How I am Writing my Memoir

I am so thankful for my blog because it has made me regularly record my life as it happens and as remembered.  As I write my memoir my various blog posts have been a rich resource to mine.

But now I must go beyond the blog.   And in this journey beyond I turn to: friends and family who were there at the time, sensory triggers of a vivid nature like thunderstorms and tastes of food at the time, photographs, and offline resource of journals and letters mostly kept before 1993.  I often send the stories to people to gain their insight.  I like to call on the muse of ancestors and the power of prayer and meditation as I write.

Reflecting on life past sometimes I find gaps that need filling in.  I am truly hoping those boxes of memory papers will help me out !

The three photographs above represent, early  motherhood,  graduation from University of Melbourne, and the days when my hubby and I were first going out.  He had a one bedroom flat and a pet cat called Claws Depussy. He had put all of his worldly belongings into a car and traveled on the boat across the bass strait from Melbourne to Tasmania.  A year after we met we were married.

I used to write diaries for my children, and keep notes of many meetings that I went to.  I still try to write them a letter a year of what their lives were like.  I hope to pass these onto them one day when they will mean more.

The other two major challenges are to consider what  would people like friends, family and general public find interesting  or inspiring about my life and what am I able to publicly share.

As I weave the threads this is what is emerging: the role of cultures from both my Mekeo Mum and Aussie English Dad; the role of the Baha’i community,  the power of writing and art in my life, the significant positive impact of some amazing people on my life (some well known and some who should be), portraits of people who have inspired me directly and indirectly significant life events – motherhood, surviving and recovering from a cyclone,  completing phd studies, and moving country to city.

As I come to the end of my first rough draft of the memoir I am wondering how best to present my memoir, and if I have it right for what I want to achieve.

This is my mantra for the memoir to help me as I head closer and closer the editing process.

This memoir is an exploration of landscapes, dreamscapes, writing scapes, culture scapes,  and the getting of wisdom from Tasmania to Queensland.  A Mekeo/Australian girl’s daily and remembered life.

(c) June Perkins