Tuesday Tidbit: How can I best help you write your memoir?

Several times lately I’ve nearly cried when I think of the enormous help I’ve received from so many people in writing and publishing my memoir. Maybe you are one of them. If so, thank you, thank you, thank you!

And then I think of you. How are you doing in writing your memoir?

Every memoirist needs help from others

in writing and publishing a finished book.

I hope I’m one of those helpers.

And that brings me to today’s question:

How can I best help you write your memoir?

What do you need most from Spiritual Memoirs 101?

• lessons on the art and craft of writing?
• specific teaching on what a memoir is and is not?
• tips on revising and editing?
• reminders that your story is important and others need to read it?
• reassurance that writing your memoir is a ministry, a sacred calling, not just a hobby?
• encouragement to begin writing?
• inspiration to continue writing?
• motivation to finish writing and publish?
• other?

I welcome your comments below

or at the Spiritual Memoirs 101’s Facebook Page.

Feel free to also send a private message on the Facebook Page.

In the same way that others have helped me with all of the above, 

and more,

I want to help you write your memoir.

Let me know how I can best do so.

Tuesday Tidbit: Read this only if you’re serious about writing and publishing your memoir

If you’re serious about writing and publishing your memoir, make a commitment to learning the art and craft of each skill necessary.

Consider yourself a student. Devote at least a couple of years to learning how to write, and then how to publish.

Join a writing group. Network.

Read the best books.

Attend writing conferences.

Develop a system for collecting information you know you’ll need in the future.

For example, I have dozens of folders saved on my computer for skills such as writing good dialog. I have ten pages of links and notes on dialog alone!

I have at least that many pages devoted to dozens hundreds of other topics including:

• audience
• author bio (how to write one)
• beta readers
• book descriptions
• chapter titles
• Chicago Manual of Style
• clarity
• copyright info
• covers for books
• critique
• details describing people
• editing topics and resources
• formatting
• grammar

. . . and dozens of other topics.

And here’s another bit of advice: Follow the best blogs.

Recently Anne R. Allen shared a great resource listing the top 100 writing blogs. I have learned from many of them and recommend you look into them, too—they’ll help you grow as a writer. And Anne R. Allen consistently offers rich resources, too. Follow her on Facebook.

And pray! Commit yourself and your writing to God. Ask for His help in practical, specific ways. And watch what He does.

God has often surprised me in answer to such prayers. For example, this morning He brought me a huge help to solve an overwhelming problem with formatting my manuscript for publication. WoooHooo!

If you’re serious about writing and publishing your memoir,

learn the art and craft of each skill necessary.

You can do it!

You must do it!

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: I’m almost ready to publish my memoir!

Look at this! After formatting all 42 chapters (or is it 43?) of my new memoir, Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go!, I just formatted the epilogue. Woot! Woot!

Now I need to format endnotes, glossary, author bio, acknowledgments—those things that go at the end of the book.

—And tweak the stuff at the beginning of the book, like Table of Contents.

—And resize photos to be sure they’ll work for the book and the ebook. That could take me a while.

—And do final copyediting.

—And buy ISBN numbers.

And then my cover designer can get to work. He says it might take up to three weeks.

So now you know what I’m up to these days. It’s a super busy time, but I’ve been having so much fun.

It won’t be long before I can hold a real book in my hands—and you can, too!

Check out my Facebook Page for Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go! and my author page on Facebook, Linda K. Thomas, Author.

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.

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.

Tuesday Tidbit: Tell us about your memoir

Are you writing a memoir? Let us know.

Have you published your memoir? Be sure to tell us.

Writing

and rewriting

and publishing

and marketing

can be daunting tasks,

and we want to cheer you on.

Leave a comment below,

or on Spiritual Memoirs 101’s Facebook Page,

or send a private message on Facebook.