A memoir is my version of events. My perspective. - Isabelle Allende

My Story

Today is the day you select the story you are going to commit to write. (This is just the first story of many!) I want you to select a story that is manageable. Manageable stories cover a shorter period of time (like one decade or less). Manageable stories are about overcoming things, but not our worst things (like finding your voice, not writing about extreme early abuse). 

As we work through the next 10 days, you will continue to refine the scope of this story. Where is starts and where it ends will move around. Who and what is included is still unknown. All you need to do is find one phrase or sentence like, "I'm writing about how I got lost in my marriage and found myself again when I was forced to go back to work" or, "I'm going to write about how I finally forgave my mother for leaving us as children when I was 72 years old."

See how these are still not perfectly clear? Yours doesn't have to be either. Right now, we just need a sentence, phrase, topic or era. The rest of the work will be done over the next ten days (and beyond!).

• Go to your StoryList notebook
• Read through your entire list.
• Draw an X next to any stories that seem TOO LARGE or LONG
• Draw and X next to any stories that seem TOO PAINFUL
• Of the stories that remain, circle the three that appeal to you most. Pray, mediate, dream on which of those you feel ready to write.
• Write a brief phrase or sentence that describes what you are going to write about.
• Commit to this story topic for the short term. (You will write the others later!)

Most memoir writers will tell you that the hardest part of writing a memoir isn't what to include, but what to leave out. --Kathleen Flinn