need to know if i should keep writing memoir

acbc7681 · Jun 11, 2010

i'm new here and not sure if i should keep writing my memoir. my book is akin to erma bombeck's in style, grace, and humor, only for the modern age. In our ritalin pushing, overly scheduled, society going to hell in a hand basket day and age my book deals with the new age parents dilemmas and dramas in a style reminicent of Erma's. My book touches on the worries, drama, and dilemmas of the youtube watching, myspacing, facebooking generation from a modern parents perspective. Does this sound like a memoir that I should continue writing?? I've heard memoirs about parenting and kids are very very hard to publish especially for a first time author. Should i keep writing this book and try to get published or does this storyline seem like the same old same old??? please i need help deciding if i should go on, feeling awfully dejected at this point.thanks for any advice!!

Chris P · Jun 12, 2010

Don't read too much into a lack of response. Sometimes legitimate questions get overlooked for a number of reasons. That's just the nature of online forums.

Nobody can tell you to be a writer or not. But ask yourself a question: why do you want to write this book? Do you want something cute you want to print off 10 copies of to give to your friends and grandkids? Or do you want to be a Bombeck-esque best seller?

If the first, write it how you want, contract a printer to print it, pay the printer and go home with your box of books. There is nothing wrong with this. I wish my grandmother had written a book about leaving a comfortable life in Sweden to come to Detroit, only to have the Depression hit a month later and living in a garage for a year. If the second, you will need to pay attention to common themes in publishing, such as word count, voice, content, etc, and then get an agent to find you a big-house publisher. Then you will need to trust to fate. There is nothing wrong with this either, but this is a tough business and most books written never get agented, much less published.

The people reading Erma Bombeck in the 70s are grandparents and great-grandparents now. There is a whole new audience. Look at the popularity of comic strips like Zits and Baby Blues. I'm of the school of thought that almost any idea has merit if told cleverly. If you never go for it, you'll never know.

Bluestone · Jun 13, 2010

Assuming for the sake of argument that you want to go a traditional publishing route, it will all come down to how well you write and whether you have a hook. Consider whether it has appeal outside a small group. Stories that you and family find amusing and captivating may have no relevence to other people. Find objective readers to critique for you - people who will be honest (not cruel) in their assessment of whether your book and its stories have merit. Ultimately, it will also depend greatly on whether you have the writing talent to tell this story well.

Do you have remedies, solutions, ways in which to combat the technology/computer drain on kids? Are they unique, innovative, creative, quantifiable? In other words, just bemoaning the state of families today and this generation's challenges will not be enough. You have to stand out, have a platform, be a different voice.

Yes, it's tough to get published. So then you have to ask yourself, do you have the tenacity and will to persevere against considerable odds? Is this a passion? Can you commit to research your market, edit, edit again and continue to revise and edit until you have a polished manuscript. Then you have to research agents and publishers to find those that accept unsolicited mss from unpublished authors. You may not find an agent, unless you have a broad platform and unique hook, so be willing to consider a small press, perhaps something regional in your area and definitely one that specializes in family issues and/or memoir.

And keep writing. If it's something you really want to do - other than just the compulsion to talk about just this particular issue - then continuing to write is the best way to hone your craft.

Best of luck.

mayaone · Aug 22, 2010

The simple answer to this is "Do you have a passion a compulsion to write your story?" If you do this will attract readers and give you the energy to complete the hardest thing you've ever done in your life. Good luck on your decison. Maya

need to know if i should keep writing memoir

acbc7681

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred

Bluestone

It's never too late to dream big

mayaone