Linda Joy Myers » NAMW

Jane Friedman at the Public NAMW Memoir Writing Roundtable Tele-conversation

Linda Joy Myers — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:10:18 +0000

I’m so excited to be able to have a conversation with Jane Friedman this Thursday September 2 at the free NAMW Memoir Writing Roundtable! You simply need to register by clicking here to participate or receive a link via email to download the audio recording. Jane is a contributing editor at Writer’s Digest, and an energetic, knowledgeable, and inspiring speaker. I told you about meeting her at a conference recently, and how she energized the room as she talked about creativity and publishing. Jane knows so much about how we need to shape and educate ourselves so we can succeed in the professional writing world.
The topic for this week is Evaluating your First Page for Red Flags. Jane will talk about how to take a long hard look at your writing, especially on the vital first page that agents and editors view.
Please join us! Your writing life will benefit from Jane’s experience and wisdom.

Poetry–the Door to a Healing Memoir

Linda Joy Myers — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 04:25:43 +0000

Poetry–so often this topic seems daunting. People whisper, “I’m no poet,” as they shrink from the subject. But on Friday, Mary Mackey, author of many award winning books, a memoir teacher, and a poet, regaled the National Association of Memoir Writers with her knowledge about poetry and creativity during our monthly teleseminar. She showed us how poetry can open the doors to our unconscious, invite new memories, and infuse our memoirs with the sensual details we need to create a good story.
I was enjoying this presentation so much because I began my own autobiographical journey by writing poetry, and produced a chapbook long ago called Songs of the Plains. Poetry allowed me to capture snippets of memory and snapshots of moments and landscapes when I was not ready to write the stories in prose.
She suggested that we view poetry as a brief and freeflowing way of opening the doors to memory and our memoir writing journey.
Mary showed us how three of her novels emerged from the raw material of one of her poems, and told us these tips:
1. Write in longhand, a direct link from the mind to the body.
2. Write quickly for twenty minutes without stopping. We enter a trancelike state that bypasses the inner critic.
3. Poetry gets us closer to the center of our creativity and stimulates the right brain.

Mary had much more to share, and the NAMW members that were on the line were mesmerized by her suggestions and even inspired to begin writing poetry. They can tune into the audio on our website to hear the whole teleseminar.
I agree with Mary–through my own experience writing poetry, reading to groups, and freeing my imagery
that my writing was enhanced by reading and writing poetry. I recommend that everyone try it!

13 Reasons to Write a Healing Memoir

Linda Joy Myers — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 17:19:07 +0000

We all know that writing our personal stories is a challenge–of heart, mind, and body. To wrestle with truth, history, and memory requires us to be brave as we dare to speak out after years of silence. For some, there is the sound of trumpets as the feeling of freedom and fullness of open up through the writing. For others, they hear the voice of the inner, and outer, critics. But they write anyway, and keep writing as a practice, a meditation, a dedication. Writing leads to more writing, insights, and memories.

It’s true that memoir writing challenges us, but it can be a good friend, this process, inviting us to become more of who we really are, to find the voice that is ours and ours alone.

“Re-member” means to bring together the different parts of ourselves, and find ourselves whole.

Writing your deep truths frees you from the past and creates meaning out of chaos.
Re-membering brings all parts of you together again.
Writing with your own voice is empowering, story by story.
Telling your truth frees you from shame and guilt.
Your stories on the page will be different from the ones in your head.
Writing a memoir is a transformational and spiritual path.
Your story can help change others’ lives.
Research proves that writing heals both body and mind.
Creating a narrative where you are the “I” character and the narrator integrates the past and the present.
Integrating who you are and bringing memories out of the darkness changes your brain.
Writing and sharing your story breaks you out of isolation and connects you more deeply with the larger world.
Becoming an author is empowering and inspiring, and frees you from the shadows.
Getting published online, in an anthology or in your own book, are ways to get witnessed and move from victim to leader—showing others the way to healing and greater self-esteem.

The Power of Memoir is on Kindle!

Linda Joy Myers — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:14:39 +0000

Surprise, surprise. I just discovered that Kindle already has my new book. No yet officially released, it’s available already on Kindle! The wonders of the digital world! So now people are buying it, downloading it and writing me–this is great.

No matter how many times a writer gets published, there is the thrill of knowing that your words and ideas are moving out into the world and being shared with others. I’m passionate about the power of memoir to heal and to create new connections with others. Every week in my work with other writers, I see how writing our stories helps us to be more creative in our personal lives and gives us joy.

I wish everyone a Happy New Year, and I hope that if you feel the desire to write, that today you will sit down and listen to that voice within you, and write.