What does being a Writer mean to you?

What does being a Writer mean to you?

BLOG SESSION

April 22nd, 2018

Welcome back Writers!  Today's Blog Session is just for you specifically.

Grab your Journal, because what we will talk about today will be something that you will need for the writing that you will be doing in the years ahead ~ mainly because that is who you are -- a Writer.

Journal Notes

As you take a moment to think about what it is that you truly want to write about, you will no doubt come up with a subject matter that is close to your heart.  Whatever that subject matter is, please take a moment to write it down in your Journal.  You may have several areas of interest that are close to your heart -- if so, please write all of those areas down in your Journal.

The subject matters that you cherish connect with certain genres.  If you already know what those genres are, also write them down in your Journal.  If you are unsure about the genres that tie into your area of writing interest, take the time to do your research on Literary Genres.  Here is a good place for you to start when it comes to research on Genres...

LITERARY GENRES LINK:

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_writing_genres 

You'll find many other places online where you can learn more about all of the Literary Genres.  Don't forget to list the links in your Journal that you use to do your research.  You'll do doubt refer back to those links from time to time.

Doing your Research

Doing your research will help you to answer the question that this Session is about:  What does being a Writer mean to you?

Being a Writer branches off into many different areas.  You may be interested in writing Novels.  There are a host of genres that cover Novels.  Be sure to research the genre(s) that you are interested in.

You may be interested in becoming a Script Writer.  If so, Script Writing is an area that calls for specific research on the proper format to use for writing Scripts.

Another area that many writers are interested in is Memoirs.  You could be a Writer who has had a dream to write a Memoir.  A Memoir is a historical account or Biography written from personal knowledge or special sources.

If a Memoir is an area in which you are interested in, please take time to read some of the Best Selling Memoirs such as:

1)  The Diary of Anne Frank (The Diary of a Young Girl)

2)  Barbara Bush:  A Memoir

3)  A Higher Loyalty:  Truth, Lies, and Leadership by James Comey

Biographies and Autobiographies

The key way in which Biographies and Autobiographies differ is in their Author.  A Biography is written about a person by someone else, while an Autobiography is written about a person by that person.

It should be noted in your Journal that both Biographies and Autobiographies provide essential information about their subject.

Documentary

You may be interested in writing a Documentary.  A Documentary is a movie, television, or radio program that provides a factual record or report.

You may want to check out the following link if you are interested in writing a Documentary...

TOP DOCUMENTARY FILMS

Searching your soul, and doing your research will help you to answer our question posed for today ~ What does being a Writer mean to you?

We'll see you in our next Blog Session Writer!

OUR NEXT BLOG SESSION:

About Poetry

Peace, Love & Light

By René Allen

©Copyright - René Allen - 2014-2018 - All Rights Reserved

How to Write a Memoir

How to Write a Memoir

BLOG SESSION

July 2017

Good Morning Writers ~ We're back today to talk about another area of writing that some of you may have considered and need further information about.  That specific area that we are going to discuss today is writing a Memoir.

The first question that will come to mind for those Writers that have never heard of the term, "Memoir", is what is it?

A Memoir is a narrative about your personal experience.

If you are wondering what on earth you could possibly write a memoir about, then here are a few ideas for you to write down in your Journal.  You can write a memoir about:

• A specific event that happened to you.
• A specific aspect of your life (for example, your relationship with your mother, your travel through Africa, your struggle to overcome a personal situation).
• A particular time period of your life.
• The impact on your own life of an outside event (for example, a war, an economic crisis, an unexpected death that affects your family, a life change due to the loss of a job, a fire that devastates your living arrangement.)

At this point in our Blog Session, if you have not reached for your Journal to take notes, please do because you will enjoy the following tips that you will gain from two memoirists.

Journal Notes

 

Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler are memoirists, teachers of memoir writing, and founders of the website: Womensmemoirs.com.  Their collective memoir, Rosie's Daughters: The "First Woman To" Generation Tells Its Story, won an IPPY National Book Award in 2008.

Both Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler were members of my Website back in the day when we were all on Gather.com, which is no longer in existence.  I am so very proud to see all that they have accomplished.

Both Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler were interviewed for the Website Creative Writing Now.  I believe you will find their entire Interview, which is in several parts, to be quite helpful if you are interested in learning more about writing a Memoir.

I'd like to highlight Part 2 of their Interview here in this Blog Session primarily because it gets into the topic of Journal Writing.  The following is an excerpt from the Website Creative Writing Now . . .

A Conversation with Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler:  Journaling and Writing a Memoir

Kendra: For many people, memoir comes out of their journaling, but that isn’t 100 percent.  Matilda and I, for example, are not journalers -- not for lack of respect or interest in the process, I just think I am not disciplined enough to do it.  I’m too busy doing other things during the day.  I don’t know, I don’t get to it. I respect people who do this, and I think they have a wonderful wealth of material to draw upon.

Matilda:  I think that Kendra’s raising the correct distinction there, which is that journaling is an ongoing daily process, and people who journal tend to have one time in the day that they always write.  Sometimes it’s when they first get up, and sometimes it’s late in the evening before they go to bed.  And they have a journal, they write the date, and then they maybe only write a few sentences; maybe if something bigger has happened, they will write several pages.  But it is a process almost of recording a life as it’s going by; whereas, memoir is always a sense of reflection.

For Part 1 of the Interview of Authors Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler, you can expect to find the following information . . .

What is a Memoir? Memoir Writing Interview Part 1

What is a memoir?  Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler discuss this question in Part One of the Interview about memoir writing.

Of Note:  Distinction between a memoir and an autobiography:

Interview of Matilda Butler:

First of all, I would like to make a distinction between memoir and autobiography, because everyone gets a little confused on that.  They really mean two quite different things, yet they are sometimes used interchangeably and it makes it really confusing.

An autobiography is the story of your life to date. It is usually chronologically based, and it starts with when you are young and all the things that happened to you along the way in your life.

Please visit the Website for the entire Part One Interview.  (Click the link)

Learn more about writing a Memoir by visiting

the Website Creative Writing Now

Friends & Writers until our next Blog Session ~

Keep working on those Novels!

Peace, Love & Light,

René

© Copyright - René Allen - JULY 2017 - All Rights Reserved