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November 29, 2016 8 Comments

#78: Your Best Material – The Practice of Remembering

Your Best Material - The Practice of Remembering (Episode 78: Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach)

This week I want to encourage you to dip into memories and memoir. Even though this veers from the more obvious platform series we’ve been in, it may, eventually, reveal more about who you are and what you want your platform to be about. I believe it’ll be time well spent.

Think back to an event that seems small, yet feels packed with emotion. You don’t have to fully understand it all. Just remember it. Something changed due to that event. It may have been subtle or seismic, but you emerged from it a different person.

When you remember and then write these scenes or episodes or events, you are exploring the territory of memoir even if you aren’t working on a long-form memoir project. As you compose these scenes from your past, you’ll learn from them. Future readers may, as well, if these end up as essays or poems that could be submitted, but that’s not the main reason to undertake this project. It’s about mining for material in your own mind. And none of these ever needs to be published. They are first and foremost for your own personal growth.

I wrote a short scene in this style that Tweetspeak Poetry published. It lives there under the Memoir Notebook category with the title “Writing the Fragile.” Click the link below to read it, or use the podcast player at the top of this page and listen to me read it.

Memoir Notebook: Writing the Fragile

This memoir project, however simple and short-lived it may be for you, can reveal more than you expect—you may not even realize the meaning of a piece until it’s completed.

I encourage you to write these scenes as a regular creative writing practice—the practice of remembering. Compose them in a private writing journal or memoir notebook. You will likely turn out some of your best, most interesting material.

More importantly, you’ll get to know yourself better. When you get the stories down, you can look at them, ponder them, and learn more and more about the writer—the person—you really are.

When you get the stories down, you can look at them, ponder them, and learn more and more about the writer—the person—you really are. (Ep78: Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach podcast)

Click on the podcast player above or use subscription options below to listen to the full episode.

Resources:

  • Memoir Notebook: Writing the Fragile

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Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: creative writing, creative writing exercise, memoir, memoir notebook, memories

Comments

  1. Jim Lamb says

    November 30, 2016 at 11:19 am

    Listened to Podcast #78. Dipped into my memory banks. Came up with this:

    https://medium.com/@jimlamb_18748/dipping-into-the-stream-of-lost-memories-78cf71cbc5fc#.ayqbln1di

    Reply
    • Ann Kroeker says

      December 2, 2016 at 9:37 pm

      Jim, I love your creativity!

      Reply
  2. Prasanta says

    December 2, 2016 at 9:21 pm

    I really love this idea. Thank you for sharing. What a poignant memory you share, as well.

    Reply
    • Ann Kroeker says

      December 2, 2016 at 9:37 pm

      Thank you for listening, reading, and commenting.

      Reply
  3. Lyli @3dlessons4life.com says

    December 6, 2016 at 4:39 pm

    Loved this, Ann!

    Reply
    • Ann Kroeker says

      December 6, 2016 at 6:03 pm

      I’m so glad!

      Reply
  4. Lori says

    December 20, 2016 at 7:56 pm

    What a memory! Felt like I was there. Couldn’t wait to see what was in the shell.

    Reply
    • Ann Kroeker says

      December 20, 2016 at 9:37 pm

      I only wish it could have been a living little duck.

      Reply

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