Writing about when your darkness turned to light

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person,” said Albert Schweitzer. “Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”

Read those two sentences again and pause to think:

How many times has your light dimmed and faltered, only to be rekindled by a spark from another person?

In what ways did God arrange events to bring that person into your life?

Maybe he or she was a neighbor, or a grocery clerk, a fireman, a four-year-old, a librarian, a conference speaker, your best friend, a new friend, or even a stranger you never saw again.

Back then, you might not have recognized God’s efforts to bring that person into your life, but it’s not too late!

Be deliberate. Make time to remember.

Ponder what happened. Snap the puzzle pieces together. Connect the dots and notice the ways God hovered close, using that person to lighten your burden, to rekindle your light.

Uncover it, even if it takes weeks or months.

Here’s a suggestion:

Make yourself a working document, a three-column list, one column for your dark events, a second column for the people who shared their light, and a third column to make notes about specifics that come to mind.

Some, if not all, of those incidents are stories to write in your memoir.

When you write, dig deep. And deeper. Refuse to skim over the shallow surface of life.

• What did you learn about yourself through both the dimming of your light and the rekindling of it?
• What new and better person did you become?
• As a result, how did your life change?
• What did you learn about God?
• How did the experience strengthen your faith?

When you write about those experiences, you are saying, like David in Psalm 18:28, “My God turns my darkness into light.”

2 Peter 2:9 speaks to those chosen by God, set apart, belonging to God, for a purpose: “that you might declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

Just think!

Through your memoir you can pass on to others

the light someone gave to you!

It can reach into the lives and hearts and minds

of those whose lights have dimmed and faltered.

Your memoir can rekindle a spark

that can grow into bright flames of light.

Wow! Just Wow!

In time for Christmas: Publishing options for your mini-memoir

Following up on recent posts, we’re encouraging you to give an early edition of your memoir as a Christmas gift to family and close friends—even if you’ve written only a few vignettes. Give them what you have completed and promise them a completed memoir soon.

Click on these links to recent posts covering your: 

• Title
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Introduction

Today we’ll look at your publishing options—BUT FIRST: Before you publish, edit your vignettes thoroughly.

Check for errors in grammar, punctuation, redundancy, unnatural dialogue, and confusing passages. Rearrange sentences or paragraphs if they’re not in the right order.

You’ll find a lot of help in Self-Editing Basics: 10 Simple Ways to Edit Your Own Book. The first seven points are relevant for you now. The whole list will be relevant in the future when you do a thorough edit before publishing your completed memoir.

Click on Editing Checklist for Writers for help with common errors writers often make in their first drafts.

Make changes to your manuscript and set it aside for a week or so. When you get it out again, read it aloud. Your ear will catch awkward spots your eyes missed earlier—like clumsy words, pacing, and sentence structures.

Below you’ll find a few options for publishing your mini-memoir, your early edition:  

• Your local print shop or office supplies store can publish a spiral-bound copy.
• Print your stories on your own printer and put them in a three-ring binder.
• Make a chapbook. Click on How to Make A Chapbook—An Illustrated, Step-by-Step Guide.
• Publish your book through a company like Blurb. I hesitate to recommend businesses, but I have published a couple of small books (with both text and color photos) with Blurb.  Click on Trade Books at this link.

You still have nine weeks to put together a mini-memoir for Christmas gifts. You can do this!

Let us know if you’re making an early edition

of your memoir for Christmas.

We want to congratulate you

and celebrate with you.

Leave a comment below

or at SM 101’s Facebook Page.

Tuesday Tidbit: Are you writing a memoir? Have you published a memoir?

Are you writing a memoir? Have you published a memoir?

If so, let us know: Leave a comment below or on SM 101’s Facebook Page, or send a private message on Facebook.

Stories are important. They shape readers’ lives. Your memoir can be:

“… a mirror

in which the reader can also see

his or her experience reflected

in a new and potentially transforming way.”

(Frederick Buechner, A Room Called Remember)

Your stories can help readers make good choices.

Your memoir can prevent problems, and help readers solve problems, and even save readers’ lives.

“I write books for teenagers because I vividly remember what it felt like to be a teen facing everyday and epic dangers,” writes Sherman Alexie. “…. I write to give them weapons—in the form of words and ideas—that will help them fight their monsters. I write in blood because I remember what it felt like to bleed.”

Your children, grandchildren, and great-grands

need to know your stories.

Write them!

If you’re writing a memoir

or have published one,

let us know.

Writing a memoir

and publishing it

and marketing it

can be a daunting task, and

we want to cheer you on.

Leave a comment below

or on SM 101’s Facebook Page,

or send a private message on Facebook.