Step 4c: When you’ve drained that one, look back at your lists. Write whatever you see and hear and smell and taste and feel. Don’t worry about plot or structure or any literary thing just relive that memory on the page. Open to a fresh page, give your brain permission to write uncensored, and start writing about the memory you circled. If there’s more than one, go back and reread each one you circled, sensing for which gives you the most tingle. Your next task is to read through your lists of categorized memories, listening for that single memory that’s calling out, “Me! Pick me!” There will be at least one circle it. Step 4a: Put your brain back in wide-open receptive mode. As well you should, because you know what you just did? You just wrote your memoir’s basic outline! 4. Ten bucks says you feel calm and accomplished. My mini-list would look like this, but yours will be way longer:ĭone? Now flip through those pages and tell me you don’t feel good. Write each of your category titles at the top of a fresh page -if you’re using notebook paper leave a few pages between each category-and go through your list of memories again, copying each bullet point onto its category page. Step 3c: And now we begin the organizing. I remember events according to where I lived, so my categories would be Norwalk, Stamford, Monroe, Straight Inc. Step 3b: Read through your list with this question in mind: how am I mentally categorizing these memories? Do you think, “This was high school this was college” or “This is when I was goth this is when I was an eco-warrior” or “This is when I was single this is when I was dating Pat” or…? In addition to noting how you categorize, note what your specific categories are. Your creative subconscious knows what it’s doing you just have to trust it enough to hear and obey its suggestions. Step 3a: You need to loosen your brain up enough to listen to your writing, with no judgment, no “shoulds.” Pretend the words in your lists are speaking to you in sonar your job is to perceive what they’re saying in their voice, rather than in your brain’s logical, linear one. Now we’re going to step into that “creating order from chaos” mode I promised, but again, you need to get your mind right. Some of them will find a place in this memoir others most likely will not. You probably have pages of memories, zigzagging between eras and experiences. You’re back! Did you empty your head? Perfect. And they don’t make sense to you, which is fine. Notice: my bullet points are short, which allows my pen to keep moving. As an example, here’s a short version of my list. The memories that pop up now will be the memories you’re meant to write about now. Our first assignment is fun and freestyle: you’re going to list every memory that comes to mind. Did you shut all of your mental filters down? Okay, let’s write.
You’re going to gush out each thought in the order and style it comes to you, and keep writing until there are no more pictures in your head. Don’t let it ban you from writing “those” things. Here’s what to do: give yourself permission to write your lists with quick, uncensored bullet points. We’ll pull the diamonds from the soil later and use them to create your memoir’s outline. So this mandate might seem counterintuitive, but to complete this process, you must let your brain run free and allow yourself to unleash chaos on the page. We rely on lists to create calm from our mental chaos. In today’s hyper-stimulating culture, we feel the constant thrum of panic. Get your mind right.īefore we tackle our first list, we need to discuss mindset. You’ve got decades of memories where would you even start? Lists to the rescue! This step-by-step process will guide you through organizing and writing your memoir with a series of fun, easy lists. Except…the mere thought floods you with anxiety. You know it, we know it: you need to write a memoir. It’s taught you a few things, and you’d like to share them with the rest of us. So you’ve got this life, and it’s an interesting one.
Today’s guest post is by Cyndy Etler ( of The Dead Inside, a YA memoir about the sixteen months she spent in Straight Inc., an adolescent treatment program described by the ACLU as “a concentration camp for throwaway teens.”