Story of - Part I

According to Writer’s Digest July/August 2010 issue, there is a viable market for Memoir writing. However, Literary Agents do not want to read another story about “lovely you”. They want the same page turning suspense and interest compelling fiction has. Literary Agent Byrd Leavell of Waxman Literary Agency asks “Why would John Q. Bookbrowser spend $25 and commit hours of his life reading about you? Answer that question and your golden.”

One thing Memoir writing has in common with fiction and non-fiction is the Query letter or Book proposal. Do your homework and pay special attention to guidelines. Some agents want proposals while some want queries.

A Few Key Points about Memoirs

• Distinguish Hook from Theme
• Know where your book fits
• Break your story into Key pieces
• Never underestimate the power of the smallest memory

Below is an opening/introduction draft to my memoir. Does it peak your interest or does it leave you looking for something else? Any thoughts?

It was August in L.A. 1962 and Billy Graham’s crusade was at the Coliseum. Here was my chance to challenge…. no….dare God to save me. I took a taxi from the all-girl boarding house I had moved into a few weeks earlier. As the majority of the crowd squeezed for seats near the stage, I climbed the molded concrete stairs to the nose bleed section to smoke. Truth was I didn’t want to make it easy for God to find me and I did not want to get too close to the power of the Word. The top row was my fig leaf. Besides if God was there He would reach me no matter how high I sat. 

I defied Reverend Graham’s words to touch me with Truth. The invitation was given; I lit another cigarette. “Sinner, come home”, Beverly Shea sang. I watched hundreds move forward toward the stage. God made it to L.A. that August but I didn’t leave with Him. I turned aside, squashed my cigarette onto the stadium steps and with a military toe heel turn I entered the wide gate to destruction.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” Matthew 7:13


Come back Wednesday for Part II – Memoir Writing - Don’t Gloss Over the Tough Stuff.

Truth is Stranger than Fiction,
Carma

Paradoxical Commandment #9

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.

I totally relate to this one. Independent person that I am, (I even added the word Independent to my business name) I have never been able to accept help easily. As far back as I can remember my mantra has always been, “I’d rather do it myself”. Besides, no one can do it better than me. :) Sound familiar?

We all need help at one time or another with decisions, moral dilemmas, coping and our lives. Nobody knows it all inasmuch as we would love to think we do. I have a sign in my office that states “I know it all – I just can’t remember it all at once.” I leave that sign there to remind me how silly it is to think I can do everything alone.

Another reason someone may not want to receive help is that they cannot face their inadequacies. This is called denial. I don’t know where or when, in our society, the seed got planted that it was cowardly to accept help but I think it takes courage to admit you are not a superman/woman and it’s OK.

What about the saying “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”. Sometimes this is an unspoken motto among unscrupulous people. I have known people who have held grudges for years because their neighbor, friend, or relative did not reciprocate “favors”, therefore, they would never help anyone again unless they were assured the deed would be returned.

How can you determine if someone is in true need? People in need may be struggling with their pride or self-image. Sometimes it is hard to acknowledge that life just isn’t what it used to be. Think about the basics. People need food, clothing and shelter. They need friends. Don’t let their attacks toward you stop you because more often than not, they are not attacking you personally.

A statement from "Anyway" author Kent M. Keith says “Others have helped you over and over again. Now it’s your turn. Enjoy the deep meaning that comes from assisting others in appropriate ways and improving their quality of life.”

Write it down,
Carma

Forgive and Forget

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Emerson’s quote captures an essential activity. Forgiveness of the past. What is missing from Emerson’s quote, of course, is any hint of how does one ever manage successfully to do that?

The words are easy to say but what if you can’t forget them in any amount of time? Or, worse, what if “forgetting” means simply shoving them down into some dark space in your subconscious where they will fester for years... or even decades and eventually erupt in some outpouring of incomprehensible babble?

How can one finish each day with no resentment and forgiveness unless they have the necessary qualities of mercy and forgiveness already present within to make the act of getting rid of “my old nonsense” effective or possible? Learning to honestly admit failures, inadequacies and resentments, first to yourself then before the universe, seeking the sense of forgiveness and release that will make it possible to “forget them” as Emerson says you must.

It is possible, perhaps even necessary, to engage in forgiveness as a fundamentally selfish act—forgiving people or more importantly, forgiving yourself because you desperately need to become free from the acids of resentment that will otherwise burn into your soul. Resentment and bitterness will kill your creativity as quickly as a fire doused in water.

However, the process of forgiveness can empower you to deny permission to your old habits that keep pulling you down. Also this act empowers you to not keep repeating day-after-day tiresome and depressing patterns of personal failure and resentment.

Do Not give permission to your old habits and depressing patterns of personal failure to drag you down. Let each day of your life become an upward spiral. Repeat this mantra every day:

“I ain’t what I ought to be and I ain’t what I’m going to be, but at least I ain’t what I was.” (unknown)

Write it down,

Carma

When Does the Muse Hit You?

Ok, so you have been writing for days and most of it is mediocre stuff but yet it is good. Sometimes all it takes is a word, a flashback, or your brain has found the answer to a question you sent it last week. Bang! Aha! Our Muse does not tell time so it will pop in at the least moment we expect it.

You are changing baby boy’s diapers and as you open the diaper…ahem…, he deposits his daily duty at the exact same second the story plot of your novel begins to unfold from your brain, down the arm and into the fingers in record time with no way to stop it. The fingers are twitching and the words…the words. They are the ones you have been searching for. Arrgghhh! You fear they will fly away on the wings of a butterfly.

What would YOU do?

Suggestion one: Close up baby boy’s diaper and stick the pacifier in his mouth and rush to the nearest writing pad or keyboard.

Suggestion two: Lovingly finish taking care of baby boy, rock him, feed him and put him down for a nap. Leisurely, stroll to the keyboard and rewind your brain. (You would have had to overdose on warm milk to utilize this suggestion.)

Suggestion three: Go with the flow. Not baby boy’s flow, but your flow. Your flow of words. Believe me you will remember some of the creative outburst. All it takes are just a few words on paper or on the PC screen from you to wake the Muse up again. Have patience. The Muse will come back.

For me the Muse does not always come at will but that’s the beauty of the creative mind. The unexpected moments when it all comes together and makes sense (mostly) or at least enough sense to spur you on your way to completion of your book or project.

Your mind is always working to fill your requests. Just listen and it will come.

Write it down,

Karma

Is Your Mortality Speaking?

Inspiration comes when you least expect it. It pops in on me like a surprise and a welcome guest. C. Hope Clark (Funds For Writers) posted on March 11 poignantly stating:

“For years we think we have forever. And we waste it. I don’t think I wasted too terribly much, but that doesn’t mean I need to start now or even slow down. I’m a writer…and no one can write the same words in the same way I can. If I take that with me undone, what have I accomplished?”

Recently I received a letter from my local gym. Congratulations! Your birthday qualifies you for our low senior citizen rates……...I don’t feel any different, then again, my wrinkles are doing more than just smiling back at me lately.

Once you reach the age of eligibility for the senior discount at the local Smorgasbord; as I have, these thoughts begin to plague you. I say it’s time to get busy. It’s crunch time. Don’t wait until you are handed the 10% discount card.

All of this means I need to write…I need to get busy. What about you? I know you are busy, but what kind of busy? We are all unique. Our writing is like a fingerprint. Grab your star while you have the ability.

Write it down,

Karma