Category Archives: Friends

Book review: The winding road by Miriam Hurdle- A journey of survival

Posted on by 32 comments

I’m over at Smitha Vishwanath, the blogger, painter, artist, and poet’s blog. She shared a heartwarming review of my memoir. Her review stirred up my emotions about my journey all over again. It brought happy tears into my eyes because I’m alive t share my story with you. Please go over to read her excellent review.

Eúnoia

I want to thank Miriam for writing this book which is a real-life account of her battle with cancer in 2008. In the foreword, she says, ” Life is precious and it’s worth fighting for. If I died, my pain went with me, but I would leave pain with my loved ones. My life is worth living.’ This very honest, straight-from-the-heart line, sets the tone of the book and forms the backbone of her fight against cancer. It was this line that made me read on. It reminded me of my very recent brush with the hospital and how I felt when I was wheeled into the operation theatre. I thought, ‘Well if it ends, the pain is gone. But, there’s so much love to live for.‘

Miriam recounts her experience with the dreaded ‘C’- the chance identification of it, the subsequent tests, and adjusting her life so…

View original post 996 more words

New Release! “The Winding Road: A Journey of Survival” by Miriam Hurdle. #memoirs #cancersurvivor #writingcommunity #readersoftwitter

Posted on by 27 comments

I’m excited to be at Denise’s blog today. She generously shares her blog with me to host my launch tour. She is a prolific writer and poet. Her publications include but are not limited to: Just Her Poetry, The Button, This Second Chance, No Fairy Tale, Dolphin’s Cave, Elizabeth’s War, Things on a Tree, An Unusual Island, and Tree Fairies.

I continued to talk about memoir writing and discussed the role of research today. Please head over to join me for the discussion and browse around all the wonderful books by Denise L. Finn.

I’m honored to have Miriam Hurdle here today to share her story. This was a heartfelt story and my review is below.

Thank you for hosting my launch tour today, Denise. I’m thrilled to be here to share my new book with your friends.

During the launch tour, I want to talk about memoir writing. Here is my topic for today.

The Role of Research in Memoirs

Memoirs always require research. They are stories based on real-life events. Fact-check everything can be fact-checked, such as names, dates, places, weather, and events. One person wanted to write a family memoir, but she was not sure if her great-grandmother’s name spelled Emily or Emely. Her research shows Emely was the correct spelling. You can’t make up this information. The inaccuracy takes away the credibility of your story.

Example: In The Winding Road, I wrote I was holding the “10 feet” tall IV stand as my cane to walk on the hospital floor after my surgery. My writing group laughed. One said, “The IV stand feels like 10 feet tall to you because you’re short.” I then Googled the height of IV stands and changed my story to “The IV stand looked like 6 feet tall.”

Continue reading…

.

.

.

Robbie’s Inspiration: Book Release Tour for The Winding Road: A Journey of Survival by Miriam Hurdle

Posted on by 6 comments

I’m over at Robbie Cheadle’s blog for Day 5 of The Winding Road launch tour. I talk about how I wrote my memoir. Please head over to join me for the discussion.
Robbie has a new children’s book Haunted Halloween Holidays releasing soon. You can find out more about this delicious book while you’re there.

Robbie's inspiration

Thank you for hosting my launch tour today, Robbie. I’m thrilled to be here to share my new book with your friends.

During the launch tour, I want to talk about memoir writing. Here is my topic for today.

How did I write my memoir?

Collecting data

During my fifty-three weeks of the cancer journey, especially the six months of full-time bio chemotherapy, I was so sick that all the days blended in together.

Emails – As soon as I found out about my cancer, I emailed the updates to my family and friends. They emailed back to show me their support. I saved all the emails.

Records – I kept all the medical records in a binder with tabs to organize the doctor’s referrals, doctor’s appointments, visit summaries, insurance authorizations, testing instructions, testing results, lab results, treatment schedules, and discharge summaries.

Journals – Whenever my head was a little…

View original post 913 more words

The Winding Road Book Tour with Miriam Hurdle

Posted on by 11 comments

I’m over at Pete Springer’s blog for my Day 3 of The Winding Road launch tour. Pete and I followed each other several years ago. He tells you why we became good friends. I love his book They Call Me Mom. Every new or experienced teacher will benefit from this book.

During this book launch tour, I talk about memoir writing. Today’s topic is How to Write an Experience Memoir. Please head over to join me for the discussion.

Pete Springer

I am pleased to give a shout-out to my friend, Miriam Hurdle, with the release of her latest book, The Winding Road. Miriam was one of the first people I met when I started blogging almost three and a half years ago. She is considerate and supportive, often taking the time to leave kind comments on others’ blogs. We first bonded because we’re both retired educators. Miriam not only taught but also became an administrator for several years near the end of her career. A second area we have in common is we both sang in church choirs. I know this is one of the things Miriam missed most during the pandemic. Finally, in retirement, we’ve both become writers. Having read her book of poetry, Songs of Heartstrings, and her children’s book, Tina Lost in a Crowd, I was excited to learn she had another story to tell. Her memoir…

View original post 961 more words

#booklaunch The Winding Road by Miriam Hurdle

Posted on by 4 comments

I’m over at my blogging friend, Liz’s blog https://lizgauffreau.com today. Liz is a poet and author of multiple books. She graciously hosts Day 3 of the launch tour for my new book, The Winding Road. She includes her fantastic critique and analytical review of my book. Please head over to join me for the tour. I talk about the types of memoirs today.

Elizabeth Gauffreau

I am very pleased to host Day 3 of blogging friend Miriam Hurdle’s book launch tour for her cancer memoir: The Winding Road: A Journey of Survival.

~

Thank you for hosting my launch tour today, Liz! I’m thrilled to be here to share my new book with your friends.

During this launch tour, I want to talk about memoir writing. Here is my topic for today.

Types of Memoirs

Many writers categorized the types of memoirs from a literacy point of view. I like the following ways to distinguish the types of memoirs from the memoirist’s perspective and their types of experiences. The following types of memoirs are self-explanatory. So, I include one example for each.

The Autobiographical Memoir

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
Most everyone is familiar with the story of Helen Keller. In this book, Keller talks about her life directly. Even the most cynical…

View original post 1,077 more words

« Older Entries