“Do you love?” asks Beth Kephart. “Are you still learning to
love?”
“It’s a question for all of us, and it’s a question we must
repeatedly ask ourselves, especially when we’re writing memoir.” (Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir)
Beth, author of five memoirs, says that if we don’t know
what we love,
if we’re not capable of loving,
if we’re focused too much on self (“if we’re stuck in a stingy,
fisted-up place”),
if we’re too angry,
if we haven’t allowed grace to take the edge off
disappointments,
if “we haven’t stopped hurting long enough to look up and
see the others who hurt with us,”
if we “only have words … for our mighty wounds and our
percolating scars,”
then it’s likely too soon to begin writing memoir.
Instead, Beth offers this starting point: Make a list of
little things that bring you happiness, those things that embrace beauty and
goodness and love.
Her suggestion reminds me of Philippians 4:8, “Fix your thoughts
on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and
lovely, and dwell on the fine, good things in others. Think about all you can
praise God for and be glad about” (The Living Bible).
The Message says it this way: “… You’ll do best by filling
your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic,
compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly;
things to praise, not things to curse.”
Beth advises, “Practice gratitude. Rest assured you’ll be
given a chance to tell the whole story soon. But start, for now, with love.”
(from Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir; emphasis mine)
Beth is speaking at the Memoir Summit at Rosemont College in
Philadelphia on Sunday, October 20, 2013. For info about how you can
participate in four free workshops with experts in the craft of writing memoir,
click on the link above.
Critically acclaimed young adult fiction writer and author
of five memoirs, Beth is also a writing instructor at University of
Pennsylvania and a National Book Award finalist. Check out her blog, Beth Kephart Books.
Remember to participate in the book giveaway.
Click here for info.
