Please visit my website to find new articles, events, new links.

Memories and Memoirs

Toll free: 1-877-ememoir
1-877-363-6647

New E-book Available

My new ebook Memoir Writing as a Healing Journey is available for instant download. Find out more about writing to heal, the value of writing stories and going beyond journaling, and follow the writing invitations to begin your memoir today.

Click Here to Visit the Store

Two creative and interesting women's organizations I want to share with you

The National Association for Women Writers

From their website:

The National Association of Women Writers (NAWW) was founded in 2001. We have over 3000 members worldwide. We help connect and educate our members through books, CDs, tele-events, physical chapter events and much more. Our weekly newsletter goes out to over 3,000 women writers, editors, and publishers.

- Do you need support from other women writers who share your passion for writing?

- Would you like to start and finish writing your book?

- Do you want to learn from the top writing professionals in the industry every single month via a live teleseminar?

- Would you like to promote for free on our blog?

As a member of the NAWW you can do all this and much more--learn about the NAWW today!

The National Association for Baby Boomer Women

From their website:

The National Association of Baby Boomer Women is the only association devoted to addressing issues concerning 38 million of the healthiest, wealthiest, and best educated generation of women to ever hit midlife, baby boomer women.

NABBW is dedicated to:

Empowering women to explore their passions and live life to the fullest.

Connecting, encouraging, and supporting baby boomer women.

NABBW promises:

A membership package that includes information on self-improvement skills, free legal and financial advice using e-mail, exclusive member discounts on a variety of products and services, easy ways to connect with other boomer women, and MORE..

A sense of belonging to a creative, powerful, encouraging group of women that will leave you feeling refreshed, revived, and renewed.

Access to information from an enthusiastic, energetic, wise, and warm panel of experts who have written books, founded Web sites, and coached women.

As a new member, I am exploring both of these organizations, and want to share my discovery with you. Visit their sites and see the many things that are going on. You might decide to submit stories or enroll in a seminar. Have fun!

"The trees down the boulevard stand naked in thought,

Their abundant summery wordage silenced, caught

In the grim undertow; naked the trees confront

Implacable winter's long, cross-questioning brunt."

- D. H. Lawrence, Winter in the Boulevard, 1916

Happy New Year!

Most of us think of the New Year as a time of new beginnings. We have been hibernating against long cold nights, or days of wind, snow, and rain.  Even in California, our winter, though mild, invites contemplation. The stark emptiness of landscapes without leaves is striking.  We can learn from this paring away of excess, a revelation of the bare structure of trees and shrubs.  As D. H. Lawrence expresses in the above quote, we confront our own deepest nature and questioning as we look at the naked trees.  In the simplicity of a bare tree, we find assurance that even our simplest ideas will burst forth into bloom in the spring.

As writers, we find ourselves searching for a central idea, kernel of wisdom or transformation, the revelation residing at the heart of our stories.  We write ourselves into the core of the story, exploring the branches of our ideas, characters, and settings.  This kind of wandering and exploration is necessary as we traverse our mental landscapes.  Editing is like pruning, as we take away the unnecessary ideas and words, but at the beginning of our writing, we need to have the freedom of writing everything down before we know what needs to be pruned.  We need permission to wander, to muse, contemplate.  I hope the darker days and long nights are a fertile time for your creativity.

This is a good time to make your Writer’s New Year’s Resolutions:

• I will be brave with my writing.

• I will write for 10 minutes a day.

• I will read good literature to stimulate my creativity.

• I will focus on the positive aspects of my writing and not listen to that pesky inner critic.

• I will join a community of writers and creative people to feed my writing soul.

Musings by Linda—The Journey of Memoir Writing

During the last year, I have marveled at how much power there is in memoir writing.  In my workshops and coaching, I observe amazing and breathtaking changes, often quite surprising to the writers.

Many come to writing saying, “I’m not really a writer,” or “I don’t plan to write much, I just want to try a few things,” but find themselves drawn to giving free rein to thoughts, memories, and feelings not shared or even known before.

The writing turns into a surprising set of discoveries, as if following a path made of silver stones to see where they lead.  The writing is like magic, coming from nowhere, and takes off in directions the writer couldn’t predict.

Many writers put pen on paper with an idea or intention only to find ourselves writing something else.  Writing can seem slightly scary, like a semi-wild animal on the page, ready to rush into trouble, dark forests or dangerous caves without warning.  That’s the pleasure of writing—you discover nothing bad will happen to you, and you begin your writing journey with a frisson of excitement.

Writing is a journey into the unknown with the only danger of pen on paper, into an unknown territory that is ourselves.  We journey into the magic realms of who we are, who we have been, and where we are going.  All hero or heroine journeys lead to the unknown, contain elements that are unexplainable, and require guides and companions to help find the way.  Your writing group, your mentors, and fellow authors are your guides.

I hope your New Year is full of many rich and creative journeys.

Five Memoir Story Openers

Write for 5-20 minutes on each idea.  Save the vignettes to assemble later.

1. What spiritual ritual do you have for this time of year?

2. Write about January—your favorite activities now and in the past.  Your feelings, memories, associations with this time of year.

3. Describe the town you grew up in during winter.  What did it look like, smell like, feel like? Any special events or happenings that you remember?

4. Write five New Year’s goals or resolutions that will help you focus your life for the future.

5. Write a story about who you were, what your favorite objects, toys, and people when you were ten years old.

Save these stories/vignettes safely in a file to draw upon for your longer memoir stories collection.

Upcoming Classes and Workshops

Winter is a good time to reflect and write your memoir stories. My new series of classes has just begun, and there are openings in the Women’s Memoir Circle Thursday nights in the Berkeley, CA area.

Thursday Night Women's Circle                                                     Learn more....
January 17 - April 3
7 PM - 9:45 PM

Each week women of all ages and backgrounds meet to write and talk about motherhood, single dating, careers, romance, memories of family, and their spiritual quests. The writers use both poetry and prose to capture memories and to explore the richness of their lives. We write about important turning points--the lighter, humorous moments along with dark nights of the soul. There is laughter and a few tears, and most of all the witnessing of our stories, an important component of healing and moving into the future.

Saturday Spiritual Autobiography and Memoir Circle
Saturday morning writing circle                                                    Learn more....
January 12 - March 29
10 AM - 1 PM
Berkeley, California
(Limited to 7 participants)

Have you ever said, "I need to write my story"? If not now, when? Memories and Memoirs offers a choice of memoir writing classes, workshops, and retreats to help you get started and keep going.

Memories carry deep personal meaning in our lives and for our sense of self. Through exploring them we discover our own unique stories to craft as memoir or fiction. Join our supportive classes to help zap your inner critic. We offer writing tools and exercises each week in class and encouraging, positive feedback. Write the stories you have been meaning to write, whether for your own development and healing or to leave as a legacy for others.

Body and Soul Writing Retreat

Memoir Writing Retreat with Linda Joy Myers

April 4-6, 2008                                                                               Learn more....

Calistoga, California (in the Napa Valley)

This evocative and meditative memoir writing workshop in the heart of the Napa Valley is an opportunity for you to come away with 8-10 new stories for your memoir in a safe, relaxing environment.  Experienced retreat leader, therapist, and prize-winning author Linda Joy Myers is your guide through writing exercises and discussions about the things that all memoir writers ask: how do I write the truth and avoid the anger of my family? Is my story interesting? How do I begin and can I ever finish it? How do I tell the stories that have been secreted in my heart?

You will be received with full presence and unconditional acceptance. Visualizations, memory exercises, drawing, and group sharing open up the well of stories for you to draw from. You will leave with several new stories, a timeline, and future writing plans. The retreat is inspirational and provides a safe place for you to explore.

Coming soon! NAMW

The National Association of Memoir Writers

In February, you will hear more about this new vibrant organization geared to the needs of memoir writers!

iii

The Story Circle Network presents

Stories from the Heart IV

February 1-3, 2008                                                              Learn more....
Austin, Texas

Women from all over the country gather to celebrate story telling and creativity. I attended several of these terrific conferences, and found wonderful connections, new friends, and a whole lot of inspiration. And the weather is pretty good there in February! Austin has a very developed community of artists and authentic Texas charm. And the women at Story Circle have such heart—the conference is well named. You will come back with a bunch of new stories and a lot of writing friends who care about the same things you do—stories, memoir writing, and the value of capturing memories for our own development or for a legacy for our family.

Contests and Publications

Entering contests is a good way to push your writing skills and hone your work. There are literally hundreds of venues where you can enter your work. Use Google to surf the web for sites that are looking for publications and lists of contests.

Other resources for upcoming contests are in Poets and Writers and Writers Digest

San Francisco Writers Conference contest

The SFWC Writing Contest—sponsored by the San Francisco Writers Conference.

Go to www.sfwriters.org for contest and conference info. You do not have to attend the conference to enter the contest.

Journal 2008 The Power of Writing Conference

June 18-22, 2008

Denver, Colorado

Another mentor on my path of learning about the healing power of writing has been Kathleen Adams, founder of Journal Therapy and the author of several books focusing on the therapeutic power of writing.  Kay teaches classes, retreats, and workshops for therapists and for writers nationally, and my interview with her about the healing power of writing is on my website for audio download.

In June, 2008, Kathleen is hosting the first ever conference on writing as healing—Journal Conference 2008—The Power of Writing. This conference brings together the important people in the therapeutic, memoir, spiritual autobiography world such as Dr. James Pennebaker, Christina Baldwin, Tristine Rainier, and Kathleen Adams—four of the leading thinkers and theorists in the field of therapeutic writing headline a faculty of 40.

Six mix-and-match tracks (Writing, Therapy, Healing/Wellness, Memoir/Life Story, Spirituality, and Writing in Community) allow a fully customizable conference experience. Special guest appearances by award-winning poet Michael Blumenthal and creative arts therapies troupe MUSE. Continuing education hours are available!

Questions? Call 888-421-2298 (in Colorado or from cell phone: 303-986-6460)

NAWW: Expand Your Network--Develop Your Skills-- Nurture Your Creative Life

Develop a powerful support system for women writers only. The National Association of Women Writers is a forum where you can network with women writers from all over the world. Get our free eReport, 101 Best Resources for Writers for free!

More Info....

AWE: Where Creativity and Imagination Connect With Passion and Attract Abundance - The Association of Web Entrepreneurs!

Get our free report "10 Mindsets Web Entrepreneurs Must Have To Succeed." Are you ready to really learn what it takes to build a six-figure online business? Let the AWE teach you how!

More Info....