I've found people seem to feel the same about memoirs: write your story, don't write your story, not everyone is a writer, no one is going to read that, oh how boring, etc...
The fact of the matter is you can wear leggings whenever and wherever you wish and as long as you love the way you look and feel, it's nobody's business! As far as sharing your life story, the same holds true - if you have a story to tell and you feel comfortable sharing it, you go ahead and do it with confidence!
There are always going to be people who turn their nose up at your story (or who don't like the look of your rear end in a pair of leggings), but for every person who isn't interested, there's someone who can't wait to get their hands on your memoir.
I recently read How to Become a Heroic Writer by Jerry Waxler and if you are looking for practical advice on writing and sharing your story, this is an excellent place to start. As far as leggings go - I'll let you do your homework on that! Here's a little more about Jerry's book:In the 21st century, many of us feel the stirring of an audacious challenge. We want to ride the waves of global communication by writing compelling stories, articles, and essays. To complete and publish such works, we need courage, tenacity, good habits and hope. Throughout history, we have admired such qualities in our heroes. In the 21st century, science offers practical methods to help us achieve these qualities for ourselves. The techniques described in this book draw from the author’s lifelong search for the science and art of becoming a writer. The explanations and exercises, originally developed for students in his writing workshops, will guide you on your quest. “Using skillfully crafted anecdotes and thoughtful writing prompts, Waxler inspires and motivates veteran as well as novice writers to examine themselves and in the process face the world with renewed confidence.” Ed Krizek, author of Afterlife and Other Stories “Waxler demystifies the inner demons I battle daily and offers practical advice and exercises to break down the author-reader connection into bite-size pieces I can digest at my own pace.” Kerry Gans, fiction writer and author of The Goose's Quill “Heroic Writer together with Jerry’s Memoir Revolution, shows how writing offers safe ways to explore the past while creating new memories, behavior and mental models for the future.” Nancy Lubow, PhD, Art Therapist
Now - here's a little pep-talk as our time together comes to a close:
Life is too short to worry about the opinions of others. Confidence is sexy - so whether you are sharing your story, rocking a new outfit, or just living your authentic life, if you do it with confidence and love yourself, you'll find other people are drawn to you. If you are waiting for other people to believe in you before you put on that confident smile, you'll be waiting forever...you can never make everyone happy - so just please yourself!
We here at WOW! are waiting to hear your story and help you share your story with the world - regardless of genre! (and...I'm rocking a pair of leggings and boots today - because I can!)
You can find Crystal riding unicorns, taking the ordinary and giving it a little extra (making it extraordinary), blogging and reviewing books here, and at her personal blog - Crystal is dedicated to turning life's lemons into lemonade!
4 comments:
Ooo. Thank you for the book recommendation. I love it when the author provides exercises that create a workshop approach to the topic.
I love Jerry's work! This sounds like a great book and exactly what I need right now. I'm in the early stages of writing my memoir and often have doubts of whether it's something anyone would want to read. It's putting the cart before the horse, right? I should write the dang thing without self doubts and not worry about publishing or readers yet. Thanks for the recommendation! I love that he based this off of his workshops. :)
Ah this spoke to me so much! First of all - YAY LEGGINGS. I think everyone can wear them - young, not-so-young, skinny, not-so-skinny. Seriously, I don't care what people thinks about me in leggings. And I think memoir writers are so brave. I love seeing people feel brave enough to write their stories. And reading them! I don't think we share our personal life journey enough in the world. Great post!
Thank you, Crystal. This post has reassured me. I like that you said, "...so just please yourself!" I, we, are more, so much more, than our leggings. I will continue to wear whatever I please, and I will continue to write whatever I please. We all have a story to tell. Once, a counselor told me to write down my feelings no matter how awkward, silly, or stupid I think it sounds. At the end of the week we went over my journal of feelings. I never knew all that stuff she pointed out about me. That exercise of writing helped me to get in touch with my feelings and get to know me. I will enjoy reading and learning How to Become a Heroic Writer by Jerry Waxler. I enjoyed this post. Thank you for the helpful advise.
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