The Memoir Revolution

Tag: Trauma

November 16, 2017

Memoirs heal the moral injury of rape

Trauma

Jonathan Shay, Leona Stucky, Mennonite, Moral Injury, PTSD, rape, Theodicy, Trauma

In order to survive the corrosive effects of her soulful wounds, Stucky felt compelled to wrap the whole painful ordeal, including a lifetime of heroic seeking for sanity, into a literary container.

Written by

Jerry Waxler
November 12, 2014

Trauma Passed Through Generations Shared by Writing a Memoir

Author Interview, Judaism, Linda Appleman Shapiro

inda Appleman Shapiro, Jewish identity, Jewish immigrant, memoir, Trauma

Every aspect of having published my memoir is “satisfying, healing, and invigorating.” Though it took me many, many years to teach myself how to write, since I never allowed myself to consider writing creatively because my brother was a writer and that role had been taken in the family. . . I am now able…

Written by

Jerry Waxler
May 16, 2013

Interview with a Memoir Writer – Childhood with Traumatized Parents

Judy Mandel

interview, Judy Mandel, memoir, Replacement Child, Trauma

Judy Mandel: In fact, I had been very successful in pushing all the memories down so far that it was like an excavation to unearth them. I can’t explain why I felt compelled to keep doing that, like picking a scab. You know there will be blood, but somehow you feel it will heal faster…

Written by

Jerry Waxler
May 9, 2013

Turning a Tragedy into a Memoir of Becoming

Judy Mandel

Book Review, essay, family dynamics, Judy Mandel, memoir, post traumatic stress, Replacement Child, Trauma

Her whole life had been consumed, overwhelmed, overshadowed by the events of a few hours on that fateful day. By interspersing the horror of that day, bit by bit, throughout the telling of her memoir, she showed in a creative way how the suspense of that crashing plane kept grinding through her life like a…

Written by

Jerry Waxler
December 5, 2012

Interview: On Publishing the Memoir Breaking the Code

Karen Fisher Alaniz, Veteran

Alaniz, author, combat, Greatest Generation, interview, memoir, PTSD, Trauma, Veteran, WWII

When I do book events, there is definitely a good deal of teaching and encouraging others to write their own story. I’m passionate about that. We all think we’ll have more time to get our stories, or those of our loved ones, written down. But sadly, for some time runs out. My message is to…

Written by

Jerry Waxler
November 30, 2012

Turning Dad’s WWII Secrets Into a Memoir, Pt 3

Karen Fisher Alaniz, Veteran

Alaniz, author, combat, Greatest Generation, interview, memoir, PTSD, Trauma, Veteran, WWII

I was also getting encouragement from my critique group. Some of the ladies were little girls during the WWII years and they were a good barometer for how important the information in the letters was. Like everything with this book, the structure developed naturally. Once I’d written maybe 30-pages, I knew it was reading like…

Written by

Jerry Waxler
November 26, 2012

Birth of a Memoir: Turning Her Father’s Secrets Into a Story

Karen Fisher Alaniz, Veteran

Alaniz, author, combat, Greatest Generation, interview, memoir, PTSD, Trauma, Veteran, WWII

At this point, I wasn’t sure if this was a story I wanted to find a publisher for or if I wanted to simply write it and just have copies printed for my family. But I wasn’t thinking about that much. I just wanted to get it written down in the best form I could.

Written by

Jerry Waxler
November 13, 2012

Memoir Interview: Breaking into Her Father’s Secrets Pt 1

Karen Fisher Alaniz, Veteran

Alaniz, author, combat, Greatest Generation, interview, memoir, PTSD, Trauma, Veteran, WWII

But once the memories came to the surface, there just wasn’t a way to turn back. Every time I wanted to stop, or my resolve was challenged, something would put me back on track again. Some little step forward would be taken, or a tiny beam of light would shine on a new area.

Written by

Jerry Waxler
November 7, 2012

A Memoir About her Father’s Secret Pain

Family Memoirs, Veteran

combat, Greatest Generation, memoir, PTSD, Trauma, Veteran, WWII

Her father buried his memories so effectively over the years that the nightmares finally stopped. Then they were awakened by the terrifying events of the 2001 World Trade Center attacks. This is one of the important aspects of this memoir. Even though his trauma occurred more than a half of a century earlier, it was…

Written by

Jerry Waxler
July 20, 2012

Ten Things to Learn from a Combat Memoir, Part 2

Boys To Men, David Bellavia, Memoirs, Veteran

combat, David Bellavia, debriefing, healing, Iraq, memoir, military, story, Trauma, Veteran, write

I did not blame Bellavia for failing to resolve the problems of war. Instead, I accepted that he needed to find his own inner peace. Like William Manchester’s Pacific War memoir, “Goodbye Darkness,” the lesson seemed to be that he survived, that he was brave, and that somehow, someday, he would be able to get…

Written by

Jerry Waxler