The Power Of Memoir: How To Write Your Healing Story

Description

A groundbreaking work for healing long-term emotional problems The Power of Memoir is a pioneering how-to book that provides a new step-by-step program to use memoir writing as a therapeutic process. By going through these steps you'll learn how to choose the significant milestones and turning points that make up a coherent story leading to a life-changing epiphany. * Help uncover the secret stories that are the keys to healing * Explore the dynamics and roles of dysfunctional families * Heal old wounds, creating a better present and brighter future Using many examples from her students and clients, the author shows how creative, well-planned, and carefully researched memoir writing can offer a process for sorting out the truth from lies and family myths.

Author description

Linda Joy Myers, Ph.D., is president of the National Association of Memoir Writers and a practicing psychotherapist. She is the author of Don't Call Me Mother: Breaking the Chain of Mother-Daughter Abandonment, which won the Gold Medal Award from the Bay Area Independent Publishing Association in 2007.

Table of contents

Foreword (Kathleen Adams). Acknowledgments. Introduction. Part 1 Eight Steps to Writing a Healing Memoir. Step 1 Understanding Your Reasons for Writing. Step 2 Doing Your Research. Step 3 Planning Your Memoir. Step 4 The Psychology of Memoir Writing. Step 5 The Dark Stuff. Step 6 Organizing the Narrative Arc. Step 7 To Publish-or Not. Step 8 The Power of Writing to Heal. Part 2 Spirituality, Therapy, and Stories. Chapter 1 Spirituality, Meditation, and Inner Listening. Chapter 2 For Therapists Who Use the Healing Power of Memoir. Chapter 3 Stories from the Workshops. Epilogue. Resources. Recommended Reading. Reader's Guide. Bibliography. About the Author. Index.