Table of Contents

Prologue

1 Exploring the Territory

2 Follow the Heat - Beginning, Again

3 The Importance of Madeleine Cake - remembering

4 The Storyteller's Seat - narrating position

5 Making Tapestry - texture and detail

6 Finding Form - structural trouble-shooting

7 Narrative - the magic spell

8 True Confessions - truth-telling

9 The Big I - self-indulgence and context

10 Wish You Were Here - travel writing

11 Random Provocations - the personal essay

12 Borderlands - memoir and fiction

Reading List

Acknowledgements

Promotional Information

Concentrates on the art of writing a memoir - about an aspect of a life rather a whole life Explains how to find a topic and then how to balance factual truth with vivid storytelling Writing courses and life writing workshops are hugely popular at the moment She is also the author of Writing Your Life, which has sold over 16,000 copies since publication in Australia.

About the Author

Patti Miller is the author of Writing Your Life, The Last One Who Remembers and Child (all Allen & Unwin), and Whatever the Gods Do (Random House). She has taught writing at universities and writers' centres for 20 years. In 1991, she founded Life Stories Workshops. Her website is www.lifestories.com.au.