Ways to Practice Your Craft

This year my family celebrated their 62nd annual reunion. The events take place in different states and this year the gathering took place in Michigan. Each year, as part of the fun, a souvenir book with a schedule of activities and family milestones was distributed to each participant. As chairperson of the hosting committee, I combined my love of writing and joy in researching genealogy in a special section of the souvenir book.

I solicited help from my sister who interviewed several cousins about past reunions. Her son took photos of Detroit and my husband edited my finished work. I’m still receiving positive comments about the book.

I now return to my fiction writing with the idea in the back of my head of writing a longer memoir. But first I have to decide if there would be interest in the story outside of my extended family.

How would a writer decide what would be of interest to readers of memoirs? Does the story have to be about surviving catastrophic events? Does the memoir have to take place during turbulent times? Or can the memoir relate the everyday events in the lives of several generations and how they stay connected?

What type of memoir holds your interest?

 

 

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