Month: August 2021

My storytelling friend Barbara Tien over at Ponga.com (more about that soon) asked an excellent question recently,

What’s your road?

This thought keeps swimming around in my head like a bowl-bound goldfish! Yes, there’s lots of thoughts up there, but space to move around too. Although I responded briefly in the moment, her question deserves more time. It’s actually an ideal prompt to write a chapter in your family history or memoir and hone your storytelling skills all at the same time.  
 
As I prepare to launch the Fast Track Your Memoir group coaching program in just a few days I’ve been thinking a lot about our journeys to share our stories. We all have roads in our lives. 

• Some traipse through the woods
• Some are high speed interstates speeding us to our destination
• Some are rocky and rutted dirt paths
• Others…aren’t roads at all

My road isn’t paved, it is a narrow, winding rock trail leading up into the Organ Mountains a few miles above the high desert in southern New Mexico. My father first traveled this path with me on horseback almost 50 years ago. He rode a mellow tempered dun mare, me trotting double time right behind him on a choppy little black pony named Thunder.

Dad adored the outdoors and loved sharing it with others, introducing them to the glory of creation and teaching them to see better, to fish, to really observe the world around them. He was a skilled photographer and passed along this love for visual storytelling. My siblings and I were the recipients of this life wisdom and it shaped us all in a myriad of positive ways.

We are resilient.
We are observant.
We appreciate the beauty of shape and form.
We listen well.
We’ve been taught to look deeper.
We are strong.

Dad passed away a couple years ago but I hear his voice and see that encouraging lop-sided grin whenever I walk these trails. My heart hears the sharp ring of horses’ hooves on the granite trail behind me as I gaze out over the valley, sharp peaks soaring into the cool morning at my back. Dad loved a good story and passed this passion along to me.

We’ve all said it. “I wish I’d have done or said ‘X’” We wish we’d talked to our families, we wish we’d said “yes” to that opportunity to spend more time together. We wish we’d asked about their stories or their memories. We wish we’d flipped through those family photos one more time and truly listened.

I for one don’t want to live with regrets. Now is the time, listen, look at the photos, pay attention to the stories, ask for the memories and cherish the stories.

Are you ready to make a shift and stop struggling to write your memoir yourself? It’s far easier to do this with the support and guidance of others. I’m counting down the days until launching the pilot program I mentioned in an earlier email. If you missed it, shoot me an email at karen@rememberingthetime and I’ll fill you in on the details. The Fast Track Your Memoir group coaching program is filling up fast. There are just a few spots left, once they’re gone you’ll have missed your chance to get in on the ground floor and make serious, guided progress with your story.

I’d love to help you, don’t stay stuck. Join with a friend and take advantage of a buddy discount, ask me how! Hope to see you on the inside!

Karen

It’s all over the news, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, is writing his memoir. There might be many reasons you’ll be inclined to pick up a copy; fascination with royal lives, curiosity about the real story, wondering if his writing is any good, or dying to know what myths he’ll dispel. Whatever your reason for reading, His Royal Highness, Prince of England is doing something well within reach of anyone. However, it’s a dream most folks push off to that elusive “someday”.

The Prince’s publisher, Penguin Random House, has said the book “will share, for the very first time, the definitive account of the experiences, adventures, losses and life lessons that have helped shape him.”

Harry’s upcoming book will cover his entire life. This is fitting, for of course if he left anything out there would be an outcry, “but what about…?”. You, however, have complete latitude to choose how you want to focus your memoir. Like Harry and many others, you could choose to cover the experiences and memories of a lifetime. Or you could choose a theme or even a single event that transformed you. 

Many memoirs have been written with a narrow subject focus or time frame.

Question – Have you had experiences? What about adventures? I’m sure you have lived through losses, successes, and a myriad of life lessons that have shaped you into the unique human being you are today. In your circle  of family and friends, you are of immeasurably more interest than royalty, as charming as you may find this particular prince.

There will be those who will be kind in their opinion of Prince Harry’s writing; there are those who will be brutal. But  remember that Harry is a fellow human with a story to tell from his own perspective. He is the one who lived it. So too, with your memoir or family history, this is what you experienced from your own point of view. A family member may remember things differently, but they can write their own book, this one is yours.

Like Harry, your “intimate and heartfelt” memoir can be cherished by your family and friends. You can bet both you and they will appreciate this much more now instead of waiting till your funeral when all the good stories are shared. You won’t even be there to enjoy it! 

Do you dream about turning those stories hiding in your heart and mind into a book? Let’s get your words out of fairytale status and into the real world where they can be enjoyed. Are you ready?

Here’s a fun challenge: Prince Harry’s memoir is expected to be published in  late 2022. Get the jump on his big release by writing your own!

You can have your story written and published, holding your own copies ready to be signed, before

the royal buzz hits the castle.