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The Heart and Craft of Lifestory Writing
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Tips, guidelines and observations to help ordinary people write extraordinary stories about their own life and experiences.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'detail'
Down With Dull Descriptions
International Happiness Day
Keeping Travel Memories Fresh
Travel, especially foreign travel, is a great way to broaden your horizons and enrich your life. I’ve been especially fortunate to have the opportunity over the last twenty years to visit every cont...
Apology to China
Shanghai skyline from bus crossing bridgeShanghai riverside parkMy face is red. I misspoke and must set the record straight. As you can see from the two photos above, the skies are not always white in...
To Spell, or Not to Spell, That is the Question—Cont.
My last post on spelling and grammar hit nerves around the world. Comments varied, but one way or another, all support spelling. Some also exposed a couple of Inner Critic origins: fear of appearing s...
To Spell, or Not to Spell, That is the Question
A flurry of blogs and articles have hit the Internet with thoughts on the importance of correct spelling and grammar. In a post on Idealawg, Stephanie West-Allen links to sources supporting both sides...
Archetype of Spring
Thoughts of spring instantly activate a mental image of a specific scene in my mind: a late April day near the end of my sophomore year in high school. I see the scene as an out-of-body experience. I...
A Closer Look
In her January 19th blog post, "Why I'll Never Write Your Lifestory," author Diane Chamberlain states, “Your life story, while it may be fascinating, may not make for good reading. A good, readable ...
Brain Dumping
The story I started in the last post about story catching goes on. I learned that Stephanie and I needed to go beyond that interview. My understanding was that it would be a great help if I’d just w...
Story Catching
Two years ago, they were strangers. Then a chance encounter led to a deep friendship and a 100-page biography. Now, Bob Sather may know Al Vaicius' story better than even the Plymouth resident does......
How Long Should a Story Be?
How long should a story be? As long as it needs to be.I could end the blog right there. That pretty much says it all. But, you’d still be wondering what on earth that means? Is it okay for a story t...
Color Me Obsessive, part 2
You’ve probably dumped the contents of your junk drawer or its equivalent out on a table and gone through the items. You know the joy of finding forgotten objects, the surprise at some of the debris...
Color Me Obsessive
Ebullient. Effervescent. Inspired. Words fly around my mind like popcorn at its climax. It all started with a writing practice challenge from Ybonesy over at Red Ravine to set a time for five minutes ...
Reading for Better Writing
My hubby is great at uncovering writing lessons for me. It never ceases to amaze me that a nuclear physicist who took the minimum requirement of lit courses is able to rattle off such stunningly insig...
Photographic Memory Jolts
There’s nothing quite like a trip through a pile or album of old photos for bringing back memories. I recently ran across this shot of my own family, taken when I was about twelve. Oh, my, do the st...
More Than Just a Table
It already had a lot of history before it came into our family. I found the old table in the stairwell near the garbage chute in our first apartment in Boston. People put large things there for the ja...
Real Writing Versus Virtual
Don’t panic. The writing world as you’ve known it is not ending. Pencils, paper and keyboards will be around for ages to come, but today I want to pull aside the curtain on a writing tool you’ve...
Lulu Project Update
I arrived home yesterday from my great adventure in Austin to find The Albuquerque Years awaiting inspection. I’m pleased to report that it passes with flying colors.The cover looks exactly as I exp...
The Project That Just Won't Quit
I wouldn’t call it The Project From Hell, not by a long shot. No, this personal project I’m trying to finish as a test run of Lulu.com’s on-line Print-On-Demand (POD) publishing services is mo...
Do Not Go There
Once upon a time when I was very little, like four years old, we lived at Kirtland Field Air Force base for several months while my father was studying chemical engineering at the University of New Me...
We Hear What We Expect to Hear
While looking for an old file, I found the following exercise from a communication skills workshop I used to teach. The exercise is about how listening works, but as I read it over, I realized it also...
A picture is Worth a Thousand Words
You've heard the old saw, "A picture is worth a thousand words." That can work both ways. It may take a thousand words to explain what's happening in a picture. A combination of pictures and story is ...
Write Like You Talk
Beginning writers are generally advised to “write like you talk.” Stories about personal experience generally come across best when you write in a conversational tone, like you are talking with a ...
Writers' Role Models
You’ll find lots of strong meat in Jerry Waxler’s blog, Memory Writer’s Network. I’ve added Jerry to my Blogarithm watch list (accessible via the subscription link in my left column). Jerry’...
Label That Feeling
One primary difference between the writing of someone like Sue Grafton and yours is that she writes about Kinsey Millhone, a fictional person, and you write about yourself. Your challenge is to make y...
In My Write Mind
'You aren't listening!' My hubbie knows how to get my attention. Not listening is a powerful accusation!'Sorry!' I reluctantly shift my attention to him. It's not easy. I admit that I wasn't listening...
Increase Story Longevity
I recently watched from the sidelines as acquaintances sorted through boxes of old family artifacts awaiting final disposition. Among the collection of musty old photo albums, letters and other memora...