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A Twenty Dollar Memory from “Back in the Day”

10/17/2012 By Leave a Comment
Memories of a Twenty

“Back in the day” is a phrase commonly bounced around nowadays, even from younger people who weren’t around “back in the day.”  I think they must be absorbing the common thoughts of their parents and the community overall, who can’t fathom how the cost of simply living is escalating out of control and out of reach for too many people. Many of us remember, and it seems like yesterday, when a $20 bill did mean something. It actually bought groceries that today would tally up to a grand total of $150, easy. Okay, we might say, “It is what it is.”  What does that phrase mean? Perhaps it amounts to a giving up of sorts—nothing we can do about it since “it is what it is,” so that amounts to acceptance of  things or feelings that we don’t think we can do anything about. But what if a $20 bill you thought was there, wasn’t? The following is a deeply ingrained memory of an incident I witnessed happening to my mother.  It’s not a Mother Memoir; the Mother

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Pot O’ Gold at Rainbow’s End: TELLTALE SOULS Bio-Vignette No. 3

10/05/2012 By Leave a Comment
Little Dana waiting on the porch, again.

As promised, I'm bringing you another story excerpt from my guidebook, TellTale Souls Writing the Mother Memoir: How to Tap Memory and Write Your Story Capturing Character & Spirit.  It begins on page 51 of Act Two in the section entitled “Taking yourself back in time.” To find stories I've posted from the book, search "Bio-Vignette No. 1," then simply scroll to read more telling tales. Continue to delve into the memories that come up for you during reflective times, day dreaming, or when they pop up out of the blue as you go about your day. It’s your job to extract meaning from particularly revealing and intense mo­ments. The next exercise, a couple pages forward, involves answering deep ques­tions about the meaning behind memories. It’s both interesting and informative, but you may want to skip it for now and come back to it after your story is near completion. My sister Dana found it worked better for her to look for the meaning later. I asked her to explain:

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Best Reading Group Picks for 2012, Bar None

09/28/2012 By Leave a Comment

Great Group Read Selections 2012 list of powerful books was just released, and I am thrilled to share it with you.  As past president of Women’s National Book Association-San Francisco Chapter,  I’ve had a hand in the selections, as well as helping to foster awareness of our annual signature event, National Reading Group Month, to be held this year on October 6th from 2-4 p.m. at Books Inc, Opera Plaza, San Francisco.  And we’re showcasing two of the authors whose books made the list: Anita Amirrezvani, Equal of the Sun. From the author of the internationally bestselling The Blood of Flowers comes a compulsively readable and gorgeously crafted tale of power, loyalty, intrigue, and love in the royal court of sixteenth-century Iran. Simon & Schuster, Release: June 5, 2012. Selected for 2012 Great Group Reads. I wrote a short review of Anita Amirrezvani's Equal of the Sun, which you can read by clicking on the title. Amanda Coplin, The Orchardist. A debut novel,

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French Kiss Sows Seeds of Inspiration: TELLTALE SOULS Bio-Vignette No. 2

09/17/2012 By Leave a Comment
Kissing the Foxy French Cheek!

The Story Woman brings you a second bio-vigette today out of the 42 stories alive on the pages of the guidebook, TellTale Souls Writing the Mother Memoir: How to Tap Memory and Write Your Story Capturing Character & Spirit.  To read the first story from the book posted on this blog, click here to read My Mother's Song. Finding Inspiration The seeds of inspiration are sown by ordinary writers of the Mother Memoir and reaped by readers, who relish the connections found in small flashes of detail and description through which they find connection. I wrote the following story, “The French Lesson,” about my best friend’s mother, who was like a second mother to me in many respects while growing up. As you read the story take note of words, phrases, depictions of character and setting, and anything else that stands out for you. If something you read rings a memory bell or hits a nerve, take that as a sign you have a similar personal memory itching to get out. The French

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Nonfiction Writers’ Best Chance to Change the World

09/08/2012 By 2 Comments
SF Skyline

It’s been my passion for over a decade to teach the art and craft of writing "Mother Memoir." The power daughters and sons discover when writing “just one small story that captures mother’s character to keep her spirit alive”  provides the foundation every writer needs before writing nonfiction or fiction.  Perceptions change as connection and understanding unfold when “TellTale Souls” look at MOM from the inside out and write their bio-vignettes as only they can.   Stories do change the way people think. Spend a day at the San Francisco Writing for Change Conference and discover whether your book can change the world. The Conference Will Your Book be The One to Change The World? San Francisco Writing for Change Conference Saturday, September 15th, 2012 8:15 am – 5:30 pm First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco 1187 Franklin Street (at Geary), San Francisco, CA The Writing for Change Conference is devoted to bringing together agents,

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Now Airing – The Bookcast Interview Conducted by Bill Thompson: TellTale Souls Write

09/04/2012 By 2 Comments
Woman in Creative Thought

I had such fun doing an interview on the art and craft of TellTale Souls Writing the Mother Memoir yesterday with a real pro, veteran author interviewer Bill Thompson on The Bookcast.  Rather than read a blog post from me today,  I invite you to click here and  listen to the interview. Then take it from there and write your Mother Memoir.  (Mom's worth it!) Connecting, understanding, and the honoring of the relationship, whether it was good or not so good or even horrible will be rewarding, I promise. Who is she, your mother, deep down inside? How will she be remembered? Why does it matter? The Mother Memoir is achieved in just a few pages by answering my seminal question: "If you could tell just one small story that would capture your mother's character and keep her spirit alive for future generations, what would it be?" You will find thoughtful prompts, intriguing exercises, and over 40 stories written by TellTale Souls who have walked this path before

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One Woman’s Story Captured in a Song: TELLTALE SOULS Bio-Vignette No. 1

08/28/2012 By 2 Comments
Voicing Spirit

  It’s high time to share some stories with you on The Story Woman blog, starting with “My Mother’s Song.” Before scrolling down to read Karen’s Mother Memoir, I thought a little background would make sense. Forty-some short, true stories (bio-vignettes) have been woven throughout the thoughtful prompts and intriguing exercises in my recently published,  award-winning guidebook, TellTale Souls Writing the Mother Memoir: How to Tap Memory and Write Your Story Capturing Character & Spirit. Each story was placed just so in the book to serve as an example for a point I'm making as daughters and sons take the journey into Tapping Memory & Writing Mother Memoir. To find more stories I've posted from the book, search "Bio-Vignette No. 1," then simply scroll to read more telling tales. Karen’s telling tale is the first bio-vignette in the TellTale Souls book. It follows a paragraph concluding a section I wrote about the significance of persistent

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Win the TellTale Souls Writing the Mother Memoir Guidebook at Hibiscus House

08/17/2012 By Leave a Comment
Dolly's Hibiscus House

Hibiscus House is giving you the chance to WIN my award-winning guidebook, TellTale Souls Writing the Mother Memoir: How to Tap Memory and Write Your Story Capturing Character & Spirit, just for stopping by and saying hello. What a treat! Dolly invited TellTale Souls and me into Hibiscus House as honored guests for an entire week.  Now, that’s southern hospitality at its finest. The only catch was she wanted me to inspire her friends to write from their hearts short, true tales called Mother Memoir, so they, too, would become TellTale Souls. Since showing people how to write creative memoir is my passion, and the fact that on a moment’s notice I'll  roll out TellTale Souls Method’s unique technique on how to Tap Memory and Write Your Memoir Capturing Character & Spirit, we settled in for an adventure. Everyday is an adventure with Dolly at Hibiscus House. As you can see from the photo, Dolly’s house is a beautiful place in the country, complete with wildlife

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Princess Pari and Eunuch Javaher Battle for the Throne in Old Iran: Equal of the Sun

08/15/2012 By Leave a Comment
Equal of the Sun

Equal of the Sun, Anita Amirrezvani I was fortunate to have the opportunity last spring to read an advance copy of Anita Amirrezvani’s historical novel, Equal of the Sun. I was so enthralled by this exotic story set in seventeenth-century Iran that I couldn't put it down. Yes, this is fiction at its finest. Bound to become a bestseller. For every writer, this book is a place where a master storyteller shows you how to make characters come alive in stunning detail, as Amirrezvani weaves an undeniably engrossing tale. Amirrezvani's impressive writing moves through a fast-paced and fascinating story of struggle for the throne of Iran. When the Shah’s daughter and protégé Princess Pari and her trusted advisor Javaher, a self-made eunuch, learn of her beloved father’s death, a battle of epic proportions begins. Pari and Javaher confront a court of unscrupulous men, who lust for power at any cost, to stake out a place for her, a mere woman, in the fiery tapestry of old

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Show Your Feelings – Make Us Bleed for You

08/07/2012 By Leave a Comment
Wicked-Step-Mother

The dead center, the very heart of your story, needs to compel connection through feelings. The sustaining element behind your Mother Memoir must depict how the memories you're taking the time to write about make you feel and why. There is no story without memory. And what is a memory without feeling? Well before you start to write, put thought into how you will allow your story to take shape and become a piece that captures your mother’s character and spirit on an emotional plane. Think about what you need to bring into the story so that it will hold its shape and compel not just reading but connection through shared feelings (the reader linking emotionally to your feelings). One way to begin is to realize that you will start to build your memoir with memories of significance to place as the focal point of your story. The specific idea behind each memory can be thought of as a building block or brick, and what holds those bricks together is the mortar. From my point of

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