A writer’s prayer for you

 

“Many beginning writers believe

the writing process requires great confidence

and unfaltering courage.

 

I’ve learned the writer’s journey requires

the ability to admit we’re not brave

or altogether perfect.

 

As Christian writers, we fare well

if we possess the wisdom to ask God

for the strength and discipline needed

to buckle down

and type the words He gives us.”

 

Xochitl Dixon

Lord, thanks for this new year and the fresh opportunities You offer us to write our memoirs.

 

Remind us that you’ve given each of us life and therefore you’ve given each of us a story to share with others.

 

Help us believe that writing our stories is not a hobby—it’s a ministry! You’ve told us to always remember what we’ve seen You do and to tell our children and grandchildren (Deuteronomy 4:9).

 

And Jesus said, “Go back to your family and tell them all that God has done for you” (Luke 8:39).

 

Your Word urges us to tell everyone about the amazing things You do, for You are great and most worthy of praise (1 Chronicles 16:24-25).

 

Convince us that we should not look down on small beginnings—and that You, O God, delight to see our work begin (Zechariah 4:10). Lord, give us the courage to begin.

 

Ignite a fire in our hearts to work as disciplined, intentional writers, committed to finishing our memoirs.

 

Take away our fears, Lord, and help us compose our stories with confidence, knowing You will use our efforts to point readers to You and Your love and Your goodness.

 

Motivate us to make time to reflect—to think back and ponder and examine—and to search for Your holy fingerprints, footprints, and heartprints. Enlighten us so we connect the dots and notice connections we overlooked in the past.

 

Enable us to see Your big picture, to recognize what You were doing to bring about Your best for us—often not the easiest, but the best.

 

You have entrusted our stories to us. You want us to tell others so they can see how You fought our battles alongside us, You brought healing and hope—not because of who we are, but because of who You are! Not because we are so great, but because You, God, are so great.

 

You have called us to a sacred task so inspire us, dear Lord. Help us find joy in the process of writing, of retelling our “God-and-Me” stories. Place in us a desire to learn to write well, with clarity and grace, and to persevere through rewriting and polishing and editing and publishing and marketing. Bring good people alongside us to accomplish all that.

 

Help us to embrace fulfillment and purpose and satisfaction in doing what You’ve called us to do.

 

Lord, You can do far more than anything we can request or imagine (Ephesians 3:20) so we humbly ask: Please equip us to write the stories You’ve given us. And once they’re in print, use them to accomplish Your good purposes.

 

Help us remember: All of this is not because we’re so great, but because God, You are so great!

 

Not because of who we are, but because of who You are!

 

May our memoirs and lives bring honor to You, 

our glorious God.

 

Back to Basics: Your memoir’s middle and end

 

Last week we began looking at your memoir’s all-important story arc. (If you missed it, click on Back to Basics: Your memoir’s all-important story arc.)

 

The story arc is like a pathway.

It carries the memoirist and the reader

from the beginning of the story,

to the middle,

to the end.

 

Last week we concentrated on your memoir’s beginning, in which you tell readers about something you wanted or needed and the obstacle that was hindering you.

 

This week we’ll move on to your memoir’s middle.

 

Tell readers of progress toward your goal but also tell them that obstructions (some of them new) piled up, your struggles intensified, and issues got complicated—either internal or external—and they threatened to keep you from achieving your goals, meeting your needs, and/or making your dreams come true. Usually, the biggest challenge comes toward the end of your story's middle.

 

Now let’s look at your memoir’s end. This is where you detail how hurdles, hindrances, and complications came to a climax.

 

Dr. Linda Joy Myers writes that in this third phase, the end, “. . . the threads and layers of complexity reach a peak—the crisis and climax of the story. Here the character is tested, where [your] true depth of learning and transformation is revealed.”

 

Dr. Myers continues, “The crisis may be thought of as a spiritual challenge or a ‘dark night of the soul,’ where the deepest beliefs and core truths of the character are tested. The climax is the highest level of tension and conflict that the protagonist must resolve as the story comes to a close.

 

“There’s an aha at the end,” she says, “an epiphany when the main character has learned her lessons and can never return to the previous way of living.”

 

Adair Lara explains it this way: “You try a lot of things to solve your problem, with mixed results. You have setbacks, you make mistakes and you push on, until you either get what you wanted, or you don’t, or you stop wanting it. . . .”

 

A memoir’s ending is about transformation and resolution. It shows readers how you finally succeeded—how you got what you wanted. . . .

Or not! Read on. . . .

 

Sometimes in a memoir’s ending, we see that the main character didn’t get what she originally wanted, but what she got was even better. Diane Butts says:

 

“Now, this ‘want’ is different 

from what they are actually going to get. . . .

But what they get in the story is infinitely better for them,

they just don’t know it at the outset of the story.

When, through your story, the [memoirist] gets this better thing

instead of what they originally wanted,

they are a changed character.”

 

For example, take my experience in South America from my memoir, Please, God, Don't Make Me Go: A Foot-Dragger's Memoir. Here's a blurb about the book:

“What’s a comfortable, and cowardly, suburbanite to do

when her husband wants to move their young family

to rural South America

to teach missionaries’ kids?

She prays, ‘Please, God, don’t make me go!’”

 

In my memoir, I wrote that eventually I became willing to go to South America—and I had a good attitude about it.

 

When I first arrived, I still had a good attitude . . . but . . .

 

But equatorial heat and culture shock brought me to my knees. My “want” was to turn around and go back home to Seattle. I was desperate. I refused to unpack and plotted to run away.

 

But after living there for three months (and 87 pages into the book), I had fallen in love with the place and my job.

 

I wrote in my memoir:

 

“God had sent me where I didn’t know I wanted to go.

And it occurred to me, with a jolt,

 that I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving

at the end of the school year,

only six months away.

I couldn’t leave—I wouldn’t!”

 

I experienced what Diane Butts wrote about: I got something better than what I wanted at the outset. I was a changed person.

 

In summary, then, tell readers what you now know, understand, or believe that you didn’t before. Tell them how you changed in the process. Maybe, like me, you had a change of heart because you recognized the unexpected Plan B was better than your Plan A.

 

Remember:

People read memoirs

to learn how to handle similar situations

that arise in their own lives.

In that way, you become a role model for them,

an inspiration,

even an answer to prayer.

 

Come back next week and I’ll offer more help with your memoir’s all-important story arc.

 

 

 

How one old photo led me to write a memoir

 

Last week we considered photos—rich resources to help you write your memoir. I mentioned that:

 

. . . years ago, I put photos

in three-ring binders

—photos from three years

our family spent in South America

when my kids were ages five and almost seven.

 

I also typed stories from letters

I’d sent my parents,

adding them to the photos.

 

I thought the story was finished

—until one day I noticed something

in one picture,

something I hadn’t noticed before.

 

It was a photo I took on Day One at our new home in South America, and it’s always been one of my favorites. I’d framed it and it was hanging on the wall. A magnet held another copy on my refrigerator. I had made copies of that picture and passed them out during speaking engagements.

 

But that day, long after I’d assembled the scrapbook, I saw in that photo something deeper and broader. The earth lurched when I recognized it, and I asked myself,

 

Why did you never notice this before?

 

After pondering that question, this became clear: In the letters to my parents, I never told them about the dangers, the scary stuff.

 

That meant the narrative in the scrapbook, based on those letters, was a list of selected facts, just the everyday surface stuff.

 

And with that realization,

I knew my story was incomplete—

not yet finished.

 

That photo foreshadowed stories that made ongoing international news—events that touched our family and friends and changed many lives forever.

 

I had a bigger, deeper, richer story to write—a story about hostility from guerrilla groups—their bombings, ongoing threats of violence, kidnappings, and murders—and what God and courageous people did in the midst of it all.

 

So I got to work, and those stories

soon resulted in my published memoir,

Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go:

A Foot-Dragger’s Memoir.

 

Enough about my discovery and my story. What about you?

 

Did you examine one or more key photos related to your story?

 

Reread last week’s post, Photos: A rich resource for writing your memoir, and peel back layers, asking yourself:

• What is the deeper story behind this photo?
• What is the deeper story about the people in the photo?
• What is the bigger issue?
• Does the photo symbolize or capture a theme in my memoir?
• Does it contain a secret or solve a mystery? If so, do others now need to know about it? (If someone would benefit—if that would help heal an old wound, right a wrong, or bring forgiveness or hope—think and pray about revealing it.)

 

Maybe you still haven’t pinned down the real meaning, the central idea or message of your memoir. Perhaps a photo will help you discover it.

 

For a few days,

think about a key photo

and what it represents.

 

It might hold more significance

than you now realize.

 

Your chapter openings: Do they intrigue your readers?

Examine each of your memoir’s chapter openings—the first sentence and the first few paragraphs. Ask yourself:

• Will each opening intrigue readers?
• Charm them?
• Tickle their fancy?
• Does it hold their interest so they’ll keep reading? 

 

You want your readers to respond positively to your memoir’s chapter openings because that will keep them reading.

 

You can make your chapter beginnings captivating in several ways.

 

You can start a chapter with an emotional experience, allowing readers to get inside your skin, your heart, your mind. It can include conflict. For example, here’s the beginning of Chapter 1 from my most recent memoir, Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go: A Foot-Dragger’s Memoir:

 

My husband, Dave, burst through the front door of our Seattle home and, with a boyish grin and outstretched arms, announced, “We’re moving to Lomalinda! I’m going to teach there!”

 

A few seconds passed before I could wheeze in enough air to speak. “Where is Lomalinda?”

 

“Colombia, South America!”

 

I collapsed to the floor.

 

I’d always expected we’d live a normal, predictable, all-American life but, without warning, my husband declared he had other ideas. . . .

 

Or you can start a chapter with intrigue, suspense. Here’s another example from my memoir:

 

In those days, all flights to Colombia left from Miami so, on July 19, 1976, our little family set out driving from Seattle, stopping in Dallas for pre-field orientation. Between Dallas and Miami, the Wycliffe office contacted us: The Bogotá guest house had been bombed.

 

Bombed? Who would blow up a mission agency? And why?

 

Consider starting a chapter with action:

 

Before dawn on Tuesday, August 17, 1976, the alarm clock jarred us into consciousness. Shivering, we pulled on layers of clothes and stuffed barf bags into pockets. Downstairs in the office, we and the Rushes assembled baggage, seventeen pieces.
 
A van-like taxicab hummed outside the open office door, its red taillights aglow. We piled in and set out. Soon hints of daylight peeked through a haze. Bogotá’s streets already bustled with cars, pedestrians, donkey carts, and buses belching noxious fumes. Our taxi driver zigged and zagged around snarled traffic. We clung to door handles and bumped against each other.
 
The driver brought us to a halt on a block lined with one-story buildings, soot-covered, grim. Decaying fruit and vegetables littered street and sidewalk, along with shreds of yellowed newspapers, bloody spittle, cigarette butts, and more. I forced my eyes to focus instead on our cabby, who darted through a filthy door.
 
A pack of men spied us. They wore woolen garments, torn and frayed. Hair tangled, matted. Teeth missing. Faces and hands smudged with the gray that clung to doors and walls and air. One of them sauntered toward our taxi, stooped, and peered at us, his nose nearly touching the window. He snarled what was, I guessed, an obscenity, tottered sideways, turned, and shuffled away. (Please, God, Don't Make Me Go: A Foot-Dragger's Memoir) 

Another way to start a chapter is by describing a scene so readers feel they're with you in your story: 

November turned to December. Back home, Seattle would be a place of swollen clouds and rain, and frost once in a while. People would be wearing rain boots and raincoats and stocking caps and gloves. Family and friends would have recently gathered for Thanksgiving, a squally season when tempests stirred up wild seas and sent ferry boats bobbing and careening, when windstorms downed trees throughout the Puget Sound region, caused widespread power outages, left half-baked turkeys and pumpkin pies in cold ovens, and drew people together around fireplaces in homes perfumed by wood smoke.

 

But Lomalinda was into the dry season with clean cerulean skies and hardly a wisp of a cloud. Daytime temperatures rose to over a hundred degrees in the shade—cruel, withering. The green scent of rainy season had given way to the spicy fragrance of sun-dried grasses. Immense stretches of emerald disappeared, leaving grasslands stiff and simmering under unrelenting sun.

 

Muddy paths and single-lane tracks turned rock-hard and, with use, changed to dust. Yards and airstrips and open fields turned to dust, too. From sunrise to sundown, a strong wind blew across the llanos, a gift from God because it offered a little relief from the heat. On the other hand, we had to use rocks and paperweights and other heavy objects to keep papers from blowing away. Dust blew through slatted windows and into homes and offices and settled on our counters and furniture and in cracks and crannies and on our necks and in our armpits and up our noses. (Please, God, Don't Make Me Go: A Foot-Dragger's Memoir)

 

Matilda Butler offers the following tips:

 

Another way "Make a list that includes just the first sentence of each of your chapters. . . . Critique each of these using these considerations:

• Does the opening sentence place the reader immediately into the scene? This is not a time for a warm-up set of words.
• Does the opening sentence of each chapter move the story forward? (Even a chapter of backstory moves the story forward by providing necessary history for the characters.)
• Does the opening sentence foreshadow what is to come in a way that intrigues the reader?

 

How well-written is each first sentence? Once you are satisfied with your openings, add the rest of each paragraph to your list.

• Look at how the remainder of each paragraph is used to enrich its first sentence.
• Is your wording clear?  Does it bring the reader along or alienate the reader or, even worse, bore the reader?” (Memoir Writing Prompt: A Running Start with Each Chapter)

 

If you struggle with how to begin your chapters, consider the following excellent advice:

 

“If you still feel stuck at every new chapter,

don’t think about chapters at all.

Write continuously until you finish the first draft,

then you can go back

and divide what you’ve written into chapters

(and make changes as needed).

Remember: good books are not written,

they are rewritten.”

(“How to Start a Chapter,” Clippings.me Editorial Team)

 

Tuesday Tidbit: Your memoir’s takeaways can change lives

 

Where do you put takeaways in your memoir? (If you missed last week’s post on what takeaways are, click on Your memoir’s all-important takeaways.) 

 

“Takeaway happens within a reflection,” point out Brooke Warner and Dr. Linda Joy Myers. (To read more about the importance of reflection in memoir, click on Reflection and the words we use.)

 

“Takeaway can be a reflection, but not all reflection is takeaway,” they continue. “… [W]herever there is reflection, there is an opportunity for a takeaway, but that doesn’t mean that necessarily all reflections are going to be takeaways.”

 

In other words, takeaways accompany segments in your memoir in which you reflect. You will reflect multiple times throughout your memoir. Some if not all of them will be opportunities for you to include a takeaway for your readers—those bits of wisdom to live by.

And don’t beat around the bush! Pinpoint your message. Clarity is your goal. (Please, please, read my blog post about writers who circle all around The Point but never state The Point. Click on What’s the point?)

 

Dedicate quality time to crafting your takeaways. Specify what was the most important message or lesson you took away from that experience (the one you’re reflecting on). Boil it down, write a concise message for your readers.

 

Here are examples of takeaways:

“Life is composed of cycles and seasons. Nothing lasts forever.” Dr. Henry Cloud

“Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'" (Mary Anne  Radmacher) 

“We find by losing. We hold fast by letting go. We become something new by ceasing to be something old.” (Frederick Buechner)  

 

In this example from Steve Pemberton’s A Chance in the World, I’ve underlined the takeaway: “Looking back, this was a galvanizing moment. The Robinsons had taken away any semblance of my childhood, something I could never get back. But now this new edict, vile and ignorant, threatened my future. At some point in our lives, we all have to make a decision to take a stand, knowing full well the potential harmful consequences. For me that decision came in the fall of 1982, at the age of fifteen.”

 

Most memoirists place takeaways throughout their memoirs. If you have a conclusion, a postscript, or an epilogue in your memoir, reiterate your most important takeaways in them, too.

 

Your takeaways are the most powerful part of your memoir.

They offer readers hope,

or wisdom, or courage, or laughter,

or a solution, or a new way of living or loving.

 

Your takeaways, then, communicate to readers:

“I know this is true because I have experienced it,

I have lived it. It changed my life.

Perhaps it will change your life, too.”

 

 

At first your takeaways will resemble diamonds-in-the-rough. Your job is to cut and polish and make those gems sparkle. Doing so adds to their value for both you and your readers.

 

There you have it: Your Tuesday Tidbit.

 

Tuesday Tidbit: Remind yourself of all the reasons to keep writing

Writing a memoir is a lot of work—a lot of work!

 

Because of that, sometimes it’s easy to get discouraged.

 

But take heart!

 

Remind yourself of all the reasons to keep writing.

 

You want to bless your readers in any number of ways—you want to leave a spiritual legacy, you want your story to inspire others in their own lives:

 

• to never give up, never quit fighting, and always hope
• to make good choices and be trustworthy people of integrity
• to speak up when something’s not right
• to always love, always forgive, and always extend grace
• to grow in their faith

 

The list goes on and on.

 

So: Inspire your readers to be courageous.

 

Inspire them to pray.

 

Offer them solutions.

 

Encourage them to laugh and love—to love God and others.

 

Be of good cheer,

all you memoir-writers out there!

 

Your story is important.

 

Remember the words of Jeff Goins:

“Never, ever, ever underestimate

the power your words can have.”

 

Keep writing!

 

God can use your life and your stories

to help others and to honor Him!

 

There you have it:

your Tuesday Tidbit.

 

Does your memoir have a title yet?

 

Have you chosen a title for your memoir? You can give it a working title even if you haven’t finished polishing your manuscript.

 

Most of us spend a long time pinning down exactly the right title so start now on yours, knowing you might change it later.

 

Ask yourself the following when searching for your title:

 

• What is my memoir’s theme or recurring themes—my memoir’s message?
• What is my story’s key turning point?
• Can I link my title to a popular book title? (The last time I checked, book titles cannot be copyrighted but, nevertheless, craft your own similar title.)
• Is there a famous quote or Bible verse that summarizes my memoir’s message?
• Who is my audience (who is most likely to buy my book)? Use key words to catch potential readers’ attention.

 

Kathy Pooler offers good advice in her blog post “Choosing the right title for your memoir” In it, she leads us through steps she took in crafting her memoir’s title.

 

She asked herself:

 

• Is the title catchy?
• Does the title strike at the heart of my story?
• Does my title reveal my promise to the reader?
• Does the title create interest for the reader?

 

Jerry Waxler, in his blog post, “How to Pick the Best Title for Your Memoir,” says we need to “consider all the work a title has to do. A great title helps potential readers buy the book, love it to the last page and then recommend it to friends.”

 

Jerry says, “the title is the first line of marketing.” A title can make or break a sale.

 

Think about how you decide which books to buy: The first thing you notice is the title, right?

 

If the title doesn’t appeal to you, you put the book back on the shelf. You want a book that makes you curious, attracts you, draws you in, and makes it impossible to put it back on the shelf.

 

If the title does grab your attention, then, if you’re like me, you read the back cover for more info, and you open the book and read endorsements. But remember, it was the title that inspired you to do so. That’s why your title is so important.

 

Above, Kathy asks, “Does my title reveal my promise to the reader?” and Jerry says it this way: “Reading a book is like entering a contract with the author, and the terms of that contract are summarized in the . . . title. Every time a reader sits down to read, the title goes through their mind, evoking an image that pulls them back into the story.”

 

My first memoir had several working titles. I played around with Confessions of a Baby Boomer: Letters from Africa because the organization I worked with was interested in using the book to recruit Baby Boomers, empty-nesters, and mid-lifers. The words Baby Boomer are key words that could catch the attention of our targeted audience.

 

But that title didn’t feel just right. Next, I tried out Quaint I Ain’t: Grandma’s Letters from Africa, because, from the book’s preface: “I discovered I was not the traditional, quaint little grandmother I always envisioned. No, I had stumbled into adventures most grandmas couldn’t imagine—a hippo charged me, a baboon pooped in my breakfast, a Maasai elder spit at me, and I drank tea from a pot cleaned with cow’s urine.” 

But that title didn’t feel right, either—to me or to those who knew me. “Ain’t” is a word I’ve never used, and some acquaintances were shocked that I would use it.

 

In the end, I chose Grandma’s Letters from Africa for two reasons: (1) The memoir was a collection of letters I wrote to my granddaughter, and (2) I hoped potential readers would connect my title with Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen’s Letters from Africa. My husband and I lived near Karen’s home and coffee farm, both of which were central in the famous movie, Out of Africa. (Sigh….)

 

Come back next week when we’ll explore more about choosing your memoir’s title. In the meantime, choose a working title, knowing you can and probably will change it later. Your working title will help you discover your final title.

 

How to compose your memoir’s Back Matter, Part 2

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed working on your memoir’s Acknowledgments and Author Bio. (If you missed last week’s post, click on How to compose your memoir’s Back Matter.)

 

This week we’ll look at two additional components (usually optional) of your memoir’s Back Matter (End Matter)—an Appendix and a Glossary.

 

Appendix:

 

On this page, include additional information and resources for the benefit of your readers.

 

“The book appendix is the perfect place for more details on a subject in the book that perhaps the author didn’t have time to include fully or didn’t have room for,” writes Kevin Osworth.

 

He continues, “The appendix may provide additional resources (books, articles, research) for the reader to explore on their own time.”

 

For examples of appendices, look through books on your shelves and at the public library.

 

At the following links you’ll find more information, including examples: What is an Appendix Page? and The Lowdown on Appendixes/Appendices.  

 

Glossary:

 

A Glossary is a list of words that might be unfamiliar to your readers, along with their definitions. If in your memoir you use technical terms, specialized information, lingo of an era or culture, or foreign words, include them in your Glossary.

 

In my most recent memoir, Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go: A Foot-Dragger’s Memoir, I included a Glossary for the Spanish words I used in my story. Here’s an excerpt:

  

GLOSSARY

ajiaco   a popular soup made of chicken, potatoes, corn, and spices
alto   stop
arecife   red lava gravel
adiós   goodbye
bif   beef
bodega   storage room
buenos días   hello
campesino   peasant farmer
cédula   identification card
chicha   a fermented drink made from chewed kernels of corn

 

“Keep the definitions simple and reader-friendly,” writes Alexander Peterman. “Make sure the definitions are clear and tailored to the average reader. You do not want to sound like a dictionary or use language that is overly academic or technical. The definition should explain what the term means . . . in the simplest terms possible.”

 

You’ll find additional helpful information in Peterman’s, How to Write A Glossary.

 

If you haven’t already started rough drafts 

of your memoir’s Appendix and Glossary, 

this would be a good time to do so. 

Also, continue working on 

your Acknowledgments and Author Bio. 

Most of all, have fun!

 

An opportunity for you: Free online memoir workshop

They still have a few openings for this workshop. Join us! 

On Saturday, April 17, I’ll offer a free online memoir-writing workshop. Here’s the press release:

Writers of Warrensburg to host online workshop

Writers of Warrensburg is hosting “Making Memoirs: Even YOU Can Write One!” an online workshop April 17 featuring Linda Thomas, local author, speaker and memoirist.

With this workshop suited to beginners through authors with a manuscript seeking to publish, all will learn the steps and pitfalls of crafting a memorable memoir.

Whether the subject of a memoir has led an ordinary or extraordinary life, Thomas has the knowledge to help writers better share their stories.

Thomas, her husband and their youngsters lived in Colombia, South America, for three years working with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Her memoir, Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go: A Foot-Dragger’s Memoir, captures both the joys and challenges of living in a remote locale targeted by Marxist guerrillas.

Later, she and her husband, as empty-nesters, took an eight-year assignment in Africa. Her memoir, Grandma’s Letters from Africa, covers her first four years working as a missionary journalist.

Thomas’ work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, newsletters and blog posts. Learn more at her blog, Spiritual Memoirs 101. 

This free event is a two-hour session with Thomas and access to materials is provided. A computer capable of video and audio connection is required for the session.

Questions and enrollment may be made to Administrator G.A. Edwards at gaedwards1@earthlink.net or 660-362-0014.

Writers of Warrensburg is a local group dedicated to furthering the skills of authors by providing information on writing craft, publication practices and effective marketing strategy. All are welcome at free online meetings on the first and third Tuesdays of each month.

More information about Writers of Warrensburg and writing resources is available at writersofwsbg.weebly.com.

Contributed by Writers of Warrensburg.

An opportunity for you: Free online memoir workshop

 

On Saturday, April 17, I’ll offer a free online memoir-writing workshop. Here’s the press release:

 

Writers of Warrensburg to host online workshop

 

Writers of Warrensburg is hosting “Making Memoirs: Even YOU Can Write One!” an online workshop April 17 featuring Linda Thomas, local author, speaker and memoirist.

 

With this workshop suited to beginners through authors with a manuscript seeking to publish, all will learn the steps and pitfalls of crafting a memorable memoir.

 

Whether the subject of a memoir has led an ordinary or extraordinary life, Thomas has the knowledge to help writers better share their stories.

 

Thomas, her husband and their youngsters lived in Colombia, South America, for three years working with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Her memoir, Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go: A Foot-Dragger’s Memoir, captures both the joys and challenges of living in a remote locale targeted by Marxist guerrillas.

 

Later, she and her husband, as empty-nesters, took an eight-year assignment in Africa. Her memoir, Grandma’s Letters from Africa, covers her first four years working as a missionary journalist.

 

Thomas’ work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, newsletters and blog posts. Learn more at her blog, Spiritual Memoirs 101.

 

This free event is a two-hour session with Thomas and access to materials is provided. A computer capable of video and audio connection is required for the session.

 

Questions and enrollment may be made to Administrator G.A. Edwards at gaedwards1@earthlink.net or 660-362-0014.

 

Writers of Warrensburg is a local group dedicated to furthering the skills of authors by providing information on writing craft, publication practices and effective marketing strategy. All are welcome at free online meetings on the first and third Tuesdays of each month.

More information about Writers of Warrensburg and writing resources is available at writersofwsbg.weebly.com.

Contributed by Writers of Warrensburg.