"How to Write Your Memoirs" has grown out of workshops I've been leading, for more years than I care to admit, with people from the corporate world, the world of wellness, and most recently, Pawprints literacy and creative writing programs for kids, adults and seniors.
It contains organizing ideas, prompts and reminiscences from both my own and students' lives. Use these to jump-start your own creative juices. You'll see your musings will range from spicy, zestful and smile-inducing to calm, informative, and believe it or not, un-boring!
Is there a philosophy underlying the prompts and the whole process? Absolutely! We all need to lighten up! If my work has shown me anything, it's that many of us fear we cannot write anything, or be creative, for a whole variety of reasons. It's also shown me that not taking ourselves too seriously coaxes our creative genies out of their bottles. Consequently, from time to time you might find a little surprise in the pages that follow; I'm sure you'll find many in your own memory banks.
So go ahead. Use the tips and examples in the pages of this book, and banish those "I'm not creative" and "I can't write" monsters from your vocabulary. I'll bet once you start jotting down your recollections, you'll have a hard time stopping! In fact, you may wind up joining me in the Computer Cooking Clubâ„¢. That's the one that features my special breakfast recipe:
Ina's Magic Egg Take a small pot, just big enough for one egg Put egg into pot Add cold water to cover Add ½ tsp salt to keep eggshell from cracking Turn on heat to high Go back to computer, resuming project When you hear the explosion, the egg is done.
"I find Ina Hillebrandt's 'How to Write Your Memoirs' to be a comprehensive and concise manual. It starts with basic information which systematically leads into a variety of ideas and examples of style and substance....a helpful tool for future writers...I believe it will even inspire some that think of themselves as not possessing writing skills. I enjoyed the book and strongly recommend it." --David Brook, member Pawprints Writing Club, and contributing author to the group's Amazon.com Top Seller "Stories From the Heart, V. 2"
Opened the floodgates...and made me remember an actual flood!
"How to Write Your Memoirs" really sets the old brain in motion. I always remember that first prompt about what's your earliest memory, and I flashed on that story, and the whole scene with that old truck they put me in came into my mind. It's amazing what will pop up with just a simple prompt, and the stories just kept coming up. --Kay Roberts, Contributing Author, "Stories From the Heart, V. 2 and 3"
Enriches lives!
"Ina's memoir book helps our seniors recall memories they hadn't thought of in years; they're really involved in the writing. And the writing and classes help by enriching their daily lives." --Sherrie Berlin, Recreation Coordinator, Felicia Mahood Senior Multipurpose Center, City of L.A. Department of Recreation and Parks
From the Publisher
People who have been using this book have really found it a wonderful way to tackle a task they've been thinking about, but couldn't figure out how to approach.
As the author puts it...Have you been thinking about writing your own stories? Some reasons you might consider plucking those notes from the shoebox and developing them now: * Because your kids and grandkids will be thrilled to find out more about you.
* Because your life has spanned interesting times, and your adventures and observations of inventions, events and what turned out to be sweeping changes can be fascinating to others, besides your family.
* Because your experiences can help teach others valuable lessons.
* Because writing your recollections will also help you ... the process heals old hurts.
* Finally, because it really isn't nearly as hard as you think. Try it. As Ina says, it's easier than you think, just like...(photo of author as child riding a tricycle).
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Ina and her late brother Conrad, former jazz critic of the San Francisco Chronicle, and Swing Journal of Japan, spent half their kidhood; living in Los Angeles after their parents' divorce. Bi-coastal living wasn't half bad, they decided; Burma Shave signs on Route 66 alone were a treat. At age 21, Ina graduated from the University of Pennsylvania (an anthropology major), and then ran away from both sets of parents to attend graduate school in New Orleans, at Tulane. She married in the French Quarter, and soon moved to Manhattan with husband Barry, a lawyer, and Rapscallion P. Cat. At J. Walter Thompson in New York City, Hillebrandt became a qualitative researcher. Later she became an independent strategic planning consultant to companies including Citicorp, VISA SEARS, IBM and CBS, and non-profits such as The Rockefeller Foundation.
Her life work has evolved so that today she is an author, motivational and writing coach, and publisher. And, she is very excited that her class's talents have led to a new path...video. Look for a new series with warm and very funny moments, to appear online in the coming months.
Before recent developments, Ina had several epiphanies. Divorced for several years, she moved with daughter Nicole, two cats and Handsome, The World's Best Dog, back to California. In Carmel, she turned her attention full time to writing. But writing can be lonely, and she missed working with groups of people. Thus began her Un-Workshops (TM)-- a series of interactive seminars based on Ina's work and life experience. Comic Release (TM) and Idea Magic (TM) are two of her most popular offerings; they help 2-legged creatures de-stress, and add humor, creativity and harmony to their professional and personal lives. Since returning to the West Coast, Ina has written, edited and contributed to a number of books, journals and newsletters, and has created a literacy program for youngsters and seniors, Pawprints Literacy Plus (TM). Some examples of books she wrote include: Amazon. com bestseller "Pawprints"; "How to Write Your Memoirs...Fun Prompts that Make Writing --and Reading -- Your Life Stories A Pleasure"; "The Student Prints...Educators' Guide to Pawprints Literacy Plus'"; "Diving Boards: Jump-Starts for Stories -- OR -- If You See a Man Alone on the Beach, It Means His Wife is Upstairs Throwing up in the Room." She is editor/publisher of the Amazon.com bestseller "Stories From The Heart, Vol. 2" (Collections from her students, 4th vol. pending).
Helping her prepare for her current roles as video performer and producer, Ina has also performed a variety of roles in creating audio and video programs: associate producer on the Jaco Pastorius NPR special hosted by Branford Marsalis, script doctor for a Kansas City Jazz live TV special co-hosted by Harry Belafonte and Danny Glover, and photo archivist for a live and videotaped series on Ethnic Arts, featuring the Chuck Davis Dance Group, produced by the Foundation for Urban Cultural Development, underwritten by the New York Department of Education, writer/producer/on camera person for variety of industrial clients. She has been interviewed by The New York Times and other journals, and has appeared live and on tape on radio and television.
A biographee in Who's Who, Ina speaks a bit of French, loves to dance, hike, ride horses, sail, laugh, cook and travel. Her foundation works with many animal rights groups such as the Jane Goodall Institute. She's proud of daughter Nicole, who is a talented actress, avid traveler, newly practicing gourmet cook, and a good person. Ina currently lives in Brentwood with her two cats -- Tamba and Pixelle -- and their friends who drop in for dinner on occasion; personally she prefers it when they are not on the menu.
This review is from: How to Write Your Memoirs -- Fun Prompts to Make Writing -- and Reading -- Your Life Stories a Pleasure! (Spiral-bound)
"I find Ina Hillebrandt's 'How to Write Your Memoirs' to be a comprehensive and concise manual. It starts with basic information which systematically leads into a variety of ideas and examples of style and substance....a helpful tool for future writers...I believe it will even inspire some that think of themselves as not possessing writing skills. I enjoyed the book and strongly recommend it." David Brook, member Pawprints Writing Club, and contributing author to the group's Amazon.com bestseller Stories From the Heart, V. 2
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: How to Write Your Memoirs -- Fun Prompts to Make Writing -- and Reading -- Your Life Stories a Pleasure! (Spiral-bound)
I've been buying a lot of stuff for me, and my wife was getting a bit miffed. So I needed to find something for her so she can have some packages in the mail! She has always wanted to be able to write her memoirs, but didn't have a clue. So I searched, and found, amazingly... this book, which is exactly that. A how to for those who want to write their own life stories. My wife "ate it up". It's written in very easy to understand steps. Not that the writer is condensending, just that she is clear and easy to understand! My wife really learned a great deal (I have to admit, I never was one for "how too books" of any kind, but this one really does tell you how to, and you do!), and is writing away. I have to admit that I took a "peek" at some of her work, and to my delight, she's really very good! I know my wife has talent, but really, I think this book jump-started it. Not only to help her, but to give a bit of a fire under her to do the writing in the first place. If you are interested in memoir writing, or know someone who is, especially if they seem stuck and can't get to it, buy this book. It's as simple as that.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: How to Write Your Memoirs -- Fun Prompts to Make Writing -- and Reading -- Your Life Stories a Pleasure! (Spiral-bound)
In How To Write Your Memoirs, Ina Hillebrandt poses questions an aspiring memoirist - whether new to writing or a published author new to the form - needs to ask before sitting down to share one's life story. She also provides valuable tools for structuring one's book.
A Fortune 500 Strategic Planning Consultant, Hillebrandt offers more than twenty years of experience working with clients to strengthen communications in many media; she then changed focus to write her own books and articles, and ultimately provided private coaching and writing workshops for seniors and young people. Bringing in tools she used in her former career to help people open up and express themselves clearly, her manual covers a wide variety of topics with which writers from diverse backgrounds can identify. The prompts are highly evocative, designed to help readers recall their own lives vividly3M and write about them in an entertaining, compelling manner. Questions and occasionally graphics top the pages, with blank "fill-in" spaces below; the combination of written and visual styles encourage the reader to stop putting off the task of tackling his or her memoirs and "Just do it!"
Prompts range from easy questions to those requiring greater thought and candor. One writer is simply asked to recall what pet did you have and who took care of it? Thinking over personal events asks: "If you could have avoided one thing that happened in your life, what would that be... and why?"
Lending texture to the lesson plan are sample passages by seniors from Hillebrandt's Grief Lifters Un-Workshops and from people of all ages in her Footprints Writing Clubs. One contributor, one of the writing club's most prolific wordsmiths, seems to have no end of stories to tell and first said that he could not write.
Starting off with "What is the very first thing you remember?" and ending with "Thinking about younger people today, what do you think is important for them
to know?" this instructional book is a good foundation for those who want to share their life stories. Writing, like any creative act, takes courage, and Hillebrandt is to be commended for helping people vanquish their own fears about how to start, tap into their inner memoirist and come out with a book of their own.
Although How to Write Your Memoirs is written in a clear, easy-to follow-fashion, the book is far from elementary. Accomplishing its goals in a sophisticated way, it is also a highly worthwhile guide for experienced writers who haven't yet tackled the genre. The structure and content ideas Ina has compiled help them push past their fear of jumping into a new form.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
