Writing By Laura

Perhaps titling this post “MAYDAY” and saying that I was reaching CRISIS MODE in writing my memoir was a tad dramatic. Truthfully I was just going for the play on “mayday” and the first blog post of May of this year. I plan to talk about how my well-intentioned “memoir writing planner” has all but been scrapped since I am so far off-track. However, I am still actively and successfully plodding away on writing my memoir. So “mayday” and “crisis mode” are definitely dramatic. But I got your attention, didn’t I? If your patience isn’t totally kaput, I ask you to stick with me for the rest of this blog. I promise good things are ahead, like: a hopeful memoir update, a short book review, some pictures of Daily Doodles… and of course cute pictures of my dog Selby!

No Crisis Here, Really: A Hopeful Memoir Update

Even though I invoked the words “mayday” and “crisis mode” when talking about writing my memoir I am really more hopeful than that. The “crisis mode” is that I need to reconfigure my “Memoir Writing Planner” that I had laid out at the start of this year. See below for the original planner that I created in January of this year.

After looking at the work I have yet to do and the compressed timeline I was attempting, I am instead stretching the timeline into 2023 and pushing things out a little to allow for the fact that I am still writing the first half in May when my original timeline had me finishing the second half in May. So, below see my Revised Memoir Writing Planner.

Honestly I am still incredibly hopeful that I can follow this new plan in order to achieve my goal of finishing my memoir in early 2023. Truthfully there are a lot of aspects to getting my book published that I haven’t thought much of. For example, I know I have to write a query letter that I will send to agents and presses. I also know that I need to write a book proposal as oftentimes in memoir you’re focusing more on those two things in the beginning while you’re trying to get represented and published. However, I know me. And that’s why I am writing the whole thing before moving on to querying and proposals. In the past, I was very good at procrastinating and putting my writing and creativity last. So I could see getting wrapped up in writing a query letter and book proposal and then not put enough effort behind the actual writing of the book. As it is in my new planner, I will have time to work on a query letter and book proposal when my Beta Readers are reading the draft in November and December.

Like I said, I am still incredibly hopeful but also DRIVEN! I know I want to finish this. A few months ago I was talking to a fellow blogger/memoirist about the process she had just gone through to eventually get her book published (she succeeded and it will be coming out in 2023). She said something to me that just confirmed I was going about all this effort for the right reasons. She said, (and I’m paraphrasing) “know if you are writing your memoir to write it and get your story out there and not care about greater success.” I nodded and realized that I am writing my memoir for the same reason that I write these blogs: to tell my story and because I LOVE writing. Yes, my path to being a writer hasn’t been direct because I took a 15 year detour in marketing and a 7 year detour in graduate school. However, I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A WRITER. Just like Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” I have had the power all along.

A Short Book Review of “Burn Down The Ground: A Memoir” by Kambri Crews

Since April of last year I have been running an almost monthly book club through my local hearing loss group. We meet on Zoom and therefore we have people join us from all over the country and we have had several authors and special guests join us. For April we discussed “Burn Down The Ground: A Memoir” By Kambri Crews and we had the author join us for our book club. The memoir is about her experience as a Child of Deaf Adults (CODA). I highly recommend this book as she does a great job telling stories from her childhood and life that reflect her upbringing as a CODA. She also intersperses more present day (the book was published in 2012) with stories of visiting her father in prison. Her father was sentenced to 20 years in prison after Kambri was grown and living away from home.

After having seen the Academy Award-winning movie “CODA,” this year I appreciated learning about a real life CODA experience. While I enjoyed “CODA” it featured a lot of music (my brain injury-related hearing loss and distortions make music an uncomfortable and confusing experience for me) so I appreciate reading about it and the fact Crews didn’t rely on tropes. You can check out the book on Amazon and check out Kambri Crews’s website.

Daily Doodles of the Week

I am still horribly behind on my “Daily Doodle” drawings. However, in hopes of not getting further behind I have started up the daily habit again and am also doing several “catch up” doodles a day. Here are some.

A Selby Sweetie and Friends Conclusion