by Lisa Ellison | Sep 4, 2019 | All Posts, Heart Speak
Dear Lisa, I am writing a memoir about growing up feeling unloved and unwanted by my mother. My oldest son is a writer too. Originally, his MFA thesis was a fictional piece about a group of churches we encountered. Recently, he changed genres and presented his work as...
by Lisa Ellison | Jul 10, 2019 | All Posts, Heart Speak
Dear Lisa, My memoir is about growing up in a family where the default position in any dispute was to totally cut that relative from our lives. It resulted in me growing up in a bubble with no extended family. As a child this seemed quite normal, but as I grew up, I...
by Lisa Ellison | May 22, 2019 | All Posts, Heart Speak
Lisa, I’ve been told it takes an average of ten years to write a memoir. If this is true, I’m right on track—maybe. Let me explain. Ten years ago, with my new husband’s encouragement, I read his deceased daughter’s journals. Reading about this dead girl I’d never met,...
by Lisa Ellison | Apr 10, 2019 | All Posts, Heart Speak
Dear Lisa, I’m writing a memoir about the death of my son. The draft has gone through several revisions. When writing about the most painful parts of my story, I need to transition from telling people my thoughts and feelings to showing these things through actions so...
by Lisa Ellison | Feb 13, 2019 | All Posts, Heart Speak
Dear Lisa, I began a memoir project with my dad four years ago. It’s been an incredibly healing process to write together about his alcoholism and how it affected our family, as well as how his commitment to sobriety changed everything for the better. There...