Comments on: Memoir Interview with 60′s Celebrity Dee Dee Phelps http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-interview-with-60s-celebrity-dee-dee-phelps/ Hundreds of Essays and Interviews to Help You Read and Write Memoirs Wed, 16 May 2012 03:25:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-interview-with-60s-celebrity-dee-dee-phelps/comment-page-1/#comment-4251 jerrywaxler Mon, 05 Jul 2010 12:33:24 +0000 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-interview-with-60s-celebrity-dee-dee-phelps/#comment-4251 Hi Mary, I checked out your blog. My goodness you have hurled yourself into the internet. Good work!! You have a lot to be proud of. If you feel pulled towards writing about your life, that in itself ought to be a sign that something is waiting there, some deeper insight and better method for sharing yourself. Memoir writing, like any creative project starts with the hankering. As for how to proceed, there are many steps, but yes, it does sound like a class or workshop would help. If your current writing group is not oriented around memoir writing, they are probably not geared up for such personal sharing. A memoir writing group is a wonderful thing - especially if you can find one that has an ethic about sticking to the writing. As you hear each others' lives develop on the page, you'll learn not only about your own life but about the life-writing process in general. Good luck with your writing. Jerry Hi Mary,

I checked out your blog. My goodness you have hurled yourself into the internet. Good work!! You have a lot to be proud of. If you feel pulled towards writing about your life, that in itself ought to be a sign that something is waiting there, some deeper insight and better method for sharing yourself. Memoir writing, like any creative project starts with the hankering. As for how to proceed, there are many steps, but yes, it does sound like a class or workshop would help. If your current writing group is not oriented around memoir writing, they are probably not geared up for such personal sharing. A memoir writing group is a wonderful thing – especially if you can find one that has an ethic about sticking to the writing. As you hear each others’ lives develop on the page, you’ll learn not only about your own life but about the life-writing process in general. Good luck with your writing.

Jerry

]]> By: Mary Claybon http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-interview-with-60s-celebrity-dee-dee-phelps/comment-page-1/#comment-4250 Mary Claybon Mon, 05 Jul 2010 12:14:03 +0000 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-interview-with-60s-celebrity-dee-dee-phelps/#comment-4250 Thank you for publishing this interview. It really helped me to think more about writing my memoir. I am 58 and have written non-fiction essays on health and wellness, poems and the closest I come to revealing any true feelings for the public is my chapter in a book in which my subject is authenticity. The memoir is my next step. I am wondering if I need to take some classes or attend a writing retreat. I do go to a writing group every Monday morning, but when I share my deeper work (memoir notes) I get very few comments, like it is too deep, not funny enough or something. Then I shrink and go back to sharing the pieces where I am not the subject. Just my thoughts-will continue to read the interview. Thanks again, Mary Thank you for publishing this interview. It really helped me to think more about writing my memoir. I am 58 and have written non-fiction essays on health and wellness, poems and the closest I come to revealing any true feelings for the public is my chapter in a book in which my subject is authenticity.
The memoir is my next step. I am wondering if I need to take some classes or attend a writing retreat. I do go to a writing group every Monday morning, but when I share my deeper work (memoir notes) I get very few comments, like it is too deep, not funny enough or something. Then I shrink and go back to sharing the pieces where I am not the subject.
Just my thoughts-will continue to read the interview.
Thanks again,
Mary

]]> By: ritergal http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-interview-with-60s-celebrity-dee-dee-phelps/comment-page-1/#comment-727 ritergal Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:02:19 +0000 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-interview-with-60s-celebrity-dee-dee-phelps/#comment-727 How intriguing that she is talking about minimizing emotion in memoir. I've read several memoirs lately in which the author does just that, sticks to showing without much personal interpretation. The consensus of the reading group I belong to is that these memoirs (i.e. "Glass Castle") evoke a lot of personal reaction in readers who have had similar experiences, but the authors seem, well, detached, like they were writing about someone else, or perhaps even making things up. Or, perhaps that they don't want to delve into things too deeply for their own reasons. There must be some middle ground to report enough personal involvement to sound credible and grounded in the story without spilling too many guts. Now I'm for sure going to have to read Dee Dee's book. How intriguing that she is talking about minimizing emotion in memoir. I’ve read several memoirs lately in which the author does just that, sticks to showing without much personal interpretation. The consensus of the reading group I belong to is that these memoirs (i.e. “Glass Castle”) evoke a lot of personal reaction in readers who have had similar experiences, but the authors seem, well, detached, like they were writing about someone else, or perhaps even making things up. Or, perhaps that they don’t want to delve into things too deeply for their own reasons.

There must be some middle ground to report enough personal involvement to sound credible and grounded in the story without spilling too many guts.

Now I’m for sure going to have to read Dee Dee’s book.

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