Writing By Laura

Since the beginning of February started my four months of writing my memoir (according to my Memoir Writing Planner that I developed, see below), I have decided to share with you where I’m at with my memoir and where I’m going. Because I don’t just want to “say” that I am going to finish writing my memoir in 2022, I actually want to “do” it! And accountability works for me and many others. So I am asking you readers of my blog to keep me honest and accountable when it comes to my memoir!

I have been participating in several online writing groups that I found through meetup.com. One of the groups is a weekly “Writing Accountability Group” that meets for an hour of writing weekly. It’s my participation in this group that has gotten me motivated, driven and focused on my goal of completing my memoir. This group also has me fully believing in the power of accountability (which is why I have appealed to you, dear blog reader, to help keep me accountable).

The other group I just started participating in is a Memoir Writing group. This group is more geared at helping you write more specifically. After participating in this group I came across an idea for my memoir. I plan to still keep to the outline I developed (I’m not throwing the baby out with the bath water) but I am adding a visual element to each chapter. The idea is that after my TBI I have been more visually artistic and so by starting each chapter with a visual (that I will then write about in the following chapter) I am naturally leaning into post-TBI Laura. This new development of developing a visual and writing around that should really help me move forward in developing a cohesive memoir. Because these next four months of writing are not just about word count, it’s completing something that will be a finished and marketable memoir. Maybe by adding in visuals I am separating myself from the pack of aspiring published memoirists. That isn’t necessarily the goal in adding visuals (I am just leaning into my natural inclinations).

You will notice in reading this blog that I love to make visuals. I started doing graphics for this blog and transitioned that into doing more artwork that I shared in the form of #CreativityForDays and then the #DailyDoodle. Creating art and visuals is therapeutic in how it’s different from creating the written word. My “visual memoir” idea is interesting because a good piece of writing is visual and by incorporating visuals I have to make sure everything matches in clarity and tone. I suppose it’s early days to say this is for sure the direction I am going in. It may change over these four months (“stay tuned” to find out)!

Monthly Feature of the Week: Book Recommendation “Dial A for Aunties” by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Full disclosure: I am actually still reading this book. I planned to have it done in time for this blog post but I unfortunately forgot to renew it from the library so had to wait to check it out again 🙊. The story is of a twenty-something Asian American woman who finds herself in a sticky situation and relying on the strong women who raised her to see her through. I chose this book because it seemed fun and silly and the interesting part of the story takes a turn in an unexpected situation. I look forward to finishing this book to see if there are more unexpected turns. I hope so.

#MemoirMonday Monthly Focus: Discussion of the Week- Write First Half of Memoir

Note: If you’re new to my blog, I am working on writing a memoir about recovering from a severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and coma that I experienced in September 2016. Each Monday (or really just each week) I focus on a different area of writing my memoir in a weekly blog post I call “#MemoirMonday.” You can read more about my memoir on my dedicated Memoir Monday page.

As you read in this post, you see that I am plowing head first into four months of writing for my memoir. I developed the Memoir Writing Planner to help focus me on particular tasks at particular times. I also am looking forward to four months of writing instead of the month-long crash course that is NaNoWriMo.

Daily Doodle Weekly Projects

A Selby Sweetie Conclusion