Magical Memoir Moments
Writing Down the Bones: Slow and Dumb
I remember reading this breakthrough book soon after it was published in the late 1980’s. I don’t remember how I bought the book, and I don’t have the old copy on my shelf, so I may have loaned or given it away, Mostly, I remember how I felt after reading it. High! I had never…
Memoir and Love: The Vital Connection
All during the long holiday season/vacation I took this year, I have been mulling over the connection between memoir and love. Intuition tells me things that I can only later articulate. This has happened to me all my life. I love the story, whether it be true or apocryphal, that Einstein saw himself riding on…
Memoir, Formula, and the Hero's Journey
I subscribe to Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac, which comes into my inbox first thing every morning. I enjoy starting the day with a poem and some interesting facts about writers and writing. The October 12 entry introduced me to Lester Dent, a writer I had never heard of before. Here’s the text that caught…
Contests and Memoir
I have always enjoyed biography, autobiography, and the personal essay, but my study of memoir as a subject is only two years old. It started when I saw a 2007 literary contest announcement in the local newspaper, The Kalamazoo Gazette. The three categories were poetry, short story and memoir. That choice was easy, since my…
Max DePree, Leader, Mentor, Memoirist
A few weeks ago, my husband Stuart and I traveled to the “west coast” of Michigan, first to Saugatuck, where we had a lovely visit on a rainy day to the Wickwood Inn, and then to Holland, where Stuart explored the downtown and I visited Max DePree, the man who has been my mentor for…
Burn After Reading: Memoirs in the Movies
My husband Stuart and I went to our local theater Friday night and saw the Coen brothers’ latest film, Burn After Reading. One reviewer called it a smart movie about stupid people. I would call it not-quite-smart movie but definitely agree about the stupid people part. Only a viewer obsessed with memoir would have thought…
Definitions: Memoir, Memoirs, Autobiography,and More!
Patti Miller’s The Memoir Book is an excellent guide to the genre under discussion in this blog and is also the image I chose to illustrate the 100 Memoir Challenge over at www.Shelfari.com. Using more than 20 years of experience working as a teacher and coach, Patti Miller gives us a condensed version of her…
Meditation and Memoir
My daughter Kate and I had a wonderful conversation on Monday about the difference between fantasies, feelings, and actions. I resolved to get back into the practice of meditation as a result of that conversation. I am fortunate to work in a place that provides opportunity for meditation at work, so I have begun using…
- « Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Next »