A Boy's Wilderness Adventure: A Mini-Memoir

By Jonathan Allen

Jonathan Allen

In 1996, seven of my closest friends and I, along with two Boy Scout leaders, set out on the journey of a lifetime. One early August morning we packed up our gear and left our families behind to spend ten days backpacking through the southern Rocky Mountains at the Philmont Scout Ranch in northeastern New Mexico. Over our ten-day journey, we hiked over ninety miles through a

How We Wrote Our Sloan Family History: A Mini-Memoir

Phillip and Eve Jones

By Phillip Barron Jones

Blog publisher's disclosure: Phillip Jones is a distant cousin of my wife Eryleene whose mother was a Sloan. See the library article below. WEG

In 2007 my wife and I published Sloan and Related Families: Descendants of George Thomas Sloan (1756-1836) of County Cork, Ireland, and Spartanburg and Laurens Counties, South Carolina. It was a culmination of thirty-five years of research. Our purpose was two-fold. First, we wanted to share with family and other researchers the results of our work in collecting photographs and family

History of Sloan and Related Families Gifted to Libraries in Springfield, Missouri

The Rev. E.T. Sloan

My wife Eryleene has given a book of her family history to two libraries in Springfield, Missouri. The book traces her family to County Cork, Ireland more than 260 years ago. 

The book begins with George Thomas Sloan, her great-great-grandfather, telling of his service in the American Navy during the American Revolutionary War. Sloan and Related Families, Descendants of George Thomas Sloan (1756-1836) of County Cork, Ireland, and Spartanburg and Laurens

Should You Hire a Ghostwriter for Your Memoir?

Courtesy Spiritual Memoirs 101

Have you been putting off writing your memoir? Worrying about how to start or finish? Staring at a blank piece of paper or computer screen? Questioning your skills in grammar, spelling, punctuation?

You can put an end to all that when you hire a ghostwriter to help write your memoir. The job will get done. A ghostwriter will walk you through every step of your memoir, asking key questions to tell your story. And, that's the key. It's your story, told in your voice, with the aid of a professional who understands good storytelling and the mechanics of manuscript preparation.

I invite you to read my guest post on ghostwriting at Linda Thomas's blog, Spiritual Memoirs 101. Questions I answer include:

Write Your Memoir or Life Story Using My 12 Easy Tips

My brother Jack and his hot rod

Excerpted and updated from my book, A Guide to Writing Your Memoir or Life Story: Tools, Tips, Methods and Examples.

I posted my 12 tips at LinkedIn including photos of my older brother and his hot rod car, ca. 1950s; portraits of my wife's family pre-1900s and of my family in the mid-1940s; my female cousin in a bathing suit (it's okay, she is with her parents and brother who also are in bathing suits); and my Boy Scout troop in the early 1950s in front of a Ford and Studebaker of similar vintage.

Whether you want to write for personal healing, share childhood adventures or exciting travels, leave a family legacy, inspire, persuade, empower, or teach, my book shows you how in straightforward and lighthearted style.

Let me know what you think of the tips and old photos. Have fun!

Make the Opening to Your Memoir A Must-Read: Part 2 of 2

Guest post by Linda K. Thomas. 

Originally posted January 17, 2019, on her blog, Spiritual Memoirs 101. Used by permission.

If you don't get this right, you'll lose readers.

Linda K. Thomas

After dismantling your scaffolding, it’s time to design a catchy opening for your memoir.

(You did remove your scaffolding, didn’t you? If not, you should! “Don’t think the reader will be patient with you until you can get around to the actual story,” writes Matilda Butler. If you need to brush up on what scaffolding is, click on Whether you’re building a castle or a memoir, the scaffolding must come down.)

Make the Opening to Your Memoir A Must-Read: Part 1 of 2

Guest post by Linda K. Thomas. 
Originally posted January 10, 2019, on her blog, Spiritual Memoirs 101. Used by permission.

Linda K. Thomas

Your memoir’s opening is the most important part to write well.

You must craft every aspect well, but your beginning could make or break your entire book—so create curiosity, draw
readers in, and keep them reading.

A written piece’s opening will probably be the hardest to create, whether you’re composing a book, vignette, newspaper or magazine article, blog post, inspirational talk, or sermon.