LIFESTYLE
Story Time Telling your life’s story for generations to come
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BY CARI SCRIBNER
cross the region, people who may not even consider themselves writers are penning—or at least toying with writing—their memoirs. But it can be overwhelming to consider how to start, and whether you even have the skills to tackle a project to write your story. The good news is the Capital Region has plenty of support for budding memoirists. By using these resources, many people have discovered a way to begin writing, and ultimately found themselves transformed by the process of completing their memoir, even if the only readers are their extended family. Marion Roach Smith, a local memoir coach and founder of The Memoir Project, has guided thousands of people in the art of memoir writing over the last 25 years. She makes the distinction between an autobiography and memoir. “Autobiography is one big book about your whole life,” Roach Smith says. “Memoir is one specific area; it’s something you
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will actually finish.” With shelves in her office lined with more than 60 published memoirs by her students, Roach Smith called the act of writing one’s memoir “transcendent.” “Memoir is the single greatest portal to self-discovery,” Roach Smith says. “You write down one area of your expertise. You tell the truth; you reveal small moments in your life. I love that people are doing this.” Marta Szabo and her husband, Fred, run the Authentic Writing Project, founded by Fred in 1993 in Woodstock. The couple has worked with both fledgling and more seasoned writers from all walks of life and ages, from the teen years on up to older adults. According to Marta Szabo, authentic writing is about the content of peoples’ lives. “It is straight from life; they are concrete moments,” Marta Szabo says. “They can be from decades ago or yesterday and still be in the same piece. There
