JUMP-START YOUR MEMOIR WRITING “The minute you decide to write about your life, the faucet turns on,” says memoir writer and teacher Sara Mansfield Taber of Silver Spring. “You’ll remember more than you think you will.” For those who find themselves struggling to get started or at an impasse, there are ways to prompt one’s memory.
Harness your senses: eat food from your childhood, take a whiff of your mother’s perfume, wear your father’s hat or listen to some music you grew up with
Read old letters, notes or holiday cards
Look through photo albums
Visit someplace special, such as a park, a house of worship, a restaurant, a beach, a school or a former residence
Watch an episode of a nostalgic television show
Read a favorite poem or story from your youth
Memories can be fleeting, so Taber suggests capturing them on index cards. You can organize the cards chronologically or thematically. “Put just one memory on a card and when you have time to write, pluck out a card and expand on it,” she says. Another way to jump-start your writing is to make lists. For example, choose a year in your life and record the basics— how old you were, where you were living and any important thing that happened to you or your family at that time. Alternatively, select someone or something meaningful in your life and jot down the highlights. You can track things over time, such as holiday gettogethers, vacations, hospital visits and weddings. For those who can’t get started on their own, help is available in the form of writing classes. Area community colleges and The Writer’s Center in Bethesda routinely offer workshops designed to assist the aspiring memoir writer. -KAREN FINUCAN CLARKSON
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36 Gazette SENIORS | May 2012
Students—including Charlie Abell (far left), who has tales to tell about his career in aviation—review a handout during a weekly memoir writing class in Frederick. MEMOIRS, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11
decide what to put into print or make public.When writing, write the truth. Act as if no one will ever see it. Later, decide what to expose to the open air.” There are ways of protecting loved ones.“You can decide to write fiction and disguise it that way,” says Taber, “or wait to publish until your parents are gone.” Some, despite the potential for discomfort, choose to share their manu-
script. They decide that “the good it will do to others who have experienced similar pain outweighs the problems it will cause the family in the short term,” says Taber. Even if your memoir contains nothing controversial, don’t expect everyone to embrace it. “Some may take issue with your account,” says Sandage. “None of us remembers the same thing in the same way. Remember that this is your story. If someone objects to what’s written, he can tell his story.”