I just put up my memoir and I realize I have to pay attention to showing instead of telling. I need to describe the houses I lived in for one thing. It seems rocky in the beginning with adjusting to having a step-mother and that she scared me. The end of my memoir will come back to this - I end up understanding how hard it is to live in a house where someone else has been. It's not easy, believe me! The other person's memory is always there for the first few years. I just wish me, Lori, and Brian could have had a better relationship with Pat. The beginning of this memoir is how I felt as a child. Not how I feel now. Just want to clarify this in case my family reads my site.
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My mother in law got me a very nice journal for my birthday. There are cut outs for photos and it appears to be in three sections. First section is about my childhood in Norwood in the 70's. Next section is my teen years in the 80's and the last section will be adulthood. As I write in my journal, I seem to hate my teen years the most. Being isolated on Cameron Lane where you can't just walk to someone's house nearby was hard to get used to. I always hated it and hated living there. I guess that's why I never forgave my family for moving us out of Norwood. It's amazing how certain parts of our lives are great and others are bad. I have more work to do on it and hope to dig up old photos or other items than can be kept in the envelope attached inside the cover. So many pages to fill up!!
Got some new thoughts on my memoir. I want to concentrate on the good points, but there are also the bad ones which I hate to remember. I never got to go to my grandmother's funeral or my step-brother Tony's wedding. I was needed at home, answering the phone for the heating business. The work was pushed off onto me when the rest of the family wanted to go out and have some fun. I guess that's why I savor my going out time and enjoying getting out so much. This is an important point to go into my memoir. I have the feeling that goes into it, it's just putting it into words so that I don't seem like I'm complaining. I don't wanna be a whining baby when I write about my life. I want to hit home with others or make people realize how it was to grow up the way I did. Two different households = two different rules of right and wrong. What was right? What was wrong? I grew up confused and am just now, at 40, beginning to see my way.
If anyone out there is interested in writing, I have picked up some helpful journals and books. Here are some of my choices.
List Yourself - A journal with a different topic on each page as you make a list of different things in your life relating to that topic. Examples include: List your favorite movies; List the times in your life when you felt lucky; If you had a house fire, list the things you would grab first, etc. The Writer's Book of Matches - A small book of writing prompts. I had to order this one online from Barnes and Noble. Not sure if you can find it in the store but it's a great start to ideas that get your brain thinking. Very very helpful. The Book of Me, A Do It Yourself Memoir - The journal my hubby got me for memoir writing. A serious account of one's life from birth to future. A Picture of Me - Another journal like the one above. This one is more fun and a shorter book. It's great to explore friends and family, listing the preferences of different people you know. The Little Red Writing Book - This one I have but haven't explored yet. It's just a reading book with no activities, but is helpful with writing rules. Take Ten - Ten minute writing exercises that really get your mind thinking. It works best to set a timer, something I don't have. I gotta watch the clock which actually helps me to think as I write. I'm so happy I got this book! The first novel I ever read straight through was A Cry in the Night from Mary Higgins Clark. My mother got me interested in reading from this book. How I loved it and couldn't put it down. This is one thing I thank my mother for. Getting me involved in reading a fast paced book like this really got me more interested in writing and Mary Higgins Clark is one of my biggest inspirations.
My favorite authors follow with some of my favorite novels included - Sandra Brown (Hello Darkness, Chill Factor) Mary Higgins Clark (A Cry in the Night, Where are the Children) Dean Koontz (False Memory, Intensity, Velocity) Stephen King (Misery, The Stand, The Green Mile) James Patterson (Kiss the Girls, Cat and Mouse, Roses are Red) Janet Evanovich (Stephanie Plum series) There are many others, but I have way too many to list. I also have many favorite movie directors and writers such as Quentin Tarantino, M. Night Shyalaman, Tim Burton, James Cameron, and John Hughes (an old favorite) among many others. I started writing at a young age. It happened at times when I would be alone in my bedroom. If I didn't have anything to do, I'd grab a blank piece of paper and just start writing. I'd start with nothing, just a "one day" or "one night" phrase and it would go off from there. Ideas come as I write, especially with dialogue. Dialogue is my strongest point, as description is my weakest. Many writing classes I've taken and books I've read say to have an outline first. Those don't work for me! If I do an outline (as in life if I plan something), it won't happen. I'm more of a spontaneous person. If anyone out there knows me well, they do know that!!
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