Every week, I speak to incredible people who have spent years—even decades—thinking about writing their memoir. I love helping them because it can be difficult to get started when there are so many other drains on our time.
Sometimes all we need is external accountability. Tell me if this sounds familiar. You’ve wanted to write your memoir for a long time, but every time you sit down to write, you realize you have no idea where to start. If that’s you, The Memoir Method program was designed specifically for you.
This nine-month group program will teach you how to organize your story for maximum impact, write vivid and visceral scenes that draw readers in, and publish a book you’re proud of. Head over to pageandpodium.com/memoir-method to learn more and sign up today.
Below, I discuss the six elements of our program that can help you determine if it’s the right choice for you.
Do you want to make the world a better place?
If you’re working with Page & Podium Press, you’re probably invested in making the world a better place. Different people tackle that in different ways. People who join The Memoir Method tend to be invested in race and gender equity. They also want to uplift their community.
Ask yourself, “Is one of my goals in writing this memoir to help others and make the world a more just, equitable, and joyful place?”
If the answer is yes, then you will meet many kindred spirits in The Memoir Method program. We want to make the world better.
Do you want to serve a specific community or group of people?
Everyone who joins The Memoir Method is thinking about service-oriented storytelling. When I say “service oriented,” I mean using your story to not only change the world, but to serve a specific group of people.
Here’s an example. One of our clients is in her seventies and was writing a book about what she learned from her childhood. She discovered that her mother had exercised a form of emotional abuse. In particular, her mother had depended on her for emotional fulfillment.
She grew up thinking what her mother did was normal. When she started to reflect, she noticed a lot of clues. Sometimes her mother kept her home from school because she felt lonely that day. At other times, her mother asked her to stop playing with her friends and spend more time with her. She was able to follow these breadcrumbs to make sense of what this all meant.
It had taken her decades to come to terms with what she’d been through. One reason why she wrote her memoir is because she didn’t want anyone else to go through that. She wanted to provide ready and accessible information, in story form, to help people recognize the emotional trauma they’d inherited from the behavior of their parents. That’s a service-oriented purpose.
When you hold on to the reason why you want to help people, it becomes a roadmap for your memoir. It helps you write it in a way that feels good and authentic. You can finish the book the way you want to finish it.
If you want your memoir to shine a light on something that other people are experiencing, then you’re a perfect fit for Page & Podium. Please reach out to me by DM or email to share your story.
Are you motivated and determined?
If you talk to anyone who has successfully written a memoir, they will tell you that it took them a lot of time and emotional work to get through certain scenes. Other scenes fly off the page. These tend to be the fun stories we tell all the time, and are much easier to write. However, every memoir will have at least a few scenes that cause us to struggle.
Let me give you an example. We had a client who came in with an entire outline and plan for how they wanted to lay out their book. Part of what we do in The Memoir Method is refine book outlines. I expected there would be some changes, but we moved forward with her preliminary outline because it’s good to have a place to start.
As we worked through The Memoir Method, our client realized that they had left out a major part of their life—their sister Sarah. Sarah had severe mental health issues. Our client had taken Sarah in and become her full-time caregiver. They didn’t feel it was their place to talk about their sibling, so they made an effort to keep Sarah out of the outline.
They soon realized that it wasn’t really protection for Sarah they were looking for. In fact, Sarah’s story was key to the lessons they’d learned in life. The reason they were avoiding talking about Sarah was that it was emotionally hard for them.
Fortunately, the story has a happy ending. They were able to add Sarah’s story in a way that served them both. Their memoir helped people recognize some of the early signs of mental illness in the people they love. It showed readers how they could find help and support when caring for family members with mental illnesses.
Writing that memoir also helped our client come to terms with their own perspective on life. If they had left Sarah out of the memoir, they would have missed that.
This story is the kind of thing that will derail you if you don’t have the motivation and determination to finish your book. One of the things we try to do in the Memoir Method is give you the support you need.
We provide group support in three ways:
- Weekly group calls.
- Weekly email check-ins. Similar to the group calls, these offer accountability and troubleshooting help.
- Access to our circle community. This allows you to connect with all of the other amazing women who are working on their memoir at the same time you are.
If you aren’t a self-motivated person, The Memoir Method group container may not be right for you. We want you to feel motivated and determined because we want you to finish writing your memoir, and we love to celebrate your results.
Are you a proficient writer?
I don’t expect you to already know how to write a book. In fact, if you already know how to do that, one-on-one coaching will be better for you.
We target first-time authors, but you should be doing some kind of regular writing. That could include blog posts, professional emails, or journaling, among other things.
If you’re not used to writing, it can be difficult to flip that switch. You may need more than what our group program can give you. The Memoir Method focuses on accountability, emotional support, insider knowledge of the industry, outlining, and how to compose a great scene or insert a flashback. We don’t have the space to provide basic writing and grammar coaching.
We want to make sure you feel comfortable putting words on the page. We can take the rest from there, but make sure you have some experience writing before you jump into the group container.
Are you curious about how the publishing industry works?
It’s rare that I speak to an aspiring memoirist who isn’t curious about the industry.
Our group program is very self-directed. You get to choose your path. Some people will decide to self-publish, some may aim for a literary agent, and others will want to publish under the Page & Podium imprint. The Memoir Method provides information and modules for all of those options.
If you’re not curious about the industry and want someone else to figure it out for you, this isn’t the program for you. We are looking for people who are independent, driven, and motivated.
Are you a community-oriented person?
I want to be clear: you do not have to be an extrovert. I am not an extrovert, and most of the people in this container are not extroverts.
You do need to be someone who feels comfortable sharing in a group and reaching out for help. We have a whole directory that you can use to connect with others and find your support pod within the larger group program.
When you get ready to publish your book, you will need endorsements from other authors. Our program ensures that you already have a community of people who know your story well. It makes my heart sing when we see a Memoir Method client’s book come out with a Memoir Method endorsement on the front cover.
If you feel like these six things fit you and you’re ready to finish your book, we’ve got a spot for you in the Memoir Method and I cannot wait to welcome you into our community.
The Memoir Method
Our program helps you organize your story for maximum impact. It shows you how to write in a way that feels easy, effortless, and natural, and that will give you the clarity you want about the meaning behind your experiences. It helps you develop scenes that are vivid, visceral, and engaging for your reader. It can also help you land a literary agent or publish the book of your dreams on your own.
When you join The Memoir Method program, you get a personalized one-on-one call to help you kickstart the process. You’ll get weekly support from two industry professionals with a combined total of thirty-two years of experience in the publishing world. We give you easy-to-follow templates, tricks, tips, and video trainings to make sure you always know what to do next. Our supportive community will gather around you, provide the accountability you need to move forward, and encourage, support, and celebrate your wins.
If this sounds like the program for you, head over to pageandpodium.com/memoir-method. You can sign up between now and January 25 to start with our February 1 cohort.
Happy writing!
