The Memoir Method Podcast is a place for readers and writers to connect over the power of story. Underpinned by the Bookish Edits core belief—You have a story that matters—The Memoir Method Podcast will prove to listeners that anyone who wants to write a memoir can.
Most episodes are twenty minutes or less, designed to deliver perspective, encouragement, and tangible tools that will ensure progress and momentum in your own memoir writing.
If you’ve listened to the show and like what you hear, I’d love it if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Ratings and reviews really do help the podcast find its ideal audience. Thank you for coming along for the ride!
Explore more podcast episodes below!
25: Why Shouldn’t You Write a Memoir?
This episode is for the writer who is looking for permission, who is unsure if they are allowed to write or even share their story. This episode is for the writer who may describe themselves as “not a good writer” or wonder if anyone would really want to read their story at all. More than anything though, this episode is for the writer who wants validation. You want to know if your story really matters.
24: Your Memoir Needs to Have a Point
Today’s episode is for writers who aren’t really sure what their memoir is supposed to do. They know they want to write their stories, but that’s as far as they’ve got. Or maybe they dived head-first into writing and now feel lost—and they don’t know way. Today’s episode will help you figure out exactly where you’re losing the thread and what you need to do to get back on track.
23: Art and Grief, a Conversation with Tyler Feder
Tyler is the author and illustrator of Dancing at the Pity Party: A Dead Mom Graphic Memoir, and in today's episode we talk all things grief, death, living, and art. Tyler shares her insights on the deep interplay between grief and living and how our grief keeps us connected to each other and to our loved ones who have passed away.
22: How to Carry a Heavy Story
Today’s episode is on the shorter end and examines the power we have to help carry each other. Let us pay attention to where we are needed and who is available to help us in turn. Stories are our collective heartbeat. Share and carry, my friend.
21: Graphic Memoir’s Power to Show the Unnamable
What’s fun about my Memoir Method is that it can be applied to literally any memoir. In today’s episode Ginny and I take Dancing at the Pity Party through the Memoir Method, naming the focus, the audience, and the core message.
These conversations are always a delight, and the different insights that we each have into the book prove just how versatile and personal memoir is.
20: Writing Memoir with Main Character Energy
Let's talk Main Character Energy. This is a term prevalent in twenty-first century vernacular, but what does it actually mean and what does it have to do with the writing life? In todya's episode I break down what Main Character Energy actually is and exactly how this applies to memoir writing. I come ready with examples and ways that you can apply this concept into your own writing right now.
19: The Dead Mom’s Club (a.k.a. the Rundown for Dancing at the Pity Party)
Welcome to our first episode deep diving the graphic memoir Dancing at the Pity Party by Tyler Feder! Join Ginny and I as we discuss our experiences reading this book (including how this book came to be a part of our friendship origin story). Ginny shares especially poignant insights about how this memoir portrays grief and how it has made her less alone in grieving the death of her own mother.
18: It’s Time to Write My Memoir
At the end of 2023 I had the wild idea that this year is the year I write my first memoir. While I’ve been working with memoir writers for years now and write my own essays, I hadn’t had the right spark to write my own actual memoir—and this idea is nothing I expected. In today’s episode I’m inviting you into my head as I grapple with the validity of this idea, starting from square one, and how to craft a plan moving forward. As this writing project unfolds over the next twelve months, I want to bring you into the process, so let’s get started.
17: Writing Rebirth and Rediscovery
Come along with me as I set my writing intentions for 2024. Last year woke up my writing in a new way, and I want to carry the best parts of this rediscovery with me into the new year.
16: Being Open in 2023 + My Big Dream
For the last episode of the year, I am getting reflective and marveling on what the year brought me (and you, since you're listening to this episode!). I also share my big dream for this business and the specific types of people I want to ultimately be here for. Thank you for every download, review, and share. You're the heartbeat behind this podcast, and I love you all to pieces.
15: Your Writing Life vs. Your Regular Life
Today we dismantle the idea that there's only one "right" way to write, because the truth is that your writing life is inextricably connected to your regular life. What that means for you is that 1) you don't have to stress when living your life takes prominence over writing about it and 2) everything you live in your life you can start to see as a writer.
BONUS: A Recap of the Lost Audio (aka the Memoir Method and From the Ashes)
Even though the fantastic conversation is lost forever, I couldn't let us wrap up From the Ashes without breaking it down using the Memoir Method framework.
14: Boundaries and Singularity in Memoir (From the Ashes final thoughts)
In this episode with Ginny Walters we talk through our final thoughts on From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle. We are so glad that we read this together and each came away from this memoir with profound takeaways.
13: Vignettes and the Velvet Hammer, a From the Ashes deep dive
In today's episode I have Ginny Walters back with me to deep dive From the Ashes further. We examine how Jesse Thistle uses vignettes to manage the reading experience and guide the reader through what is a very difficult narrative. Writing through vignettes does not come naturally to me as a writer, and so I loved examining this device with Ginny.
12: A Writing Pep Talk
I'm sharing a short pep talk that I initially wrote for a live group I ran last November (the precursor to the Memoir Method Live actually!) and is now a part of my mini audio course, A Story Worth Writing. We all need a little pep talk sometimes, and I hope this is one you can continue to come back to.
11: 4 Lessons I’ve Learned from My Memoir Method Writers (Fall 2023)
The Memoir Method Live fall cohort is wrapping up this week, and today I’m taking the time to reflect on what the past ten weeks have meant to me and what I’ve learned from the writers this season.
10: Should You Write a Memoir?
This week I take you behind the scenes of my first encounters with writers, what I've been calling a "writing strategy call" (but after prepping this episode think I need to rename a "story validation call"). Every writer comes to me with some version of the same questions, and every time I use this framework to empower them to see their story and capabilities differently, giving them more knowledge in how (and if) to move forward.
09: NaNoWriMo for Memoir Writers
National Novel Writing Month presents a creative and energetic container for fiction writers, and I want to extend that experience to memoir and creative nonfiction writers. In today's episode I quickly run through some of the pillars of NaNoWriMo and then get to tell you about how to extend that NaNoWriMo experience into memoir writing.
08: Writing and the Compound Effect
Writing is just like any other endeavor: the more you do it, the better you become. You don’t need to invest eight hours every day to write a memoir. Rather, you can trust that taking small, daily action will yield transformative results.
07: 9 Steps to Finishing Your Memoir
You want to write and you want to finish your manuscript. Today’s episode is all about how to move you to that finish line and feel confident in your writing. I also have a month-long writing accelerator open for enrollment that will take you even deeper into the strategies and mindsets we discuss on the podcast today.