Did you know that scientists over the last several decades have demonstrated that writing helps your physical health? Different studies have shown that writing can have the following effects on your health: Decrease the heart rate Strengthen the immune system Lower blood pressure Manage stress Enhance breathing Here are three important principles for how to ... Read More >>
When I first read Denise Jaden's book Fast Fiction: A Guide to Outlining and Writing a First-Draft Novel in Thirty Days (her ideas can be used for writing memoir and creative non-fiction too!) and then interviewed her for an IAJW telechat (you can find this recording in the Audio Library, Member Only Area), I was fascinated ... Read More >>
It started with a journal, a small 6" x 9" notebook that I held in my terrified hands as I sat on the cement steps of what was called "a garden apartment" in central New Jersey. It was summer and eternally too hot, my parents were in the middle of a horrendous divorce, my best ... Read More >>
Writing your family memoir is like dusting for fingerprints. You leave behind almost invisible fingerprints when you touch anything--refrigerator door handles, light switches, drinking glasses. Detectives know how to carefully coat these unseen marks with a fine powder and then use a camel hair brush to gently remove the excess powder so the fingerprints appear. ... Read More >>
Creative non-fiction, which includes personal essays and memoir, is a relatively new writing genre that is sweeping the writing world. In creative non-fiction, readers learn via a story narrative, rather than through the expository writing style that you might find in a textbook. Personal essays and memoir are tethered to the facts of your life. ... Read More >>