"The roofs are shining from the rain,
The sparrows twitter as they fly,
And with a windy April grace
The little clouds go by.
Yet the back yards are bare and brown
With only one unchanging tree--
I could not be so sure of Spring
Save that it sings in me."
- Sara Teasdale, April
Welcome to the National Association of
Memoir Writers newsletter!
Welcome to all new members and sign-ups this week! In talking with memoir writers I work with in person and on the phone, I hear a lot about the need to heal. People talk to me about the desire to find a way to live easier in their own skins, a way to get past a feeling of shame and the burdens of the past. I thought I would address this subject now, especially because on May 8 AT 11 AM PDT
Kay Adams will be giving our first membership teleseminar!
She will speak about her extensive experience using writing as a therapeutic healing tool.
If you join us before May 1, you will get to hear this terrific teleseminar live and join us on the call. You can ask her your own questions about how you can use her techniques to help you heal your life.
Writing to Heal: From Structure to Freewrite
Kay Adams, author, therapist, and founder of Journaltherapy.com will talk about how to use writing as a healing tool. She will discuss the special techniques she's developed over the years using writing to help heal trauma, explore memories, and put the past in perspective. You will learn how to choose what you write to help you with certain feelings and issues, and get tips on how to develop your writing skills to include more of the "hot" stories that are the most healing. Kay has planned and organized a terrific conference for this June in Denver. You can read more about her and the conference--I will be speaking there!--at www.journaltherapy.com
So on the subject of writing and healing, I have these thoughts this week:
Writing -your true stories--really does heal! When you take out a notebook and pen to write about your feelings, you may not realize that you're taking an important step in creating good health--not only emotionally but physically. According to research about writing and healing, writing not only heals trauma and helps resolve inner and outer conflicts, but it helps to heal such diseases as asthma, arthritis, and chronic fatigue syndrome. Other studies have shown improvement for depression, recovery from breast cancer, and high blood pressure. Writing helps to relief stress and sort out the things that ail us. Much of the time, we're caught up in conflicts with friends, family, and co-workers. We wrestle with feelings of anger and frustration, sorrow, and feelings of isolation. If these are the demons you battle against, all you need is paper and pen.
"This is the first day of the rest of your life!"
Do you remember this saying that popped up in posters and cards in the sixties? It's a call to action, a call to take this one day and make a difference in your life. It sounds too simple, doesn't it? Or you say, "I'm not a writer; I don't have time for this."
It's interesting--we are trained in school to learn math, history, English, and science. At home, our training is whatever emotional or philosophical nuggets our parents are able to share. But most people learn through family, school, and society to suppress their feelings. I'm not talking about just letting them loose all over other people, but finding an appropriate way to release negative feelings. We are taught to be nice, polite, suppress and repress feelings that get tangled up inside us, with no model for how to solve them. We pass our math exam, but end up with our feelings making us sick.
Feelings are fleeting, they need an outlet that doesn't hurt anyone. We can't fly off at the boss, we are supposed to treat our parents with respect. But what about the way the boss gave another person a raise instead of you? What about parents who don't play fair, have favorites, refuse to discuss issues that come up in the family? What about a spouses or partners who don't know how to resolve issues, and who don't consider therapy an option? What about forgiveness that has not happened yet, or the desire to reconnect with a long lost friend. What about memories that sustain you and special times that you remember? These jewels are important to gather and value.
Your pen and paper, or your computer, can be your best friend, your witness, your guide into peace of mind, and a greater sense of connectedness and bliss.
This is how you do it:
- Write down all the things that bother you. No censoring!
- Give yourself permission to say it like it is, don't be polite. No one will know.
- Write everything from your point of view first.
- Write for 10 minutes without stopping. See if you need more time. If you do, take another 10 minutes.
- Write in the flow--without taking your pen off the page.
- If you don't know what to say next, write, "I'm sick of writing, I don't know what to say, I'm finished with this--oh yeah, now I remember..." and keep writing.
- Tell the truth. You don't often get the chance.
- Let your anger out. No one will know.
- Say what brings you sorrow. Be your own best listener.
- Give yourself permission to keep a secret journal.
- Don't share your writing--it's okay to have this kind of secret.
- When you feel ready, write from the point of view of the person you are mad at.
- Write about the best outcome you could imagine. Write it fully--how it looks, feels, smells, and tastes.
It is important to know yourself and your feelings. You can feel better in twenty minutes. Write like this every day.
This is the first day of the rest of your healthy life.
We offer inspiration, connection, and support
through our membership organization,
our website, and Facebook network.
Stay tuned for our teleseminar series,
products, and services.
This week we will be offering books
and an audio teleseminar on the products page.
Stay in touch, and do join us at Facebook.
Get acquainted!
Be Brave--Write Your Story!
Weekly Memoir Vignette Prompts
Spring Stories and Memories
The Sensual Delights of Spring
Tuning into the sensual world around me gives me cues that help me to write something that draws upon my emotions, my senses, and helps me to branch out with ideas. Each season has a theme, a feeling in the body, and often has symbolic rituals handed down through the ages.
Tuning into the sensual world around me gives me cues that help me to write something that draws upon my emotions, my senses, and helps me to branch out with ideas.
- Take a walk through your neighborhood or a park. Walking stimulates your right, creative brain. Tune into your senses, the flowers, grass, trees, sounds of cars, dogs, lawn mowers, laughter.
- Breathe deeply, and notice the feeling of the place you are part of at this moment--is there tension, comfort, relaxation, stimulation? Write about a time when you felt in the moment in this way.
- Write "I remember..." , then quickly jot down the first 10 or 20 memories you can think of.
- For 10 minutes each day, write a vignette, a short story, about each of the memories on your list.
Storytelling Blogs
I have discovered some fun storytelling blogs that I'm listing here this week. Check them out and send them stories. Here at NAMW, we are devising ways to include your stories on this site for members, so stay tuned for our new stuff as it comes off the presses!
· As Time Goes By
· The Elder Storytelling Place
It feels good to get our stories out there, so try these venues.
Another place to send stories if you are a woman and a member in Story Circle Network.
Keep writing--notice how much more you begin to remember as you write!
And please let me know if you are interested in a place to share stories on the NAMW site. We value your feedback and input. linda@memoriesandmemoirs.com
Upcoming NAMW Events
Writing to Heal - Kay Adams
May 8, 2008
Baby Boomers' Power to Create - Dotsie Bregal
June 5, 2008
Submission Strategies for Successful Publication - Joan Gelfand
June 10, 2008
Copyright 2008. National Association of Memoir Writers. All Rights Reserved.
