Back to Basics: Do you know where you’re going with your memoir?

 

Your memoir’s ending should be its most powerful part so even while you’re writing your book’s middle parts, begin planning its ending.

 

It might seem strange to work on your conclusion before finishing the main body, but think of this:

 

“If you don’t know where you’re going,

you might not get there.”

Yogi Berra

 

You don’t want that to happen!

 

Here’s what I recommend: Throughout your writing, know approximately where you’re going and build toward that ending. Doing so will help you stay on message and more likely bring everything full circle.

 

Having said that, though, I need to warn you:

 

Many, if not most, stories can take a direction

writers might not have envisioned

at the outset.

 

Don’t worry if that happens to you.

 

After you’ve drafted the bulk of your memoir, your overall message and conclusion might be different than you originally envisioned, but that’s okay.

It’s better to focus on where you think you’ll end up,

rather than to drift, directionless.

 

Here’s a helpful perspective: You probably won’t pin down the perfected version of your ending until you’ve written all your chapters and have identified and refined the conclusions and resources you hope readers will take away from your story.

 

For now, as a general guide for you, get out a piece of paper and answer the following:

• The reason I’m writing my memoir is ________.
• What do I want readers to think as a result of reading my story?
• What do I want people to feel when they’ve finished reading it?
• How do I want them to live because they read my story?
• The most important message I want readers to take away from my memoir is _________.

Keep such points in mind while you write. Then conclude your book in a way that people will long remember it, learn from it, grow from it.

 

Memoirs are so much more than entertainment.

 

Your story matters.

Memoirs guide, influence, encourage,

inspire, motivate, and empower.

They can bring healing.

They can turn lives around.

Memoirs can even save lives.

 

“Write what should not be forgotten.” 

(Isabel Allende)

 

You might think you live an unremarkable life, but God has been writing His sacred stories through you and your family

 

“Invisible Lines of Connection: Sacred stories of the ordinary.”

 

Those words zing me, those “Aha!” words penned by Lawrence Kushner.

 

I marvel at those words combined that way. They stretch my awareness of God and of life—and of myself and my family.

 

I applaud their meaning.

 

Those words capture the purpose—the heart—of our memoirs.

 

Writing a memoir includes looking back, sorting out, mulling, unraveling, looking for deeper meanings and patterns and threads.

 

In doing so, you discover that from one generation to the next to the next, God arranges “invisible lines of connection.” In your everyday moments, He writes “sacred stories of the ordinary.”

 

“Reverence before heaven. Amazing grace,” Kushner writes. “It is a way of understanding your place within Creation. . . . When viewed from a point of high enough vantage, everything is revealed to be in the hands of God. . . . (Invisible Lines of Connection: Sacred Stories of the Ordinary; emphasis mine). 

 

God’s presence and His holy, invisible, connecting lines in your life have been there all along, since before your birth.

 

Try to take this in: God includes you in His sacred stories that span the centuries.

 

“You are a story,” writes Dan Allender. “You are not merely the possessor and teller of a number of stores; you are a well-written, intentional story that is authored by the greatest Writer of all time, and even before time and after time.

 

“The weight of these words,” Allender continues, “. . . will call you to a level of coauthorship that is staggering in its scope and meaning” (To Be Told).

 

You are part of God’s divine story.

 

You began with a plan God wrote:

 

“For I know the plans I have for you,”

says the Lord.

“They are plans for good and not for disaster,

to give you a future and a hope”

(Jeremiah 29:11, NLT).

 

“The Lord will watch over your coming and going

both now and forevermore” (Psalm 121:8, NIV).

 

You discover sacred stories of the ordinary, Kushner says, “just beneath the surface. . . .”

 

You might think you live an inconspicuous,

unremarkable life but,

through the generations,

God has been writing His sacred stories

through you and your family’s ordinary events.

 

Search for ways God has watched over

your ancestors’ coming and going

because through those people and events

God was preparing for, and then shaping, you.

 

The beginning of our story on earth “seldom coincides with our birth. Our story begins,” says Allender, “with the characters who gave us birth, including their past relationships with their parents and issues such as success and shame; power and abuse; love, loss, and addiction; heartache and secrets. . . .  We owe our existence to the generations that came before us. Our beginning, which took place before we were born, signals some of the themes that will play out in our life.”

 

So then, track sacred connections around you.

 

Ask God to give you glimpses of His hand-written, just-beneath-the-surface stories.

 

And then ponder this: 

 

You are the bridge God has placed

between your family’s generations past

and generations yet to come.

 

Your stories matter.

 

Your stories can make a difference.

 

Stories guide, inspire, encourage, influence,

motivate, and empower.

 

Stories heal.

 

Stories shape lives.

 

Your stories can help mold the lives of children, nieces,

nephews, grandchildren, and generations yet unborn.

 

“Sometimes a particular story, or version of a story, is so potent,” says Ayd Instone, and “becomes so interwoven in our lives that it defines the direction our life story takes and modifies behavior. . . . ” 

 

Write your stories for generations yet to come.

 

“Write what should not be forgotten.”

Isabel Allende

 

Your “Sacred Stories of the Ordinary”

“Invisible Lines of Connection: Sacred stories of the ordinary.”

Those words zing me, those “Aha!” words penned by Lawrence Kushner.

I marvel at those words combined that way. They stretch my awareness of God and of life—and of myself and my family.

I applaud their meaning.

Those words capture the purpose—the heart—of spiritual memoirs.

Writing a memoir includes looking back, pondering, sorting out, reflecting, mulling, examining, unraveling, looking for deeper meanings and patterns and threads.

In doing so, you discover that from one generation to the next to the next, God arranges “invisible lines of connection.” In your everyday moments, He writes “sacred stories of the ordinary.”

“Reverence before heaven. Amazing grace.” Kushner writes. “It is a way of understanding your place within Creation.… When viewed from a point of high enough vantage, everything is revealed to be in the hands of God…,” (Invisible Lines of Connection: Sacred Stories of the Ordinary; emphasis mine). 

God’s presence and His holy, invisible, connecting lines in your life have been there all along, since before your birth.

Try to take this in: God includes you in His sacred stories that span the centuries.

“You are a story,” writes Dan Allender. “You are not merely the possessor and teller of a number of stores; you are a well-written, intentional story that is authored by the greatest Writer of all time, and even before time and after time.

“The weight of these words,” Allender continues, “… will call you to a level of coauthorship that is staggering in its scope and meaning” (To Be Told).

You are part of God’s divine story.

You began with a plan God wrote:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11, NLT).

“The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forever more” (Psalm 121:8, NIV).

You discover sacred stories of the ordinary, Kushner says, “just beneath the surface.…”

You might think you live an inconspicuous, unremarkable life but, through the generations, God has been writing His sacred stories through you and your family’s ordinary events.

Grandpa, my cousins, and me.

Search for ways God has watched over your ancestors’ coming and going because through those people and events God was preparing for, and then shaping, you.

The beginning of our story on earth “seldom coincides with our birth. Our story begins,” says Allender, “with the characters who gave us birth, including their past relationships with their parents and issues such as success and shame; power and abuse; love, loss, and addiction; heartache and secrets.… We owe our existence to the generations that came before us. Our beginning, which took place before we were born, signals some of the themes that will play out in our life.”

So then, track sacred connections around you.

Look for broader, deeper significance hidden in everyday moments.

Ask God to give you glimpses of His hand-written, just-beneath-the-surface stories.

And then ponder this: 

You are the bridge God has placed between your family’s generations past and generations yet to come.

Your stories matter.

Your stories can make a difference.

Stories guide, inspire, encourage, influence, motivate, and empower.

Stories heal.

Stories shape lives.

Your stories can help mold the lives of children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and generations yet unborn.

“Sometimes a particular story, or version of a story, is so potent,” says Ayd Instone, and “becomes so interwoven in our lives that it defines the direction our life story takes and modifies behavior...” (emphasis mine).

Your stories are important. Write them for generations yet to come.

“Write what should not be forgotten.”

Isabel Allende

Adapted from a post of April 18, 2012