What to Put on a Memoir Book Cover?

Once again, I am thinking ahead as I work my way through writing my story.  I'm now wondering what I should consider for my cover.

Different editions of many books, including of the classics, have been issued over the years.  A different cover has appeared with each edition.  And when the book becomes a movie, there is always
the movie cover edition.

Since this is a memoir, I'm trying to decide if I should have my face on the cover as some memoirs have done, especially the one that got me inspired:



And the cover of the recent re-release, with the new afterward(the author states in the afterward that she had wanted to be on the cover, she had to be on the cover):

Does writing a memoir mean you have to include your picture on the cover? Maybe not in all cases such as these:




And here are some movie tie-in covers of memoirs:

What would you do put on your cover?

SaveSave

Great Side Jobs For Every Writer

From Writerslife.org:

While we love being writers, it can be hard to make writing a full-time career. However, trying to fit writing around a 9-5 office job also doesn’t appeal.

So is there a balance? For many writers, the idea of being able to manage our own time, be our own bosses, have creative freedom and control and have the time to write whenever we want is the ideal situation. But most jobs won’t allow for that and can bore us, tire us and drain our creativity.

Writing takes up a lot of mental energy and some serious hours too. If you have a demanding and stressful day job to juggle alongside this it is all too easy for your writing to constantly be pushed to the back burner until you realise you never actually get round to it.

The solution is finding the perfect side job - one which is flexible, keeps those creative juices flowing, and allows you plenty of time to write - while also paying the bills too of course.

So what are some great side jobs you could try?

Bar work

Bar work is easy shift work that pretty much anyone can do. You’ll probably have to work many of your hours over the weekends which means your social life might have to take a hit, but then the weekdays are freed up to concentrate on writing full-time!

Charity work

There are plenty of charities nowadays who are always on the lookout for new staff and happy to pay them to drum up support. Call centres offer flexible shift work and as long as you work a minimum number of hours each week, the days are up to you!

Freelance writing

Article writer, proofreader, copywriter, editor - there are literally thousands of writing jobs out there and plenty that are either one-off gigs or are hiring on a freelance basis. These are jobs which will have deadlines, but as long as you stick to them and produce quality work you can do them at 5 am or 11 pm - it’s up to you. This frees up lots of time to get down and concentrate on your own creative work.

Teaching

If you’ve got a writing qualification or lots of experience and feel like you could help others, you could share your knowledge by setting up a teaching course. Alternatively, if you’ve got a university degree or other qualifications you can set yourself up as a private tutor and work as much or as little as you like.

Cab driving

Cab driving is a great way to earn some money and you can choose your hours and work when you want. You need a licence, an insured and registered vehicle, but the rest is up to you.

Food delivery

Food delivery is another great side job. It won’t earn you megabucks but you will mostly be working at night, it’s massively easy and you are completely autonomous. You could even take a dictaphone with you and dictate some of your book into it while you drive!

Security/ night work

Night work is great and jobs such as security might not be for everyone but if it sounds like your cup of tea, it will pay the bills and free up your days for writing. You can even do some writing on the job!

So while these may not be your dream jobs - if you aren’t making as much money through writing as you need to at the moment, these side jobs can help you make ends meet, while still giving you plenty of time to write - and what’s not to love about that?!

Do any of these jobs appeal to you?

Right now, I'm a peer mentor at the County Behavioral Health Department. It's only part-time, but I love what I'm doing.  I may just consider going into mental health, but am not sure what.  But the one job still isn't a lot. I'm not sure what else to do on the side though.  I've worked so many years in retail  abut am not sure I want to go back there. And when I was fired from a restaurant job in 2001, I vowed never to work in the food business again. And so far that has been true.  There is one bar I've gone to regularly for the karaoke, but haven't been going to lately. Since I can't have alcohol, I'm not sure working for a bar is appropriate for me 🙂 

Since I work in the morning to afternoon, graveyard shifts are out.  Before I was hired on as mentor and after I had completed my training classes, I briefly worked the graveyard shift at a candy factory through  temp agency. It was only for a while and I then went back to working swing shift, which I had been doing off and an. I have not worked at the factory for nearly a year now. 

I've often felt as an introvert, that my career choices are limited. Some people have disagreed with this, however. Ia hate the stereotype that says introverts should only do work from home, a phrase that has triggered my anxiety.

I've never wanted to be a teacher and have not been much of a leader, but now I wonder if I should start a group for writing, since none can be currently found in my town and I hate the idea of driving 50 miles to the nearest ones.  I've posted on a Facebook page we have for happenings in our town, asking if anyone is interested in starting such a group, but have gotten no response.

What would you do?

BTW, my memoir writing class finished on Wednesday night and the instructor will be offering an advanced memoir writing class in the fall, working on a longer piece with the goal of getting published.

July Bookish Bingo

I don't always do monthly challenges, but this one sounded fun. And I liked a lot of the categories. I will see how many squares I can complete in one month.  It's at Chapter Break. and they have a new one each month, but this will be the first one I've done. Will see how busy I am in the coming months and what the bingo lists include then to decide if I will do another.

Books Read:

All the Little Live Things--Wallace Stegner:  Paperback Book (2), Shelf Love (25)

Killer Gourmet--G.A. McKevett: Spy (3), Food/Eating (4)

Wicked Lovely--Melissa Marr: In a Series (22), Fae/Fairy Tale (23)

Smoke Screen--Sandra Brown: LGBT (2), Audiobook (7), Cop/Fireman/Military (9),  Team/Squad (10), Death/Destruction (11)

How to Paint a Cat--Rebecca M. Hale: (2) Spy, (17) Animal/Pet

Reading Lolita in Tehran--Azar Nafisi: (20) Travel, (24) Foreign Country

The Princess Diaries--Meg Cabot: (14) WTF,  (15) LOL

The View From Saturday--E.L. Konigsburg: (1) Library Book,  (5) Award-Winning

Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life--James Patterson: (8) Yellow on the Cover, (13) Free Space

The Rum Diary--Hunter S. Thompson: (16) Drinking

Ballet Shoes--Noel Streatfeild: (18) Dancing

Two Summers--Aimee Friedman: (21) Season

Stardust and Shadows--Janelle Taylor: (12) Alien,  (19) Free Book


Challenge completed on July 29

Lessons in History

As you know, yesterday was USA's Independence Day.

In her blog today, Crystal Collier mentions about having to take history in school. I was among those who responded.

In my book, I recalled how I was a bit jealous of those who began college at a university rather that a community college. I did not feel that I was about to embark on the college journey at a community college  since I would not be occupying dorm rooms and such that is encountered at universities.

When I did get to the university, I could not help noticing how the freshman were fulfilling their lower-division general education requirements with history classes that focused on a single event in history, such as the Holocaust. Or probably one that focused on African-Americans in  history. I been to wonder why there were no similar classes at community colleges as well, Instead, the one I'd had at CC was just a repeat of what I had already been taught many times. In my town, US history was taught in fifth and eight grade, and again in high school during sophomore year. and each time, it was the same stuff--beginning with the discovery of the land that would become the USA.  I don't remember much about the fifth and eight grade classes, or the one in college, but the high school one went up to the Korean War.

I responded to Crystal's post with a synopsis of what I said above and saw another comment from someone who disliked history in school because there was too much memorization needed,  and then there were the dreaded tests. Yes, tests always gave me anxiety. The good thing about memorizing historical facts today is that there will be no more tests afterward.

It's definitely time to teach something new in history, instead of the same stuff all the time.

Quiz: The Fireworks Test

Reposting this from last year:


Definitely agree with this one.

Your Fireworks Say You're Introverted

You are a rather reserved person in day to day life. However, you do have a few topics that truly excite you. When you become impassioned, it's a surprise to everyone around you. But if they blink, they'll miss it, because you get back to being calm very quickly.

The Fireworks Test

Blogthings: 100's of Fun, Free Quizzes!

Some Good Advice

All very true.

Why It Pays to Take Risks With Your Writing

From Writerslife.org:

When it comes to writing books, regardless of whether you choose to self-publish 
or try to win a traditional publishing deal, the competition has never been fiercer.

Readers are overwhelmed with choice, and writers often find trying to make their book 
stand out from the crowd a daunting and seemingly impossible task.

It can be easy to play it safe with your writing, to try to stick to the rules of a genre,
to regurgitate a tried and tested story that seems to appeal to a mass audience.
But if you do so, your book is more than likely to simply become an echo 
of something already out there, written by someone with more experience,
 whose popularity has already been established.

If you choose to take risks, however, while the stakes may be higher, it is arguable
that you stand a far greater chance of making your book more discoverable, 
distinguishable and desirable than those that don’t.

But why is that?

Taking risks shows you are willing to put your neck on the line

A risk taker is someone who is brave, they are willing to take a chance, a leap into
the unknown - someone who is willing to commit all the time and energy it takes
to write a book, knowing that it does not pander to the masses. This is
undeniably impressive and demonstrates a commitment to the craft that 
others writers who are simply copycat versions of each other do not show.

Taking risks will make your work stand out

In an overcrowded marketplace, writers need to do anything they can to make 
their books stand out.If you are able to write a book which appeals to a more 
niche audience, or one that grabs readers attention and they might be willing 
to take a chance on, your book is more likely to be seen, and therefore more
 likely to sell.

Taking risks may not always work, but when they do the payoff is greater

Of course, a risk is a risk and therefore the chance of failure is greater. If you
 write something too obscure, too niche, too complicated, it will be harder to 
find a publisher who is willing to take a chance on you or find an audience
who resonates with your work. However, if you do, the rewards are huge.

Taking risks wins you respect

By taking risks in your writing you often end up exposing yourself. Being 
vulnerable can be frightening, but readers will appreciate the fact that 
you have done so. This will make them empathize with 
you and respect you for your bravery.

At the end of the day no one can write a book that will appeal to everyone,
and trying to do so is a waste of time. Don’t let all your time and effort go 
to waste and consider taking more risks with your writing. Be brave, 
have confidence and stay true to yourself - you won’t regret it if you do.

I guess I was taking some risks when I chose to write a memoir.   I was afraid of

using real names, and took the suggestion not to do so. I would later learn that

many memoir writers have taken this step as well.  But all this time I have

been wondering if the people I am referencing will be able to tell that I am in 

fact referencing them.  

There have been some events and incidents I have tried to decide whether to include 

not.  Some I originally did not mention, but decided to do so later.  And there still

more I'm deciding on.  And what chapter to incorporate these things into.

This takes a lot of consideration.  

There have been so many thing I did not want to risk, like taking a dive as shown

in the photo above.  But no matter, what you do, there is going be some sort of

risk involved.  And now I can see how I have taken some risks.