Do I have what it takes to write a memoir?

I read a lot of memoirs. Some are so badly written with tons of spelling and grammar mistakes, and a home made ebook cover that screams amateur, and other are well written but have no plot, no story arc, no thread holding them together. They’re simply a diary of events strung together to entertain, but do nothing to inspire or educate. I don’t want to write one of those.

I’ve contemplated writing a travel memoir for years—ever since I made a pact with my husband to start a five year plan to leave our corporate lives in Los Angeles and set up home in Greece. It took seventeen years to achieve the plan, and we ended up in Turkey, but even that wasn’t the end of the story. It’s taken another three years to find a rhythm and a balance in our new lives as digital nomads.

I just checked the Scrivener file for progress so far. I started Sugar Cubes Houses under a Mavi Sky (a working title only)  in 2013—five years after buying our house in Turkey, and I’ve written 15k words already. But I hit a wall, and am struggling to move the project forward and it’s been languishing in my virtual top drawer for years. 2020 is THE year to focus some attention on my half-finished memoir. I feel inspired to get it written, and then draw a line under it. Until then, it’s just going to be a thorn in my side. Constantly niggling in my subconscious to get finished.

Accountability through this diary

I thought I’d bring you along on this journey and capture my thoughts and ideas about writing a travel memoir. This isn’t going to be a diary of the memoir itself, but will focus on the writing, planning, and editing phases of writing a travel memoir.

Through this journey of discovery I’m going to come across books, blog posts, podcasts, and other authors who inspire me and whose ideas will help me get over the hurdles I face. And I’ll share these learnings and knowledge in the hopes of helping you get closer to your dream of becoming an travel memoir author.

Memoir Writing Research

I’ve downloaded a sheer plethora of memoir writing, creative nonfiction, and fiction writing books to help hone my memoir writing craft. These are all alien writing forms that I haven’t explored before. I’m a nonfiction girl. It’s what I love and enjoy, but not it’s time to dip my toe into other writing forms to help me get my travel memoir written, published, and selling.

I’m confident when it comes to writing nonfiction. I love the process of compiling information and then presenting it in such a way to make it easy to understand and digest. But when it comes to creating a memoir with a story arc and theme that’s a different animal to wrangle altogether.

Next Steps

So what are the next steps for my memoir?

I’m not starting from scratch, because I have 15k words written already, but I need to reset the way forward. There’s no point doing what I’ve been doing: faffing around with the sections I’ve written to fine-tune the spelling and grammar. I need to go back to basics and map out a plan of action.

There’s two types of writers – plotters and pantsers. I’ve been pantsing through my memoir: just writing with no idea of story, arc, flow, theme, or thread. So it’s time to become a plotter, and create a framework to work within.

If you’re on the same path, and want to write your memoir and are looking for some inspiration (or can provide some inspiration), please join in the conversation in the comments section below and lets get our memoirs written.

Currently Reading

UPDATE: I finished this book quickly. I was listening to the audio book via audible, and was multi-tasking while volunteering in France. It was a really enjoyable and engaging read. I loved that the author was also the narrator, and he has an easy and approachable speaking style. I loved this book. Maybe not a lot of actionable advice if you’re writing a memoir, but from an inspiration perspective – it was fabulous.

Theme	Characters	Plot