William Zinsser's Memoir Thoughts

Listening to William Zinsser's thoughts regarding memoirs was very interesting. I feel that his thoughts were spot on. The example characteristics of "bad memoirs" was very eye opening for me. He said that bad memoirs whine and bash people who did them wrong in their lives while a good memoir is about forgiveness and compassion. One saying that stood out for me the most was when he said writing a memoir is supposed to heal. I absolutely love that because a memoir is supposed to be a journey of self-reflection and being in touch with your emotions. I agree with him about excluding self-indulgent thought and experiences from memoir because that would leave room for more fabrication and exaggeration.

In my memoir, I think I will write to discuss the inner struggle I had to go through to stand up to my mom for what I believed in. It was a frustrating point in my life where I felt stuck and felt alone in the world with my thoughts and ambitions. I intend to understand where my inner strength came from to finally emerge victorious and help my mother understand that I have to start making my own choices from now on.