Sunday Wisdom #21: Memory Books: A Memoir

Enough with poetry. And, poetry forms. Let’s learn something different; let’s look at memory books.

A memoir, for example.

Originally a French word, a memoir is a slice of your life. Compelling stories, real-life incidents, your emotions. Written by you.

Once you have written a memoir, you become a memoirist.

A memoir is different from an autobiography, and a biography.?

In an autobiography, you yourself write your entire life story. In a biography, someone else writes that.

Why do people write memoirs? There are many reasons. Here are the top three:

• To reveal a family secret or legacy
• To dig deep into the past and explore
• To recover from a shock or bad experience

When she was very young, Linda Grey Sexton lost her mother. She, a celebrated poet, had committed suicide at forty.

Linda could never reconcile with the sudden trauma. So, she wrote a memoir?Searching for Memory Street?(1994). This helped her heal slightly.

In 2011,?Half in Love,?another memoir she wrote, helped her come to terms fully with the shock. She was relieved.

Planning to write a memoir? Here are some simple tips:

• Focus on a few, impactful incidents from your life.?
• Make your stories interesting. Fill them with details; talk about trivias.
• Be authentic. Whatever you’re writing should be genuine. Tell the truth in a very positive way.

Have a genuine story from your life? Want to write about it??Connect with me at [email protected].

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