Memories all Alone in the Workshop

This morning I went to a Memoir workshop. I was ready with pen , paper, an open mind and a willingness to learn. What I learned in the first half an hour are these obvious truths-“memoirs are mostly written by women” and “ publishing is a hassle, you are better off going to a vanity press and paying to print your book.”

I was still willing to have an open mind. The majority of the rest of the class was a sales pitch for the facilitators’. We were given a prompt and were asked to write using “I remember…” We then had the chance to read what we had written.

There is always that one person- that dominant person that will suck the very life out of class. By the time it was mine turn, I had one minute. I had written about my childhood in Florida and times I went with my parents to go clam digging. I spoke quickly and that was that.

I did meet some nice people there and had some interesting conversations about what they were interested in writing their memoirs about.

I did get some tips such as creating a theme throughout the memoir, use chapter headings that followed along with the general theme. The other bit advice I will pass on is that you must continue writing long enough for your writing to improve. Don’t give up- just write.