Great advice, Christina! I took a short class this morning from Lisa Cooper Ellison about Reflection, and she spoke about the importance of "resonance" of ideas or words that tie the story together by bringing back similar or related images. :)
Nice post Christina. I was thinking of planting shoes in my memoir. Lol. Btw your platform says I’m a free subscriber but I just went on my list and it says I’m paid. Weird.
Thanks Christine! Those red Papagallos do pop up a few times! ❤️
I think I accidentally posted this one from my profile instead of from the publication. <sigh> I'm not sure why they bother having profiles and publications separate.
That may explain it we missed you on Monday and set our next meeting for the last Tuesday in June. I’ll look forward to hearing about your writing retreat.
This is useful advice. I’ve wanted to write a memoir about being one of very few women at an elite mostly male engineering school in the 80s but haven’t had the fortitude until recently to envision myself writing 200+ pages of anything. Strange when I think of the brain-fortitude it took to get through the school in the first place.
I moved to LA and studied writing but have studied more than written. I’d like to write at least as much as I study it now.
It’s an amazing thing shifting from thinking to doing.
Thank you for sharing! I'm glad you found it helpful. Your story sounds very interesting and yes, I can see how it might also be intimidating! I love how you recognize that you had enough fortitude to get through school. I hope that can give you some courage to take the next steps!
Making the shift from studying and thinking and doing is a big deal! I hope you give yourself permission to take small steps forward and not feel like you have to have it all figured out before you begin. However, since you are an engineer, I have a book recommendation for you!
Thank you! Just bought it. I’m no longer questioning the universe’s help when I need it.
You’re awesome. Your advice is as well. I appreciate it.
Can anyone join your MeetUp? I’ve published on Medium for a few years and just started w/ Substack. I’d love to join an inspirational group of what I assume are mostly women memoirists and essayists. I tried to join, not sure it was successful.
Hi Kathy, Isn't it great when the universe listens!? :-) You are more than welcome to join us on Meetup. We meet every Thursday. Meetup has been getting kind of tricky lately with trying to make it seem like you have to pay in order to join, but that is not the case. I'll drop you a direct message with more details.
Thanks! I’m trying but can’t access the meeting link. It’s why I thought I wasn’t joined. How may I get that link please? I could still attend today. Much appreciated!
Excellent advice! Sometimes those themes come out of nowhere... I realized while writing my book (finally have a completed draft! yay!) that the theme of flying, planes, crashing, etc was creeping up everywhere. But figuring out how to unify that has been a real challenge.
Congratulations on completing your draft, Susan!! So interesting how those themes bubble up without us noticing. I wonder if you might have a phrase that you like that you could drop in throughout the book... Sometimes, intentional repetition can be really powerful!
Thanks Thomas! I'm glad you found it inspiring. I saw your comment on my post about writing in the time of the algorithm and your Facebook post. ❤️❤️❤️
Great advice, Christina! I took a short class this morning from Lisa Cooper Ellison about Reflection, and she spoke about the importance of "resonance" of ideas or words that tie the story together by bringing back similar or related images. :)
Oh! I thought about taking that class. How was it?
Nice post Christina. I was thinking of planting shoes in my memoir. Lol. Btw your platform says I’m a free subscriber but I just went on my list and it says I’m paid. Weird.
Thanks Christine! Those red Papagallos do pop up a few times! ❤️
I think I accidentally posted this one from my profile instead of from the publication. <sigh> I'm not sure why they bother having profiles and publications separate.
Thank you for your support! ❤️❤️❤️
That may explain it we missed you on Monday and set our next meeting for the last Tuesday in June. I’ll look forward to hearing about your writing retreat.
This is useful advice. I’ve wanted to write a memoir about being one of very few women at an elite mostly male engineering school in the 80s but haven’t had the fortitude until recently to envision myself writing 200+ pages of anything. Strange when I think of the brain-fortitude it took to get through the school in the first place.
I moved to LA and studied writing but have studied more than written. I’d like to write at least as much as I study it now.
It’s an amazing thing shifting from thinking to doing.
Thank you for sharing! I'm glad you found it helpful. Your story sounds very interesting and yes, I can see how it might also be intimidating! I love how you recognize that you had enough fortitude to get through school. I hope that can give you some courage to take the next steps!
Making the shift from studying and thinking and doing is a big deal! I hope you give yourself permission to take small steps forward and not feel like you have to have it all figured out before you begin. However, since you are an engineer, I have a book recommendation for you!
https://www.amazon.com/Memoir-Engineering-System-First-Draft/dp/B0DPLHHZB1
I took a series of classes from the author, Wendy Dale, and find her advice really useful.
Thank you! Just bought it. I’m no longer questioning the universe’s help when I need it.
You’re awesome. Your advice is as well. I appreciate it.
Can anyone join your MeetUp? I’ve published on Medium for a few years and just started w/ Substack. I’d love to join an inspirational group of what I assume are mostly women memoirists and essayists. I tried to join, not sure it was successful.
Thanks.
Hi Kathy, Isn't it great when the universe listens!? :-) You are more than welcome to join us on Meetup. We meet every Thursday. Meetup has been getting kind of tricky lately with trying to make it seem like you have to pay in order to join, but that is not the case. I'll drop you a direct message with more details.
Thanks! I’m trying but can’t access the meeting link. It’s why I thought I wasn’t joined. How may I get that link please? I could still attend today. Much appreciated!
Excellent advice! Sometimes those themes come out of nowhere... I realized while writing my book (finally have a completed draft! yay!) that the theme of flying, planes, crashing, etc was creeping up everywhere. But figuring out how to unify that has been a real challenge.
Congratulations on completing your draft, Susan!! So interesting how those themes bubble up without us noticing. I wonder if you might have a phrase that you like that you could drop in throughout the book... Sometimes, intentional repetition can be really powerful!
I do this without thinking about it, but obviously I should think about this as more of a deliberate design.
That's great for the first draft. Deliberate design can come in later drafts! :-)
I posted a comment here -- to acknowledge how I had been inspired by your text -- but it seems to have disappeared ...
Thanks Thomas! I'm glad you found it inspiring. I saw your comment on my post about writing in the time of the algorithm and your Facebook post. ❤️❤️❤️
Sorry, I apparently posted my comment under the wrong post - anyway, glad you saw it.