Memoir: Capture Memories, Reflect on Them

Greetings, readers! At the end of this post, you’ll find my recommended books about writing memoirs. Memoirs are in the category of non-fiction, and they cover only a slice of an author’s life, not the whole pie, which would be an autobiography. The booklist is also tucked in my second book, From the Porch to the Page: A Guidebook for the Writing Life, in the section “Writing Memoir,” just in case you have it, hint, hint. But first…

My favorite book about the writing life …

…is Brenda Ueland’s, If You Want To Write: A Book About Art, Independence and Spirit. In it she gives the most delightful encouragements like this:

Work with all your intelligence and love. Work freely and rollickingly as though you were talking to a friend who loves you. Mentally (at least three or four times a day) thumb your nose at all know-it-alls, jeerers, critics, and doubters.

Let’s talk about memoir

As I mentioned, memoirs are in the non-fiction genre, which means what’s written in a memoir happened in real life, BUT what makes memoirs unique is they also give you the author’s current-day reflections on that part of their life, and usually after a good amount of time has passed. It is that long-view perspective in memoir that gives it richness, meaning, and depth.

Three of my favorite memoirs

A Tender Bar by J. R. Moehringer

Me by Brenda Ueland

Running in the Family by Michael Ondatje

Go for it

If you want to write something about your life, comb through some keepsakes, like family heirlooms and photos. They can serve as pathways into memories. Jot down how you feel when you look at them, consider where they came from, reflect on the people associated with them and how they’ve changed over time. Consider their impact on you. Don’t wait. Seize the day. Seize the pen. Seize the laptop and write something, anything. The journey to a completed memoir begins with the first sentence.

I’m working on one about my maternal grandmother, inspired by a photo I have. Here’s a little of the story:

There’s my mom in her shiny white wedding gown, the wind tossing her veil in the sun. My father is next to her, not smiling but not frowning, either. Maybe the sun was in his eyes. They’re with all their family members assembled on the lawn of my grandparents’ house in Newport, Rhode Island. My parents just married at St. Joseph’s Church. It’s October, during WWII. Surely among this group gathered on the lawn there is a stirred-up mix of joy and grave concern like a rug laying underneath that joy. Look at my father’s face as he gazes at you, standing at attention in his Army uniform. But it’s Nana I am drawn to. Her oldest daughter just married an active-duty soldier. What can possibly go wrong?

Books I recommend for writing memoir

  • Writing the Memoir: From Truth to Art by Judith Barrington
  • Composing a Life by Mary Catherine Bateson
  • The Business of Memoir: The Art of Remembering in an Age of Forgetting by Charles Baxter
  • The Art of Time in Memoir: Then, Again by Sven Birkerts
  • The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr
  • I Could Tell You Stories: Sojourns in the Land of Memory by Patricia Hampl
  • Your Life as Story: Discovering the “New Autobiography” and Writing Memoir as Literature by Tristine Rainer

Happy writing and thanks for reading!

Charlene

Visit me at https://go.authorsguild.org/members/1424

 






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