Full disclosure: I knew I had this writing update coming up on the blog and that motivated me to FINALLY write some more in my memoir. So this update has a word count update.
After writing my last post where I admitted I haven’t really been reading, I realized that reading and writing are more connected for me than I realized. It’s something that you hear over and over again if you’re a writer: you must fuel your writing by reading. I always read that and thought: duh! However, I wasn’t really incorporating that idea into my life and it began to show.
Well, I’m here to say I’m reading again (read last week’s post to find out what I’m currently reading and will read next) so that definitely means I’m writing again! And in this writing update I want to review how I’m putting together my memoir and what that means for next steps.
I realized that because of blogging I had become kind of an essay writer. Because each blog post is kind of like a mini essay. I can write these mini essays/blog posts pretty quickly and in one stretch. So when I started to put together my memoir I continued to write like that. I had made an outline before I started writing my memoir so I knew what I needed to write to. This will probably (most definitely) make editing a dreary process but when I decided to compose my memoir this way I was just more concerned with actually generating the content.
I have been a procrastinator in life but especially as a writer and laying out my memoir by outline and then writing “essays” to topics I wanted to cover seemed like a plan that would have a higher percentage of success. So far it seems to be working. I may sing a different tune when I’m done writing and knee-deep in editing.
I had plans of writing a longer writing update but Mondays are two of my favorite holiday baking shows that I just HAVE to watch (Holiday Baking Championship and Christmas Cookie Challenge). So instead you get a short writing update with a word count!
And since this is a short update I’ll throw in a picture of @selbysweetie to sweeten this post!
Writing By Laura 
I created my memoir by taking individual blog posts that told the stories of my life and put them in an order that compelled continued reading (which surprisingly was not chronological). I wound up editing heavily, but that was more to even out the voice, to remove redundancies, to fact check myself. So the result is a book that you can pick up, flip to any chapter and read a stand-alone essay or you can start at the beginning and read through to the end. I’m very pleased with the result (but not necessarily the writing… I’ve improved a lot since then).
LikeLiked by 1 person
I thought of you when I was writing this update because I remember you saying you compiled your memoir similarly. All of my writing is about my accident recovery so it truly is a memoir in that sense (about a topic or time period instead of covering my whole life). The outline I put together is helping me write new content to topics. Editing will be a lot of getting rid of redundancy and evening out the tone (like you said). How long is yours?
LikeLike
It’s pretty short. The paperback is 150 pages. I can’t remember how many words. I’ve got a few lying around. If you send me your address, I’ll mail you one. jeff.t.cann@gmail.com.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was just curious. You certainly don’t have to send me your memoir (although I wouldn’t mind reading it). Is it sold anywhere? I’d rather you get the 💰!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well great but don’t feel forced. It’s fragments by Jeff Cann and it’s on Amazon. I don’t mind sending it though.
LikeLiked by 1 person