“… Memoir, or ‘life’—is reserved for famous people or for
people who have done something wild, woeful or really odd to write about,”
writes Patrick T. Reardon .
You can sense the sadness in his heart when he says that
“everyday people aren’t approached for their life stories.”
But wait! Writing life stories and memoirs is for everyday
people!
Reardon eventually figured that out. Memoir is not for only
“famous people or those who have done something wild, woeful or really odd.”
Once he figured that out, Reardon asked his family to write
stories and give them to him for Christmas. (You can read more about it here.)
He says to you and to me during this busy Christmas season:
“Forget about the mall.
Forget about the Internet.
Forget about catalogs.
Give your father or mother
or sister or brother
or anyone close to you
something from the heart.
Give your [memoir, your] ‘life.’”
That's the best kind of Christmas gift you can give!
I long ago got over the stigma of "only famous people write memoirs"...I do struggle currently with the idea "why write a memoir/life story if you have no children to pass it on to". It's an idea that I struggle with whenever I pickup my life story projects...
ReplyDeleteNJHeart2Heart, other people would benefit from knowing your stories. If you participate in a writers' group, reading your stories to them will impact them. Also I suggest you look for opportunities to publish some of your vignettes--in writing contests, magazines, literary magazines, newspapers, etc. You stories would reach a lot of people that way, and believe me, your stories will resonate with people who read them. A few years ago our local university collected stories from the community to include in their anthology celebrating Women's History Month and they accepted two of my vignettes for their publication. They invited me to read my stories aloud to people gathered for a celebration, and the two of them were also in their printed publication for that year. Another option is for you to publish your memoir (there are many options there). If you want to try that, I strongly recommend you read Kathleen Pooler's blog and follow her on Facebook. Over the past several years she has documented her path to publication and has a wealth of information for those seeking to publish. NJHeart2Heart, write those stories! Your stories are important. Someone needs to hear them.
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