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The memoir

The memoir. Carola Richey. Writing can be the way to make sense of your life. Find meaning in an accident Figure out why what happens just happens Ultimate joy: truth Way to figure out who you use to be How you got to be Who you are. Kind we will write:.

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The memoir

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  1. The memoir Carola Richey

  2. Writing can be the way to make sense of your life • Find meaning in an accident • Figure out why what happens just happens • Ultimate joy: truth • Way to figure out who you use to be • How you got to be • Who you are

  3. Kind we will write: • Memoir as pure story – start at beginning end where she is now • Start at end and use flashback • Start with middle moment—use an event that came right before change

  4. Exercise #1 • Hardest part is knowing where to start it is not always obvious • Take any five years of your life and reduce them to one page. EVERY sentence HAS to be three words long---not two, not four, but three words long There is no where to hide in three-word sentences! Drive to Matthew’s. Fall in love. Let’s get married. Children are friends. Build a home. Start new job. Love the freshmen. Still in love. Empty-nest coming. Discover: you can’t include everything…

  5. Half of writing is deciding what to leave out! • Sometimes it’s what you are not saying that gives a piece its shape. • Run your mind over the exercise the way a safecracker turns the tumblers to feel the clicks. If there is one sentence that gives off sparks, you’ve hit the jackpot!

  6. EXERCISE #2 • Write another page starting right there.

  7. Exercise #3 • Write a paragraph that ends with • “You can’t get away from it.”

  8. Exercise #4 • Write a paragraph of something that makes you laugh every time

  9. Exercise #5 • Write a paragraph about something you wish you didn’t know

  10. Memoir No-No’s: • Be careful not to cast her off as a victim • It is not self-serving • If you find it interesting, chances are it is interesting.

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