SHARE Presentation: Write Your Own Memoir, Part II with Abigail Thomas
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WRITE YOUR OWN MEMOIR Part Two: February 24, 2015 Presented by SHARE in collaboration with MBCN
Transcript of SHARE Presentation: Write Your Own Memoir, Part II with Abigail Thomas
WRITE YOUR OWN
MEMOIR Part Two: February 24, 2015
Presented by SHARE in collaboration with
MBCN
Welcome
• Meet the Speakers
Christine Benjamin, LMSW
Breast Cancer Program Director
SHARE
www.sharecancersupport.org
Katherine O’Brien
Board Member
Metastatic Breast Cancer Network
www.mbcn.org
Abigail Thomas
Writer
www.abigailthomas.net
You Did It!
• It is hard it is to make
ourselves vulnerable,
especially when there
is pain and confusion
in our lives, and the
fact of our mortality is
around the corner…Anne O’Brien, Red Chair Nantucket
Bravo…
• Just to be willing to
look at the dark and
the difficult is an act of
great courage…
Anne O’Brien, West Falmouth Harbor
Thank You..
It takes guts and
energy. . .
Thank you for doing
this.
Anne O’Brien
Some Points to Ponder
• It’s about clarity.
• Clarity usually involves
a good deal more
humility than you
started out with.
• Humility is
accompanied by
generosity…
Anne M. O’Brien
• …And clarity is
dependent on
generosity of vision
• A shift at the way we
look at ourselves and
our lives is one of the
benefits of writing a
memoir.
• Keep an open mind,
leave room for
surprises.Anne M. O’Brien, Nobska, Cape Cod
Who are we, and why does it matter?
• If you are doing the exercises you will have lots of material.
If there is a common thread, follow it.
If you return again and again to a specific time or place set up a tent there.
Anne M. O’Brien, North Truro
If you are still plagued
by the question of who
is going to find it
interesting, please
remember most of us
are curious about other
people’s lives…
Jennifer Waddell
• Writing memoir is one way to explore how you
became the person you are…
• It’s the story of how you got here from there….
• It’s a good story!
Questions?
Q&A with Abigail
Photo: Jennifer May
For Further Reading…
February 2015 issue of Good Housekeeping
The Kiss That Stayed With Me Forever
Decades after a summer fling, a writer
and her old crush reconnect.
By Abigail Thomashttp://www.goodhousekeeping.com/family/marriage-sex/abigail-
thomas-love-essay?src=soc_fcbks
Abigail’s new memoir coming out at the end of
March from Scribners.
http://books.simonandschuster.com/What-
Comes-Next-and-How-to-Like-It/Abigail-
Thomas/9781476785059
More Reading Suggestions
• The Red Devil : To Hell with Cancer and Back Paperback –February 7, 2002
• by Katherine Russell Rich
• Intoxicated by My Illness and Other Writings on Life and Death Paperback – June 1, 1993
• by Anatole Broyard (Author), Alexandra Broyard (Compiler, Editor), Oliver Sacks (Foreword)
• Autobiography of a Face Paperback – March 18, 2003
• by Lucy Grealy (Author), Ann Patchett (Afterword)
Carl Spitzweg, “The Bookworm”
Keep on Writing With Others
• We’ve created a closed Facebook Group called Writing With Others:
•
• Search under “Groups” and join.
• If you need help, email us at [email protected]
• Abigail is our first member!
More suggestions….
• Check with your library—many host ongoing writing programs
• If you want to start your own writers’ group, many libraries have meeting rooms you can use.
• Check with your treatment center. “Visible Ink” offers Memorial Sloan Kettering patients the opportunity to express themselves in writing with the individual support of an experienced writing mentor.
• Abby leads workshops for Kingston’s Oncology Support Program of the Health Alliance of the Hudson Valley
