Reviews (sharing thoughts about other people’s stories and story-telling devices)

Story-sharing is a communal activity. In hearing others’ stories, we are inspired to share our own; having shared our own and opened ourselves to criticism and praise, we understand the importance of honest, clear, specific feedback.

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Cancer Freedom: a living memoir

by Melanie Jongsma, Wordsmith August 26, 2010 Reviews (sharing thoughts about other people's stories and story-telling devices)

There’s a difference between an autobiography and a memoir. As an article by Joe Kita in Readers Digest explains, “An autobiography is the story of an entire life, but a memoir is just one story from that life. You can only ever write one autobiography, but you can write countless memoirs.” And he adds, “It’s a [...]

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The Geertsema Chronicles: an exercise in successful autobiography

by Melanie Jongsma, Wordsmith August 18, 2010 Reviews (sharing thoughts about other people's stories and story-telling devices)

I received word a couple weeks ago that a client of mine had passed away. John Geertsema was a veteran of the U.S. Army, and before that he helped the Dutch Underground during Hitler’s invasion of Holland. He was an avid fisherman, a grower of orchids, and a self-taught vintner. He began writing the story [...]

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Five words that describe my mom

by Melanie Jongsma, Wordsmith May 6, 2010 Faith (sharing our part in God's story)

1. Creative My mom does not consider herself to be creative, which is too bad, because everyone else knows that she is. She does needlework, painting, drawing, and interior decorating, and while she’s not a professional in any of these areas, she leaves lasting beauty in everything she touches. 2. Engaged By this I mean [...]

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