Memoir Collective #14: The Gift of Memoir (FREE)

People write memoirs for all sorts of reasons: to make sense of life, to become a better writer, to correct misperceptions, to honor and remember, to help others. Whatever your particular motivation, I can almost guarantee that writing a memoir will be one of the most life-changing gifts […]

By |2023-11-09T10:30:53-07:00November 2nd, 2023|Categories: |Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

The Memoir Collective #8: Tips and tricks for vulnerability

Have you had an experience you are too afraid to write about? Is there some anecdote you’ve been harboring as too shameful to share? If you’re like most writers (or human beings, for that matter), there is not one story you’ve been hiding, there are many.

If […]

By |2022-07-19T14:10:59-06:00July 19th, 2022|Categories: |Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

The Memoir Collective #5; Effective Endings

Soon, we'll arrive at the ending to 2021. In honor of this, we'll spend this meeting of The Memoir Collective talking about endings, in particular, how to write successful sentence, paragraph, chapter and story endings. We'll also talk about that ever-vexing problem: how to identify the ending of your memoir.

By |2021-11-29T12:15:39-07:00November 11th, 2021|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Go From Good to Great Using Your Powers of Observation

By Susan Orlean

(This article originally appeared in Medium on November 5, 2021. I wanted to repost it here because Susan Orlean has been a tremendous teacher for me in my writing career. If you want to know how to craft compelling nonfiction, read her work!)

It’s stating the obvious to […]

By |2021-11-09T10:45:25-07:00November 9th, 2021|Categories: Memoir Writing, On Writing|Tags: , , |0 Comments

What Our Keyboards Teach Us

The last two weeks I’ve been avoiding my piano, and two nights ago, after a particularly frustrating night of practice, I realized why.

Whenever I’d sit down to play—or, more accurately, clonk my way through the beginner’s book—I’d find myself confronting patterns of behavior that have plagued me my entire life.

I […]

By |2019-05-22T17:22:25-06:00May 22nd, 2019|Categories: Emotional Wisdom|Tags: , , , |3 Comments

Your Vision For Your Writing Life

I’d like you to ponder your vision for your writing life. (You know you have one, even if you’ve been too afraid to articulate it.) I’m going to lead you through a guided visualization, but first I’d like you to provide more answers to the following questions:

  1. What is […]
By |2019-03-12T08:57:51-06:00January 30th, 2019|Categories: Visualize This|Tags: , , , |1 Comment

Confused About a Book Project? Schedule a DIY Retreat.

For the last year or so, I’ve been conducting in-person intensives with clients who are seeking clarity on book projects. For anywhere from one to three days, we’ll hole up together (usually in my office in downtown Boulder) and hammer out a plan of action.

Together, we’ll uncover their reasons […]

By |2019-03-12T09:02:51-06:00January 30th, 2019|Categories: Uncovering Your Story|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

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