What do granny squares have to do with your memoir?

Some of you have declared that 2012 is The Year of Your Memoir!* Hooray!

Now that we’re one month into this new year, how are you doing?

Some of you are writing page after page after page. WooHooo! I’m cheering for you.

Others, I suspect, struggle to keep at it.

If that sounds like you, here’s a message of hope: Think “granny squares.”

Last Saturday at the new writers’ group we started in our town, I compared vignettes (chapters) to granny squares.

I told our group—some of them young mothers with several kiddies at home—about the years I had little ones and how hard it was to complete a knitting project—it took sooooo long to knit a sweater. (In fact, I never finished a lovely navy blue wool sweater, and I still feel bad about that. Eventually I gave it, and all the yarn and knitting needles, to the Salvation Army. I hope someone was inspired to finish it.)

Around that time I discovered granny squares—those little crocheted squares of yarn that were, in my case, four or five inches across. I could whip out one of those in fifteen minutes! Fifteen minutes and I was done! I thrived on the sense of accomplishment, of completion, of knowing that I was one step closer to a finished afghan.

As fifteen-minute openings appeared in my busy schedule, I crocheted more granny squares and before long, I had made enough to stitch them together into a small afghan. Taken in small pieces, my efforts added up and I completed my project.

The key was setting realistic goals, goals I could measure and achieve.

So think of your vignettes as granny squares. Work a little on them here and there.

Each time you complete a rough draft, congratulate yourself. Celebrate your accomplishment!

Just think: If you write one rough draft (say, three to five pages) once a month, you’ll have twelve stories at the end of 2012!

For those who are very busy, aim at one rough draft every two months, and you’ll have six stories for your memoir at the end of 2012!

The clock is ticking. Don’t let your memoir sit unfinished like my navy wool sweater.

Be intentional: Get started! Write your stories! You can do it! Yes, you can!

*References and links:

Linda Joy Myers and The Year of the Memoir,

http://spiritualmemoirs101.blogspot.com/2012/01/opportunity-for-you-writing-fast.html

“When the glitter settles … a pep talk is in order.”

Of all the blog posts on making New Year’s resolutions about writing, one stood out, Resolution...or...Revolution,* by Stacy at Heartprints of God.

Have you declared that 2012 is The Year of Your Memoir?* I hope so! (Read last Wednesday’s post* if you missed it.)

Some of you—Penny, De, and Janet—say this is The Year of Your Memoir! Bravo!

The rest of you can do the same!

Just picture it: A year from now, your memoir could have a title.

Your memoir could have a cover.

Inside, black ink on white pages could chronicle your stories.

Sounds pretty exciting, but how can you make your memoir a reality?

If you’re like many of us, you took time off during the busy holiday season and now need a boost to get busy writing again. Maybe you can identify with Dianne Christner at WordServe Water Cooler, * who says,

“When the glitter settles, I often discover that my creativity has gravitated from the work place to family, friends, and holiday festivities.… Christmas can leave me feeling unmotivated to return to the hard task of writing. When this happens, a pep talk is in order.…” *

Dozens of writerly-types have written blog posts about the need to make New Year’s resolutions, and perhaps most of us have made some—but I’ve heard only one in five people will keep them!

Here’s a quote I recently put on SM 101’s Facebook Page because, if you want to make significant progress on writing your memoir in 2012, here’s wise advice:

"...You have to be driven. You have to have the three D's: drive, discipline and desire. If you're missing any one of those three, you can have all the talent in the world, but it's going to be really hard to get anything done." (Nora Roberts; emphasis mine)

Of the dozen or so blog posts I read on making New Year’s resolutions about writing, one stood out, Resolution...or...Revolution,* by Stacy at Heartprints of God.

Stacy says that a resolution is a decision.

It “starts in the mind. It is making up your mind you are going to do something different.”

“But,” she asks, “is a resolution what you and I are really wanting?”

Then she defines revolution: It is a complete turn in a new direction resulting in far-reaching change.

I picked up The Synonym Finder, by J. I. Rodale, and looked up revolution: a radical change, a metamorphosis, a transformation.

Stacy says, “We don’t just want to decide to make a change, we want the change! We want to make a complete turn and head in a new direction. We want far-reaching and drastic change.

“… How do we turn our resolution into a true revolution?

“By being intentional. By keeping our goals ever before us… always in view. By doing something each day to bring this goal to a reality.

“Change starts in our mind, but comes to fruition in our actions.…

“It’s not enough to decide one time. We must keep deciding and keep choosing and keep resolving each and every day.”

Wow! I like that, especially the word intentional. How about you?

If you have resolved to make 2012 The Year of Your Memoir, let us know. Leave a comment below because, like Kathy Pooler recently said, it takes a village to write a memoir. We’re in this together!

*Resources and links

Wednesday’s post,

http://spiritualmemoirs101.blogspot.com/2012/01/opportunity-for-you-writing-fast.html

Dianne Christner’s quote, “When the glitter settles,”

http://wordservewatercooler.com/2011/12/27/inspiration-to-write

Stacy’s Resolution or Revolution,

http://www.heartprintsofgod.com/2011/12/resolutionora-revolution.html