Who's here?

sommemi · Sep 22, 2009

Just checkin... RedBird? Wayne?

Who else is currently a 'hanger-outer' in the memoir section? There's like, what... 4 or 5 of us?

Just wanted to say hello!! Would love to meet anyone else who I haven't had the pleasure of replying to yet.

How is your WIP? Give us a little bite... what kind of memoir/bio are you typing? Is it about you, or someone else? What are your goals?

sommemi · Sep 22, 2009

I'll go first...
Writing a memoir about my father, with a collection of HIS stories and a collection of MY stories about him. Been working on it nigh-on 10 years now... just want it DONE!

My goal: get a journal, jot down the ideas for my other WIPs and suck it up and get it done/almost done before my Dad's birthday on November 14th. Send out the first query letter on Nov. 14th too.

(I know that is an EXTREMELY high goal - especially with how busy I am - but I have been trodding around this project for ages and I want my Dad to see his book in print, and I have no idea how long THAT might take. Better to set the bar to high and ALMOST reach it than set it to low and not go over it.)

Red Bird · Sep 22, 2009

Yep, I'm here.
First draft of first book in hand. I've been working my memoir for the past two years. It's undergoing it's first round of edits. Poor baby.

My story uses skin as a metaphor for tracing my life and the lives of my patients. Markings stand as symbols for secrets we each harbor; secrets that have silenced each of us. My patients can't speak. Trauma caused me to have memory loss. Though my patients were silenced in ways that differed from mine, together we learn about life.

Memoir writers have stamina!

Red Bird

sommemi · Sep 22, 2009

Red Bird said:
Memoir writers have stamina!

Boo YAH!

Now see, I didn't know about the memory loss, so I'm really glad that I put this out here! I love the parts of your book I've read so far. It's great to get to know the people behind the books!

Ok, next?

Sweet Tea · Sep 22, 2009

I write memoir (narrative, creative, or whatever the latest term is these days). So I will be frequenting these specific forums - nice to meet you!

sommemi · Sep 22, 2009

Sweet Tea said:
I write memoir (narrative, creative, or whatever the latest term is these days). So I will be frequenting these specific forums - nice to meet you!

Nice to meet you too! And FYI - I drink you every night before bed. LOL Much better than coffee.

Newport2Newport · Sep 22, 2009

Hi, Sommemi!

I've been hanging around this forum for awhile now. I'm revising my WIP, CAN I GET A WITNESS: Memoir of a Tent Evangelist's Daughter.

Sweet Tea · Sep 22, 2009

tent evangelist = bad memories for me...

(Back in the '60's, my great grandmother shelled out a lot of money to an evangelist out in California for his prayer cloths.)

Good luck with your writing - I would love to know how you are approaching your story.

sommemi · Sep 22, 2009

Hi Newport2Newport!

Hang all you want!

Much luck on the revisions... you are probably at the hardest part. Keep in touch and let us know how it's going!

sommemi · Sep 22, 2009

Sweet Tea said:
Good luck with your writing - I would love to know how you are approaching your story.

Ditto that...

Red Bird · Sep 22, 2009

Hello Newport2Newport and Sweet Tea!

Great idea, sommemi. I feel a memoir writer support group being born!

Red Bird

sommemi · Sep 22, 2009

Red Bird said:
Hello Newport2Newport and Sweet Tea!

Great idea, sommemi. I feel a memoir writer support group being born!

Red Bird

Newport2Newport · Sep 22, 2009

Sweet Tea said:
tent evangelist = bad memories for me...

(Back in the '60's, my great grandmother shelled out a lot of money to an evangelist out in California for his prayer cloths.)

Good luck with your writing - I would love to know how you are approaching your story.

Hi Sweet Tea,
I love your user name. So Southern, and it speaks to me of the wonderful people my family encountered while criss-crossing the country with my father's revival tent.

Thanks, everyone, for the welcome and also for your good wishes! I've posted a query in the Forums, should you want to see how I'm handling my story. We can talk more about it here, of course, but it'll give you the flavor and focus, anyway.

Also, I'm wondering if perhaps I knew that evangelist, Sweet Tea. PM me if you're willing to talk about it offline. Otherwise, for now I'll just say that my father was one of many who sold "annointed" prayer cloths as part of his ministry.

thornhill · Sep 22, 2009

I lurk here. My first draft is done but I've been through it a million times so it's not really a draft. And it's not really a memoir anymore. The first three bites have been up in SYW/memoir for a while. It's called, 'You Get Used to It.' It's about me. It gets very weird and very un-memoir like. It's either brilliant or it's total crap. I'm calling it Art.

I've been hanging out in MCL but nobody goes there.

My goal is to make enough money from it to buy a pack of cigarettes a day. They've gotten really expensive and this seems like a modest goal.

Thanks for asking! I love writing about me.

brutus · Sep 22, 2009

Sweet Tea · Sep 22, 2009

I've done the 'tragic family tale of growing up with a pill-addicted mother' story - but told it with great sarcasm. Agents couldn't reject me fast enough.

Now I have a different story to tell - I'm still transcribing journals - but it's quite tongue-in-cheek. As soon as I have a few edits taken care of, I will post it in the sample pages forum. I promise it has nothing to do with pill addiction or mommies.

Yes, writing memoir is quite a challange - especially when you're a natural born smartass, as I am.

Good luck to all!

ST

jerrywaxler · Sep 22, 2009

Been doing "this" for years

Hi Everyone,

Yes, it's apparent from your responses and my experience too that writing a memoir is a journey. I wrote out the first draft of my memoir almost 2 years ago, and didn't think it was really a story. Then I let it sit for a while. A couple of months ago, I started to see how it could hang together, so I'm going through it for another round. I figure another couple of years ought to do it.

It's about growing up an extreme nerd and then blowing up during the sixties cultural revolution, and then spending my whole life trying to find the path I was supposed to be following. Trying to craft this story has become one of the best creative challenges of my life.

Jerry

Red Bird · Sep 22, 2009

Thornhill, It is good to have goals : )

Brutus, Six years? You have some serious determination! I was tricked into writing memoir. I entered grad school as a philosophy major, wrote a paper for a literature class, and was encouraged by the chair of the graduate program to change my major to creative writing. He didn't tell me how difficult it would be. Instead, he told me I had a unique voice. Something, he assured me, was hard to learn. He left out all the bad stuff! We aren't friends anymore : )

Red Bird

michelle25 · Sep 23, 2009

Hi all,
Description of my work can be seen on any of the pages in my signature (well, no, probably just myspace and blog). But I'll paste it here anyway -

Michelle moves to L.A. at the age of twenty-three to pursue a life as an artist but falls in love with a criminal and becomes his victim in the process. She refuses to see his betrayal for what it is and holds out hope that he’ll change. Within a year, her life is turned upside down and she is forced to recover from both emotional and financial loss. When she finally breaks free, she turns her experience into a story with a lesson for women who find themselves in similar situations. This translates into a form of artistic expression that forges the identity she always wanted to gain from the beginning.

I did the querying thing but didn't get very far so it's pretty much sitting right now, not to be talked about unless opportunities like this come up!

sommemi · Sep 23, 2009

thornhill said:
My goal is to make enough money from it to buy a pack of cigarettes a day. They've gotten really expensive and this seems like a modest goal.

Hmmm. debating making "a chocolate bar a day" MY goal...

Thanks for introducing yourself! I saw your title over in SYW. I remember that story! When you gonna post the rest? lol

sommemi · Sep 23, 2009

brutus said:
In the meantime, I've written a YA (MG) fantasy.

Funny - I'm distracted by a YA myself. Not sure what it's going to be yet. But can't get it out of my mind long enough to finish this dang memoir. LOL Funny how that happens sometimes, doesn't it?!

sommemi · Sep 23, 2009

jerrywaxler said:
Trying to craft this story has become one of the best creative challenges of my life.

Jerry

Oh man Jerry - do I feel ya there. I think memoir/non-fiction writing is much harder to make into 'literary greatness' than fiction. But I guess you luck out if your life is a little stranger than fiction. I'm glad you are up to the challenge!! It's nice to know others are just as challenged as I am!

sommemi · Sep 23, 2009

Red Bird said:
Thornhill, It is good to have goals : )

Brutus, Six years? You have some serious determination! I was tricked into writing memoir. I entered grad school as a philosophy major, wrote a paper for a literature class, and was encouraged by the chair of the graduate program to change my major to creative writing. He didn't tell me how difficult it would be. Instead, he told me I had a unique voice. Something, he assured me, was hard to learn. He left out all the bad stuff! We aren't friends anymore : )

Red Bird

Ahhhhhh. So THAT's how you got dragged into all this... LOL Well, I'm glad he told you that you have a unique voice. I totally agree... but sorry about him not warning you about the bad stuff. lol

We don't even want to begin how many majors I've gone through. It happens. O well. :Shrug:

sommemi · Sep 23, 2009

michelle25 said:
Hi all,
I did the querying thing but didn't get very far so it's pretty much sitting right now, not to be talked about unless opportunities like this come up!

Sounds intriguing! Good luck with the queries. Sorry it's sitting... do you have other WIPs right now?

And feel free to talk away! I mean... this IS a memoir/biography forum. LOL

memoiries · Sep 23, 2009

Hi everybody-

I've been a long time member of AW, having mostly posted on the middle grade and YA threads, but have switched handles for my memoir. Different names, different life, different purpose.

My MG novel is making the rounds, my YA is simmering, and I've just started a memoir based on recent events that have happened in my life. I'm about 18,000 words into it. (I've posted the first chapter...)

Anyways, I'm looking forward to get to know you all...as well as critiquing your work.

~M

Who's here?

Uses loquacious&#8194;in sentences

Uses loquacious&#8194;in sentences

Has a routine

Uses loquacious&#8194;in sentences

Gone to pee - don't touch my glass!

Uses loquacious&#8194;in sentences

Gone to pee - don't touch my glass!

Uses loquacious&#8194;in sentences

Uses loquacious&#8194;in sentences

Has a routine

Uses loquacious&#8194;in sentences

---

Gone to pee - don't touch my glass!

Has a routine

Uses loquacious&#8194;in sentences

Uses loquacious&#8194;in sentences

Uses loquacious&#8194;in sentences

Uses loquacious&#8194;in sentences

Uses loquacious&#8194;in sentences

Uses loquacious in sentences

Uses loquacious in sentences

Uses loquacious in sentences

Uses loquacious in sentences

Uses loquacious in sentences

Uses loquacious in sentences

Uses loquacious in sentences

Uses loquacious in sentences

Uses loquacious in sentences

Uses loquacious in sentences

Uses loquacious in sentences

Uses loquacious in sentences