The prompts for both days 1 and 2 had to do with the writing about a specific House that you have known well.
There are a few golden nougats in those prompts:
- Write about a House — something that is concrete and not abstract.
- Write Specifically
- Write about What You Know
I’ll repeat Tips 2 and 3 often, but today, I want to talk to you about the importance of writing about what you know.
Write about What You Know
From my dad, I inherited several things. He was a trained cartoonist, and he was a natural storyteller. Like him, I’ll begin this post by telling you a little story.
About 2 years, I sat down and wrote my version of a story that I have heard all my life: It was the Christmas Story, but my telling of that story differs in that its narrator is the Donkey who carried Mary to Bethlehem. The title of that story is The Donkey’s Song, and because of Frances Gilbert, who is the Executive Editor of Doubleday for Young Readers, that story will be published as a sweet and perfect picture book during the fall of 2022.
Some of you already know that part of my story, but today, I want to add something very important about that picture book: I wrote that manuscript in less than an hour. Because I knew that story so very, very well, and because I had marveled at twinkling lights each Christmas because of that story, and because I had sung about the Little Town in Bethlehem and that special Silent Night since I was a toddler, that story is part of the fabric of my being, and when I wrote my version of that story, it was effortless–and more importantly, it was real. Writing a picture book is like writing a song, and The Donkey’s Song is just that–it is a song–a song without music– a song that is almost a prayer.
One of my all-time favorite songs is David Foster’s The Prayer. Many people have been recorded, singing The Prayer, and I can’t think of a recording of it that I don’t like. In the following video, David Foster said these very important words about his writing of The Prayer:
“You know, all those melodies are swirling around the universe, and the best songs come through you and not from you. Our desire and our need to sing–there is something that resonates in the body with that sound. It’s supposedly healing. Music is so powerful and I believe that it could help bring down the wall. The song comes when the feeling can’t be said without it. The Prayer…is a powerful piece of music, and again, it came fast. I think that it came through me.” – David Foster about writing his song, The Prayer.
The song comes when the feeling can’t be said without it.
In telling about how he wrote The Prayer, Foster has also described how my picture book The Donkey’s Song came about. I have said many, many times that I didn’t really write that book at all. I merely typed. Because I knew so very well the background of that story, the picture book The Donkey’s Song literally poured through me, as David Foster said, and not from me. Before I go on, please enjoy Foster’s The Prayer.
I don’t write traditional songs, but when I am writing my best, I feel that my writing becomes a kind of song. That is probably why I named my debut picture book: The Donkey’s Song.
In trying to think about something that everyone knows very well, I decided that for today’s prompt, we would write about one of our primary caregivers. Not everyone was raised by a loving mother, but everyone has at least one caregiver that they could identify as the person who they feel very strongly about. Even Tarzan was supposedly raised by wolves, and he thereby had a caregiver, too. For today’s prompt, you do not have to write about a parent, but do write about someone who you knew well during your childhood.
For the people who do not feel warmly about either of their parents and who do not want to write about them, they could write about another family member, or they could write about the nun at the orphanage who left some lasting impression on them, and today is the day for writing about that significant caregiver.
Before I move forward, however, allow me to say that your memoir writing does not have to be about your pleasant memories, and I’ll add that you could also bash your primary caregiver in today’s writing, too, but I’ll talk to you more about writing about your negative memories tomorrow.
Today’s focus is to write about a person who you have known well from your past, and you can write about that person in any way that you want.
#MemmoirFest Day 4: Write about a Primary Caregiver – Write about What You Know