Millie And Her Moo

I have just written a new children’s book.

Its titled “Milie And Her Moo”

I have enjoyed it so much, I have an idea for more.

Honesty

When you’re truly honest and revealing about yourself, it creates a sigh in other people, They realize they’re not alone, they’re not a freak: Someone else has felt the exact same way or lived their dream. If you’re going to skimp on the truth, then you’re doing a disservice. Honesty is not only a gift to other people—it’s a gift to yourself.

In many ways, writing a memoir is like painting. You slap some words on a blank canvas, take a few steps back, look at how they’re coming together, then refine things further. That step back is retrospection. It’s thoughtfulness. It’s an attempt to figure things out. It’s the search for your truth.

I decided quite early on to put “That Day” first. I didn’t want to begin at the beginning,
or tell my story chronologically. That’s too predictable. Think of your favorite books. Most don’t start at the beginning. Instead they rivet you with instant action and intrigue. A good beginning is a tease. It gives readers just enough action to hook them without divulging the outcome. Then it flashes back to the real chronological beginning and fills in the background.

Another technique I used, which again I gained from university. In Davids Kershaws class on etymology if the English language. This was used by journalists is the “snapshot”. This is one way a writer can develop an idea in a piece of writing. It is showing the reader a photograph of the scene. It involves the writer taking time time to show the picture through sensory details, concrete words and poetic language.

Most of the memories I have written so far have a great deal of emotional moments in them, both good and bad.  I have also tried to visualise the scenes in my head, this has helped me to remember the places these memories have taken play and this gives the whole piece a sense of time and place.

 I can’t say I have always been drawn memoir writing. In the last years I feel there is a trend towards so called celebrity autobiographies, and misery memoirs and biographies. It has somehow saturated the bookshelves with a certain amount of drivel. Bands and celebrities that have only been famous for about two years and churning out novels that have no literary merit in them.

This may seem harsh and I know everyone is entitled to write what they feel,

(Though I have to say, I doubt most could put pen to paper.)

So I have to ask myself, could my book being different, be good or bad? I have decided to take the positive approach and say to all agents and publishers out there, “hey my book isn’t a misery novel and even though some of my life was difficult, I haven’t been permanently or physically scarred. Now is the time for something different and that’s what I feel my book is

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