Exploring the Inner Self in Memoir

Santa puts the tinsel on the tree!

I need to show my hard-won epiphanies through self-reflection.  I need to present my memoir in ways to allow readers to enter upon the college journey.  I went to college as a mother of five, but that journey needs to be more than just a collection of experiences at college and at home with my family as I struggled to keep up with my studies, struggled to comprehend new subject material, struggled to discover a new Victoria Marie.

I must explore the inner self, reflect upon it, so that my reader can identify with me.  This sounds like the inner dialogue, which I’m incorporating into my memoir manuscript.  But through inner dialogue, the memoirist needs to discover something about herself, through reliving the experiences, the struggles.
In the throes of my second revision of the college memoir, I discover courage.  It took courage to attend each class.  Courage to believe in myself though surrounded with doubts and inadequacy, embarrassment.  Courage to face my fear of failure.  Courage to face the fear of success, for in success comes opportunity.  Opportunity changes lives. 
I would never be the same after my adventures through college.  And neither would my family.  It took a whole family to get this mother through college.     
I need to craft these discoveries into well-stated epiphanies/themes and then be sure that they resonate throughout the memoir.  Through specific details, the memoirist can achieve universality. 

There’s my timer again.  My home smells of cinnamon and honey.  Time to take the Amish friendship breads out of the oven.  Time to share the smells of Christmas with family, neighbors and friends.  May your Christmas be filled with the treasure of family and friends and may you all achieve success in 2015.  Thanks for stopping by Adventures in Writing.

11 thoughts on “Exploring the Inner Self in Memoir”

  1. Hello Victoria! Thank you so much for your two comments on my bog! I will be back to read yours just as soon as I can. I'm always happy to meet new friends through blogging, especially writer ones! I hope to post much more often this year than I did last. I'm your new follower, too.

    Reply
  2. Welcome, Becky! Thank you so much for stopping by my Adventures in Writing blog. I'm happy to meet new friends through the blogosphere, too. Like you, I hope to post more often in 2015. I have 2 blogs because I thought in the beginning that blogs needed to be mono-subject. My other blog: http://campingwithfivekids.blogspot.com, is about my family's camping adventures and what we have learned. Again, thank you for visiting my Adventures in Writing blog. Happy New Year!

    Reply
  3. Thank you, Michelle. Yes, I had a wonderful holiday full of family and friends. I hope you holiday was filled with happiness as well. Thank you so much for reading my Adventures in Writing blog posts and leaving comments. It is truly appreciated. Happy New Year, my dear!

    Reply

Leave a Comment