An Update on My Verse Memoir

Verse Memoir or Memoir in Verse? Which to call it? At this early stage, does it even matter how to classify it?

No, I don't thinks so. Right now, the important thing is to finish the first draft, and then the second draft. After that will be the time to decide how to describe what this collection of words in verse really is.

All I know is that it's fun and exciting when it's going well, and frustrating when in it's not, the same as any other form of writing! I've written poetry, short stories, non-fiction, and I have one completed first draft of a novel. 

This is my writing range over the past whatever years - twenty years perhaps - plus bits and pieces before that. The past three years have been most often poetry, but I'm still playing with short stories now and then...

Some of my most exciting times have been when I sit at the computer and my muse seems to take over my fingers, writing wonderful words in a way that transcends time and limits... There's nothing better than being thrilled with something you've written!


This verse memoir I'm writing is to be launched next year, I hope, and is intended to be aimed at people trying to find ways to live with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). It also will give an idea to other people what living with this chronic illness can bring to those of us diagnosed with MS.

There are many false ideas out there about MS, and MS can be different, from person to person. My piece will be all about how it is for ME, with some thoughts from others where relevant.


Anyway, the word count for my memoir in verse is currently around 13600 words, and I'm more or less happy with how it's going. I have something written for every chapter, and I have a much better idea on what I should be aiming at, thanks to the feedback I've been receiving from my mentor, Ray Tyndale. 

I met Ray Tyndale when I was awarded a grant from the Richard Llewellyn Arts and Disability Foundation. This grant is to pay for my mentor, as well as a smaller amount of money for the writer (me). The relationship is going well - Ray gives me feedback and tells me things, I take in what she says, and work with that. Ray is honest, as she said at the beginning she'd be, and I appreciate her for this.

I've sent a chapter to Ray, and I'll see her tomorrow to find out what she thinks about it...