What I learned about memoir writing while thrift shopping.

I thrift shop because I love old things. 

I enjoy thinking about the life of items that were once new and pristine, but are now “used” and/or out of date; stuff that has a history but, while it may show signs of wear, still has enough life in it to be of service another day. I can relate 🤷‍♀️.

I grew up using these sturdy machines—my manual Pentax camera, large metal cash registers, ridiculously heavy typewriters, etc.—so finding donated onion skin typing paper or ancient packages of purple and black carbon paper can sure spark a fond memory.

I secretly wish I still had a Filofax to keep track of contacts!

Browsing through dated office supplies usually leads me to check out the art supplies, and this is where I come upon abandoned projects: unopened art kits full of sharpened colored pencils ready for action; an acrylic paint set with the canvas included still in the original case; or journals for detailing your life story, still in the beautiful box.

It makes me curious.

I assume these were gifts, given with the best of intentions. Maybe a birthday gift was needed, and a parent remembered their daughter say they wanted to learn to paint, but now an unopened paint kit sits on the shelf. Or maybe a spouse remembered their companion mention the idea of writing their memoir one day, so they purchased one of those “This is Your Life” books with a list of questions to answer, and now I’m leafing through that same book filled only with blank pages. 

How did these well-intentioned purchases end up here, still unopened?

I think I know.

What these gifts were missing was someone to share the experience with.

Human beings are social animals and we tend to enjoy creative projects with compatible people. Giving someone a notebook and pen so they can go write something on their own is less encouraging than, for example, asking this person to join my “Map Your Memoir” workshop with you. Giving someone an art kit and telling them to go off and make something on their own is far more intimidating (and less fun) than opening the gift and working on a project together. 

In the case of writing a memoir, giving someone a list of questions to fill in the answers is far less likely to result in an actual memoir being completed than, for example, having that person tell me their stories so I can record them and create a book that can be shared. Option two results in a printed memoir every time. Option one, not very likely. 

So, what do these solutions have in common? Doing something with a compatible partner exponentially increases the likelihood of that something getting done. 

And that’s what I learned about writing memoirs while thrift shopping 😀. 

Angela

Let me know if you or someone you know has a memoir project that needs a compatible partner! Working together is not only enjoyable, it’s sure to get done.

Our stories matter,

Angela