Taking a break from writing might be the best thing that could happen to your memoir

 

Did you work on your memoir over the holidays? If not, don’t be too hard on yourself because taking a break can help you make progress!

 

My friend Beth told me she took a two-year break from writing her memoir—but she also said she wanted to get back to writing it.

 

When I was writing my second memoir, Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go: A Foot-Dragger’s Memoir, two-thirds of the way through I took a break for about six weeks.

 

I didn’t even look at my rough draft, let alone work on it. And it felt good. It was a healthy break, a time for my thoughts to settle and gel. A time for me to catch my breath.

 

But like Beth, I eventually wanted to get back to work.

 

I suspect most of you can identify with Beth and me. How long has it been since you worked on your memoir?

 

It’s good to take a break, to stand back

and give yourself time for your thoughts to come together,

time to catch your breath.

 

But this is important:

Beware of getting stuck in a non-writing rut!

 

Here’s what works for me when trying to get out of that non-writing pothole and I suggest you give it a try:

 

Instead of nagging at yourself

 —or even bribing yourself—

 into sitting down to write,

 simply get out your manuscript.

 

Are you writing your memoir on your computer? If so, sit down, turn it on, and open that document.

 

If your manuscript is hand-written and stuffed in a filing cabinet, go get it.

 

Whatever format your memoir is in, get it out. Read it.

 

Take in what Zadie Smith says:

 

“. . . If money is not a desperate priority,

if you do not need to sell it at once

or be published that very second—

put it in a drawer.

For as long as you can manage.

A year or more is ideal—

but even three months will do.

Step away . . . .

The secret to editing your own work is simple:

you need to become its reader instead of its writer.”

 

That’s it!

(1) Look at your manuscript as if you were a reader

—reading it for the first time—

rather than as the writer.

 

And then, later,

(2) look at your manuscript through the eyes of an editor.

 

Think about it:

You know what you want to communicate

but if you’re too close to your story,

you don’t recognize the gaps

you’ve unintentionally left.

 

In your mind,

you know all the subtle things

and the back story

and where the story is going—

so, in your brain, all the info is there.

 

But the problem is this:

too many of those details are still only in your mind

and not on the paper or computer screen.

 

If you’re too close to your manuscript,

it’s easy to overlook holes and cracks—

those details that will trip up readers

and interrupt the story.

 

If you are too close to your manuscript, you can’t read it as if you’re reading it for the first time.

 

So, if you’ve set aside your writing for a while, take advantage of this opportunity—take a fresh look and fix details that need fixing.

 

Believe me when I say this:

 

Taking a break from writing

might be the best thing

that could happen to your memoir.

 

Hooray!

 

Tuesday Tidbit: Put yourself in your readers’ shoes

 

A few days ago, I was reading an award-winning book when I got stuck on a paragraph—only two sentences long—that made no sense.

 

I stopped and re-read that paragraph, but I still couldn’t figure out what it meant.

 

I read it again, and again, but it still made no sense.

 

On about my fifth try, I realized the word “him” was referring to a different male than I originally thought. Also, the author had used a noun that had several definitions, and I had interpreted the word in a different way than she intended.

 

The experience reminded me how important it is for us memoirists to put ourselves in our readers’ shoes.

 

Because . . .

 

“It has long been a guiding principle of writing that,

if there is any possible way

for readers to misread

and misinterpret

what you write,

they will.

The purpose of laborious

and tedious editing

is to make the writing so precise

that it cannot be misread

and misinterpreted.”

(Kendall Haven)

 

That means that, for the sake of your readers, you, the writer, must, clarify.

 

Choose words carefully.

 

Give specific details.

 

Be accurate. Unambiguous.

 

Explain.

 

Simplify. Simplify. Simplify.

 

Ask yourself, “Will they understand my story? Is it clear?”

 

Refine your story. Enhance it. Polish it. Make it shine.

 

And enjoy your writing!

There you have it, your Tuesday Tidbit.

 

Two MUSTs for you: ProWritingAid and Office 365’s Read Aloud

I’m in the final stages of proofreading my memoir—a chore that’s super-demanding. It’s the final step before hitting the “send” button.

You’re not ready for proofreading until critique partners and beta readers have given you feedback and you’ve made revisions. 

You’re not ready for proofreading until you’ve read your manuscript at least a hundred times and made oodles of changes and corrections.

Also, consider hiring a professional editor. Always remember: Your goal is a memoir of professional quality.

Take a look at the free version of ProWritingAid (click on that link).

Then click on the orange tab, “Start Web Editor.”

Copy and paste up to 500 words of your text in the box (following the easy instructions you’ll see).

Notice that in the blue-green ribbon at the top, you can choose “Writing Style” and “Language.”

Then notice the ribbon below that. Experiment. Get acquainted with your other choices such as style, grammar, clichés, etc. Don’t miss the diction and repeats tab!

You’ll see an analysis pop up on the left side of your screen. Click on down-arrows for specifics. You can then edit your manuscript as you see fit.

Use the free version of ProWritingAid—it’s a treasure!

When you think your manuscript is absolutely perfect, it’s time to proofread.

Here’s my recommendation:

Look into Microsoft 365’s Read Aloud.

Why? Because brains and eyes hinder us when it comes to proofreading.

 

Our brains know what’s supposed to be there—what we meant to write—and our eyes, influenced by our brains, get lazy and overlook typos or missing words, especially small words like “the” and “an.”

For proofreading, our ears are better friends. Ears pick up irregularities such as missing words or extra words.

That’s why I encourage you to use Read Aloud. Here’s how:

Open the chapter you want to proofread.

In the blue ribbon at the top of your computer screen, click on View.

Next, in the ribbon below the blue, click on Learning Tools. If the letters in your document appear to be spaced apart, click on Text Spacing to normalize the formatting.

Place your cursor at the beginning of your text.

Click on Read Aloud. In a few seconds, you should hear a man reading your text! How cool is that?! All you have to do is read along with him to spot missing words, duplicate words, or other boo-boos.

Your ears will also alert you to words that are clunky or have multiple syllables when you could use a word that’s more compact. You don’t want to interrupt your readers with words that distract them.

Your ears will also help you notice wordiness and sentences that are long, complicated, or arranged in the wrong order. You don’t want to interrupt your readers with sentences that distract them.

To pause and resume reading, use the little tab at the top right of your document. That’s where you can also change the reading speed and choose from other voices.

You want your finished memoir to be as professional as possible.

ProWritingAid and Read Aloud can help you perfect your work.

Strive to do your best: Don’t settle for anything less than a top-notch memoir

If you missed Tuesday's post, click on I’m almost ready to publish my memoir! 

That’s right! I’m soooo close to publishing my memoir! I’ve worked for years to get to this point.

If you’ve never published a book before, you can’t imagine how time-consuming it is, how demanding it is, especially toward the end when the author needs to take care of dozens of tiny but all-important details.

I’ve seen many authors get this close and, frankly, grow so weary of reading their words for the 87^th time (no kidding) that they lose patience—they just want to get it over! So they skimp on their commitment to excellence. They give up on the most tedious and yet most important final details.

Don’t let that happen to you!

My challenge to you is this: Strive to write and publish a memoir that’s the very best it can be. Educate yourself on all aspects of writing and publishing. Look over years of blog posts here at SM 101. Hire editors and proofreaders and cover designers if you need to.

Don’t settle for anything less than a top-notch memoir.

Tuesday Tidbit: Are you overwhelmed with writing your memoir?

Isn’t this the truth?!

Sometimes writing overwhelms us, but here at SM 101, we press on.

We keep searching for the right words, rearranging until each is in the right place. We litter our desks with writing books, dictionaries, and a thesaurus or two.

We write and rewrite and edit and polish.

Why?

Because we have important stories to tell.

You have an important story to tell.

Someone out there needs to know your story. Maybe lots of someones.

Your story might be the one God will use

to heal a broken heart,

or restore faith,

or save a marriage,

or conquer fear,

or spare a child from abuse,

or inspire hope,

or head someone in a new and better direction.

So write on, dear writer friends! Write on!

There you have it, your Tuesday Tidbit.

Tuesday Tidbit: You can do this, baby step by baby step

Amber Lea Starfire nails it: “Good writing takes patience, diligence, attention to detail, the ability to identify and solve problems, and—oh, yes—desire.”

Completing a memoir can be an exhausting project because it’s much more than writing. It’s tweaking, revising, rewriting, editing, proofreading, and publishing. (I’m telling you this from experience—my current experience. Sigh.)

But I can do this. I can do this. Baby step by baby step.

You can do it, too! Find advice and encouragement by clicking over to Amber’s post, Writing is Revision is Rewriting is Craft.

Also, check out this humongous list of resources from Becca and Angela at One Stop for Writers. Their materials focus on fiction writers, but almost everything applies to memoir writers, too.

And remember this from April 24's post: Prayer is the secret to writing better than you're capable of writing.

P. S. I just ordered Amber Lea Starfire’s new memoir, Accidental Jesus Freak. Check it out!

There you have it, your Tuesday Tidbit.

Tell yourself rewriting is not punishment

Writing your memoir’s first draft is an experiment. Even your second and third and fourth drafts are experiments.

It’s like trying on for size—like taking five yellow dresses off the rack and heading toward the dressing room. When you slip into them and look in the mirror, you discover only one yellow is the right shade; you look washed out in the other four.

So, you keep only the one yellow dress that’s the right shade—

and in writing,

you keep only the sentences

and words

and paragraphs

and openings

and endings

that fit—those that work best.

You can also compare writing and rewriting and polishing to arranging flowers in a vase. You do your best to create beauty but when you stand back, you see the bouquet is lopsided, or you didn’t distribute the colors well, or you’ve left a gap, so you rearrange it, tweaking it here and there until it’s just right.

With dresses and with flowers and with writing, we need to stand back, take another look, and adjust accordingly.

We can view rewriting and editing and polishing as a pain in the neck, or maybe even punishment—OR we can consider it an enjoyable process of enhancement.

Amber Lea Starfire writes, “As a teacher, it always surprises me when beginning writers resist the revision process, because that’s often when the best writing takes place.

“I think of the first draft as a kind of rough sketch—the bones of the piece,” she continues. “It’s during the revision process that the skeleton acquires muscles and flesh and features. And I often have to do major surgery, restructuring the skeleton, before I can write what needs to be said.” (You’ll enjoy Amber’s post, Writing is Revision is Re-Writing is Craft.)

Good writers revise and rewrite, often many times.

Dinty Moore says, “The difference. . . between writers who are successful in finding an audience and those who struggle, is when and where in the revision process a writer throws in the towel and settles for 'good enough.’” (Read his How to Revise a Draft Without Going Crazy.)

Don't settle for  just “good enough.”

Tell yourself rewriting is not punishment—

instead, rewriting is beautification.

So, beautify! And have fun!

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.

You might already have the perfect Christmas gift for your family

Any day now we’re going to start seeing Christmas decorations in stores. Can you believe it?

That means most of us will soon stress about choosing just the right gifts for everyone on our lists.

If you’re like me, you worry—Is this in style? What size does he wear? Would she wear this color? I loved this book—but would he? Does this style match her décor? Does he already have one of these?

Today people own more trinkets and gadgets and junk than they need or can use, or even want, yet when Christmas comes around, we pace shopping malls ad nauseum searching for new trinkets, gadgets, and junk to give family and friends.

Let me suggest an alternative, something much better:

Give relatives a copy of your memoir. If you haven’t completed it—even if you’ve written only a few vignettes—no problem. Give what you have completed.

Give them a gift of yourself.

Your stories—and your family’s unique part in them—

will never go out of style,

and you don’t need to worry about

buying the right style or size or color.

Tell recipients it’s an early draft, just the beginning, and that you’ll add more stories later.

Have I convinced you yet? I hope so.

And I have good news: You have about 11 weeks to revise and edit and polish your vignettes.

To help with that editing, ask a qualified person to critique your manuscript. Avoid enlisting family and friends. Frank P. Thomas advises:

“…Choose that person carefully. Remember that friends or relatives tend to overpraise, and others may criticize merely to impress you with their knowledge.”

Instead, he says, “Pick someone who cares about writing besides caring about you, such as an English teacher, a teacher of writing courses, or someone in your local writers’ club.”

I agree with Thomas. In a local writers’ group, critique partners can give you impartial, objective, and often professional feedback. I treasure my critique partners.

Thomas recommends asking our critique partners questions such as, “Are there any passages that will not be clearly understood? Are there any omissions or inaccuracies? Are any parts of the manuscript repetitious? What parts do you like best? Least? Are there any glaring errors of grammar or spelling?” (Frank P. Thomas, How to Write the Story of Your Life)

Refuse to get defensive when you receive feedback. Don’t take suggestions as personal insults. Critique is not the same as criticism.

A critique is an evaluation, an assessment, an analysis. It’s not criticism or disapproval.

So, when you receive your critique partners’ responses, remember: Usually at least some of their findings will help improve your manuscript. If any comments don’t “fit,” ignore them and move on.

Revise your vignettes as needed—but don’t print them yet.

Come back Tuesday for tips on assembling your stories as well as key components to prepare and include in your published memoir.

For now, make a commitment to give what you’ve written—however long or short—as a down payment, a pledge of more to come. Promise your recipients a finished memoir in the future—maybe next Christmas.

Be sure to return Tuesday for more helpful tips.

Have you lined up your beta readers yet?

You want to publish a memoir of professional quality. That means you have lots of work to do. It also means you need to enlist the help of others also committed to professional quality.

Beta readers can serve as one of your most valuable resources—but what is a beta reader?

After you, the writer/alpha reader, do your best to polish your manuscript, a beta reader reads it and makes suggestions to help you make it even better before you send it off—to an editor if you plan to self-publish, or to an agent or editor if you hope to work with a traditional publisher.

Julie-Ann Harper defines a beta reader this way: “The term ‘beta’ is borrowed from the software industry, meaning the beta tests or reads your full manuscript to help you eliminate problems so you can improve its readability, its usefulness, and even its saleability before it’s published. Beta readers help with plot holes, clarity, pacing problems and of course mistakes.”

“Authors need beta readers to understand how people read their book and…to identify confusing or irrelevant spots,” writes Amanda Shofner. “Every author has weakenesses. You do, too—but you’re blind to them. Beta readers won’t be. And soliciting feedback from beta readers is your chance to address the weak spots of your manuscript…..”

Jami Gold explains, “Beta reading is not about the reader’s knowledge of the craft of writing, but about what works and doesn’t work for them as reader.”  She also says a beta reader “can offer feedback on big-picture aspects: story arc, character development, pacing, etc….” 

In her article, TheUltimate Guide to Working with Beta Readers, Amanda Shofner covers the following topics:

• Why beta readers?
• Who [do] you want as a beta reader?
• How do you prepare your manuscript for betas?
• What do you want from your betas?
• How do you deal with feedback (without freaking out)?
• How do you implement beta feedback?

K.M. Weiland lists seven things to look for in a beta reader. She says, “You want someone who:

• Enjoys your genre.
• Understands your intentions for your stories.
• Likes our stories, in general.
• Isn’t afraid to tell you what isn’t working.
• Is an experienced reader and/or writer (both bring important insights…).
• Is reliable and trustworthy.
• You like—and who likes you in return.”

K.M.’s post also lists links for online communities to help you find beta readers. Don’t miss her article, 15 Places to Find Your Next Beta Reader.

Be sure to read Ann R. Allen’s excellent post, All About Beta Readers: 7 Ways They Can Improve Your Book. Though she often addresses writers of fiction, Ann’s points pertain to those who write memoirs, too. She covers the following:

• I’m in a Critique Group—Do I Need Beta Readers?
• Do Beta Readers Have to be Writers?
• Should You Pay for Beta Readers?
• Beta Read Exchanges
• Tips for Authors in a Beta Read Exchange

Ann also offers 7 Valuable Things Beta Readers Do:

• Find Repeated Words and Phrases and Confusing or Dropped Names
• Flag Continuity Issues
• Catch Dropped Storylines and Loose Ends
• Alert Authors to Murky Motivation and “Unlikeable” Characters
• Tell Authors When They’ve Lost the Plot
• Fine-Tune “Sensitivity” Issues
• Tell Us What Works!

The Write Life named Ann R. Allen’s blog as one of The 100 Best Websites for Writers for 2017. Be sure to check it out. You can also follow her on Facebook.

Julie-Ann Harper offers the following tools for finding beta readers:  

“Wattpad is a well-established website for finding beta readers. Scribophile is famous for the detailed and helpful critiques their members exchange. Beta Reader’s Hub is a source blog for beta readers.”

Beta readers, then, help you improve your manuscript so you can publish a quality memoir.  Their feedback allows you to make changes in private so that when your book is in print, you won’t be embarrassed in public.

For now, jot down a list of people who might agree to serve as your beta readers. Then come back next week for more info about finding and working with your beta readers.

On self-publishing and marketing your memoir

Let’s face it: Most of us will never sign a contract with a traditional publishing company. Thousands of writers don’t make the cut, not even good writers—not even great writers.

But nowadays we have publishing options we didn’t have only a few years ago: self-publishing companies. They offer various services for various prices.

Note: They also publish books of varying quality, in both contents and materials. Too many self-pub books can’t be described as “high quality.”

Having said that, many self-published books are top-notch quality, so much so that some prolific traditionally-published authors are now going the self-pub route. Self-publishing can be an excellent choice for most of us.

Nevertheless, some people continue to turn up their noses at self-publishing.

“Some writers will think you’re not a good writer because you’re self-published,” writes Joanne Dannon. “There is still a stigma that you’re not good enough since you’re not traditionally published….”

But if you want to be a good writer, Joanne says, “Focus on being the best writer you can be. Self-publishing is not for bad writers, it’s for motivated, savvy writers who write quality books….

“Successful self-published writers have excellent books with a well-written story, professional editing and formatting as well as a quality well-made cover (not home made)” (What I wish I’d known before self-publishing).

To write and publish a professional-quality memoir, you must work hard.

Become a student of everything related to writing, publishing, and marketing.

Among other skills, improve your self-editing abilities. Bethany Cadman offers tips in Practical Advice for Editing Your Manuscript.

Also check out Jami Gold’s post, Writing Habits: We Can’t Fix What We Don’t See.

And then there’s successful marketing: We must educate ourselves, pre-plan, and commit to hard work. Look over Joanne Dannon’s blog post, What I wish I’d known before self-publishing.

I highly recommend Sandra Beckwith’s blog, Build Book Buzz. Begin by checking out Facebook advertising for authors: A quick-start guide.

If you want to be

“motivated, savvy writers who write quality books,”

educate yourself.

Make it your goal to publish a well-written book,

professional in editing and formatting,

whether you’re publishing your memoir for only friends and family,

or for the masses.

Tuesday Tidbit: Three tips for writing a compelling memoir

Listen to the advice of this pro. Take in his message.

Jerry addresses writers of fiction but his instruction pertains to writers of memoir, too.

Click here to read Jerry B. Jenkins’ post about studying the art and craft of storytelling.

Click here to read his post on creating compelling characters.

Click here to learn from Jerry how to be a ferocious self-editor.