Magical Memoir Moments

Staring Death in the Face: How I Became a Gutsy Mennonite Memoirist

By Shirley Showalter | January 30, 2014

Are Mennonites “gutsy”? How about memoirists? My guess is that you may have had more problem answering “yes” to the first question than to the second. So here’s a Mennonite confession. I’ve always admired gutsy-ness. If you read to the very end of this post, you’ll understand why. First, let me introduce you to a…

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A Sneak Peak into the Black Box of Preparing to Launch a Book: A To-Do List for Book Marketing

By Shirley Showalter | August 7, 2013

Sometimes this book launch project seems a little like re-learning how to hoop. I can jump in enthusiastically, keep the hoop going for a little while, but mostly I have to laugh, pick up the hoop, and start over again. The analogy between preparing to launch and relearning hula works like this: I’ve got a…

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Family Aphorisms: A Memoir Legacy of Advice

By Shirley Showalter | February 7, 2013

Did you cotton to the advice of Ma and Pa in your youth? Or did you roll your eyes? One source of memoir in almost every life consists of the aphorisms — the boiled down wisdom or witticism — passed on by previous generations. The pattern of youth is to disdain these. The pattern of…

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How to Leave a Legacy. Hint: It Goes Beyond Your Book

By Shirley Showalter | December 3, 2012

  The most piercing thought any of us have is that some day we won’t be here. Some day, instead of sitting here looking out at the Shenandoah Mountain, I will be gone from this earth. Someone else will be looking through this window. In the words of poet Jane Kenyon, “all morning I did/the…

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