write your memoir in six months

When you decide to write a memoir, you begin a journey into the heart of who you are. You draw upon memories, desires, imagination, and story writing techniques to paint a picture of your life, or a portion of your life. You start down the long and winding path toward becoming a writer, and eventually a published author. Published author—yes! This is the goal of most memoir writers. You may want to learn from investigating your story, or even settle some old scores (internally and externally. But mostly, as a memoirist, you want to share your wisdom and what you learned in your life—if only you can get it done! That is the challenge.

As coaches and writers ourselves, we know that good, consistent writing emerges and blossoms in an environment of structure, accountability, and encouragement. These are the cornerstones of Write Your Memoir in Six Months. You and a cohort of eleven other memoirists will embark upon a journey together that will culminate in a draft of the book you’ve been wanting, needing, and longing to write. We treat the process of writing a memoir like the journey it is. You will encounter three stages—the excitement of getting started; the muddy middle where you may encounter a few snarls and saboteurs; and then there’s the long-range view to the end, when you’re weaving all the pieces together and the finish line is in sight.

Here are the five things we believe any memoirist needs for this journey:

Consistency—your body in front of the computer regularly.
Accountability—someone who’s expecting you to deliver on your commitment to yourself.
Goals—when you have goals, you’ll know when you reach them.
Guts—the sheer determination to write and write, consult, edit, rethink, and write some more.
Patience—it takes time, and so much patience, to write a book. But you can only do it one sentence at a time.