Magical Memoir Moments

My Cousin, My Friend: How Memoir Photos Connect Us

By Shirley Showalter | November 18, 2013

If I had to pick the best friend of my childhood, the winner would have to be my cousin Mary Ann. She appears in both photos and stories in Blush: A Mennonite Girl Meets a Glittering World. She’s there in the very beginning of my life, having preceded me in life by nine months, a…

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My Mother's Pulpit: Published Memoir, Contest Winner, Ethical Dilemma

By Shirley Showalter | April 6, 2009

Ask memoir writers what their greatest challenge is and many will say, “how and when do I share my writing with the relatives and friends who are part of my story?”  Up to now, when I finished a personal essay, I sent it off to my family to make sure there were no gross inaccuracies…

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