Are you writing a memoir? Thinking about writing one? Is there a life story you’d like to tell?
Writing memoir is a creative act; the facts are just the beginning. As a memoir coach, I work with writers at all stages of the writing process. Each draft is an opportunity.
Is my life interesting enough?
People come to memoir because they have a life story to tell. Many of us have had significant life experiences we want to share. The challenge is to mine those experiences for shape and meaning. When writers ask if their lives are interesting enough, I remind them that the events are not as important as the awareness we bring to them.
I’ve written a draft of my memoir… a series of essays… a few vignettes. Now what?
Memoir is writing what we know and finding out what we don’t know. I encourage writers to stay curious. What themes emerge as you revisit scenes from the past? What are the turning points, the false starts and dead ends? What is the larger story? You’re inviting a reader to find their own experience within yours.
How do I revise, organize, put it together?
It’s rare for stories to work on the page the way they happened in life. When they don’t, we look for new ways to understand them. This often involves a shift in structure and a new way of seeing. Structure is not just a container, it’s a dynamic expression of voice, character and theme. The shape of a memoir, its organizing principle, comes from inside the story.
Writing after 50
In early adulthood, we’re often focused on outer goals. After fifty, a change begins to happen. We’ve accumulated life experience and we want to understand what it’s been about. The quest is more about meaning. Memoir is an ideal medium in which to explore this.
About Connie
I help writers turn life experience into compelling narrative.
I’ve been a writer, teacher and memoir coach for more than 30 years and have taught memoir and creative non-fiction at the University of New Mexico, Santa Monica College, SouthWest Writers, Book Passage and the Taos Writers Conference. I provide coaching and developmental editing for memoir writers and teach workshops in memoir and memoir-based fiction.
Connie has been an invaluable writing guide: knowledgeable, sensitive, insightful, honest – with a keen eye to what works, and what doesn’t. Her expertise was instrumental in my ability to finish and publish my memoir.
—David Pérez
Author, Wow! A South Bronx “Memoirito”
Connie is respectful of both experienced writers and absolute beginners. She creates a safe place to share wonderful, terrible and unique life experiences. Her understanding of memoir has offered new insights and unexpected possibilities.
—Enid Howarth
Poet, Author
Connie gently encourages me to dig deep into memories, and with her positive guidance, I’ve learned to let those voices speak. She has taught me the fundamentals and has given me the tools necessary to write my memoir.
—Charla Arnold Johansen
Writer, Mom
What happened is not what matters; what matters is the larger sense the writer is able to make of what happened.
—Vivian Gornick