11 Comments
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Brianne Alcala's avatar

Mallary, what a generous and incredibly useful post. Thank you for sharing specific examples — what a gift to others who are working through memoirs or other similar writings.

Mallary Tenore Tarpley's avatar

I'm so glad you found it helpful, Brianne!

Leslie Carlin's avatar

Wise words. Thank you. And very much yes to the power of dialogue on the page.

Mallary Tenore Tarpley's avatar

I'm so glad it's helpful! I'll be teaching a class on this topic in late January and will post more details here soon.

Leslie Carlin's avatar

Excellent!

Caroline Mellor's avatar

Thank you. This is a very helpful set of insights as I ponder how much of my life to share.

Mallary Tenore Tarpley's avatar

Thank you, Caroline! I will be offering a related course on this topic soon, in case it's of interest. Will post about it on my Substack soon. Stay tuned!

Oona Hanson's avatar

So helpful.

BTW, "Lost & Found" is one of my favorite books!

Mallary Tenore Tarpley's avatar

It's one of my favorites too!

Kendra Jernejcic's avatar

This is one of the hardest areas of memoir, for both the reader and the writer. Thank you for such helpful tips. Also…I have MANY of those exact journals. I also went through a Winnie-The-Pooh phase (that lasted a little longer than it probably should have).

Mallary Tenore Tarpley's avatar

Yes, it really is. And I love knowing that you had many of these same journals. The ones that had fur and made music were my favorite!