Memoirs and those who write them

I have fallen behind with posting on my blogs.

Teaching two classes each week on Zoom is keeping me very busy. I work at making the sessions new and interesting for my students so I spend hours making my lesson plans. With beginning writers, I don't want them to feel overwhelmed so I make sure to keep that in mind.

One student said, "There is so much to learn. I didn't know there would be so much information to take in."

He reminded me of the beginning writer I was in 1995 when I took my first writing class with Nancy Simpson who would become my mentor and friend. I took classes from Nancy for years and while I heard some things over and over, I realize that I needed to hear them over and over. That is how I learned.

No matter if we are filled with a natural talent for any kind of art, we still must learn the craft of making our art appeal to others. We must learn about paints and brushes, about the tools that help create our images, and all the tips we can only learn from an accomplished artist if we want to be a very good painter.

The same is true for writers. We must learn how to put the words on the screen or on paper in such a way that readers will be enthralled by our stories, feel they are in the scenes, or hearing the characters we want them to know.

Many of my students never planned to be writers, but they want to leave a legacy for future generations of their families. They want their grandchildren to know what life was like sixty or seventy years ago.

My responsibility is to prod their memories and help them remember the little things, the details that bring the past alive. My students are not likely to write a best-selling book for the public, but their motivation is to leave part of themselves for the people who come after them.

Having compiled a family history with true-life stories of my ancestors and my siblings, I know the joy of having family tell me they want my book or tell me how much they enjoyed the book. After all these years, I still get orders from distant relatives who want to read about their family history.

Profiles and Pedigrees, The Descendants of Thomas Charles Council

1858 - 1911

I began working on that book ten years before it was finished. I combined my interest in genealogy with my love of writing a good story and created a blue, hard-backed book that will be in my family for generations to come. It is filled with photos of family. I even have a picture of my great grandfather, John Cecil Council, my great grandfather John Monroe Robison and my grandfather, William Henry Robison, and his wife, Lula Jones Robison. The main characters in this book, however, are Tom Council and his family of ten children. These children became my father, my uncles, and aunts. Most of them had died when I began my research, but I know my cousins who contributed much of the history of their families, loved the book.

I hope my students will discover the satisfaction of writing their life stories and the joy of passing them on to their loved ones. 

Everyone has a story, an individual unique story no one else can tell. How many of my readers have written about their past? Perhaps you don't have children or grandchildren and you don't feel the need to tell your story. But someone would enjoy hearing about the place where you grew up, the family you remember, and the ups and downs of your life. We all enjoy a good story. 

I urge my students to first, entertain their readers. But they should inform by making sure the facts are correct and be sure to enlighten the readers with new information the reader has never heard.

Read any good memoirs lately? I can recommend two. One is the life of Jimmy Carter and was written after he hit ninety. The other is the latest book by Barack Obama. I listened to it on Audible and it was even better because he read the book.

I love to hear from you and maybe one day you will take a class in writing if you aren't already a writer. With Zoom everyone can register for classes and take them at home in front of their own computer. 

Take care and get vaccinated for COVID. I have had both my shots and had no reactions other than an itchy arm for a day or two. Even those who had a 24 hour reaction say it is much better than having the virus and much, much better than dying from the virus.

Find my books here.