series tag
Some memoirs and family histories will appeal to a wider audience and be appropriate for traditional publishing. If your story falls into that category, this installment won’t apply to you. Since the percentage of personal and family stories that are published by conventional publishers is small, I will focus on self-publishing and subsidy publishing in … Read more
Memoirists and family historians are not necessarily experienced writers, and they often don’t realize how many drafts it takes to achieve a finished product. The first draft will be “pure green dreck.” Start writing, and expect that you will re-write … and re-write … and re-write. But get the first draft written first. Here are … Read more
You’ve decided whether you’re going to write a memoir or a family history, the scope of the story (some aspect of your own life or a certain group of ancestors), and the genre (nonfiction or fiction). Now you need to determine your audience. In Leaving a Legacy, I said that most memoirs and family histories … Read more
A family history tells the story of people in your family. Most people who write family histories start out doing genealogical research. After they gather all that information, they want to share it with other family members. I’m not going to talk about genealogical and historical research in this series—the subject is far too broad, … Read more
As mentioned in Part 1, the term memoir can cover many types of writing. Usually a memoir is focused on one aspect of the author’s life. Perhaps you lived through an important historical event, and you want to share how that event affected your life. Maybe you overcame a problem, such as illness or abuse … Read more
This is the first installment in a series about writing memoirs and family histories. A couple of months ago, I asked readers to take a short survey on what they would like to see on this blog. Most of the responses were split about 50-50; half of the respondents liked something, and the other half … Read more
Healing Miracles Part 1 Healing Miracles Part 2 About three years ago, I was late to church and had to sit a few rows from the back. I always sat in the back pew to be prepared to make a hasty exit if I start jumping as well as to avoid distracting other people as … Read more
Healing Miracles Part 1 Six years ago this past June, Jack and I drove to Blanco, a small town about an hour’s drive from San Antonio, for dinner with friends to celebrate my birthday. We had a lovely dinner and visit with our friends and were enjoying the trip home in quiet companionship. Suddenly my left … Read more
I’ve had osteoarthritis for years, especially in my left knee. A few days before Christmas, I tripped and fell, landing on my right knee on the concrete floor. I was able to get up and move around with only mild pain and a little bruising. However, the pain continued to worsen. By the day after … Read more
Phil Davis of Authors on the Net interviewed me on a podcast about my blog book tour and the results summarized in my report. Phil and I discussed blog book tours on the podcast, which is no longer available.