Woo hoo! This is the official registration page for Outline Your Memoir, Wendy's live eight-week class.
The video below talks a little bit about my goals for this class and why I created it. To sign up, scroll to the bottom of this page. Hope to see you there. :-)
About "Outline Your Memoir: Eight Weeks to Structure"
This is the class I wish I’d had before I’d written my first book. In this course, you’ll gain all the information you need to write a compelling memoir. The goal is to end up with a completed outline by the end of our eight weeks together.
In order to outline your book, you first need to understand memoir-writing structure. Structure is synonymous with plot. However, memoir-writing structure is rarely intuitive. It’s a lot more like biology — it’s something you have to learn. There are rules to writing a memoir and without understanding them, it’s nearly impossible to write a good book.
I created this class because I wanted to share the information on structure I never found anywhere else, the information I learned over ten years of teaching memoir writing.
Each week we'll advance one more step in crafting a successful memoir. Every seven days you'll get a video lecture and an assignment, which we'll discuss during our live weekly meeting.
Mistakes you will learn to avoid:
- Readers don’t get excited about your memoir because it’s not really about anything.
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Your book doesn't create a sense of suspense.
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Your reader gets lost in time.
- Your reader gets the “Why is the author telling me this?” sensation.
- You fall into the “This happened, then this” trap.
- Your writing doesn’t affect your reader emotionally.
Not only will you avoid these traps that almost all first-time memoir writers fall into — by the end of the class, you should feel very much in control of your plot and have a strong sense of your prose style. In short, you will understand the rules that are absolutely essential to crafting a successful memoir.
This is the class I wish I'd had when I was first starting out.
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Week 1: Scenes are your building blocks
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Week 2: Structuring your scenes
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Week 3: Writing scenes with dialogue
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Week 4: Your book in three acts
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Week 5: Creating your chapters
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Week 6: Using a narrative want to create structure
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Week 7: Using a chapter premise for structure
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Week 8: Transitions vs. scenes
How the class works
- You pick your class time from the options at the bottom of this page.
- Each class section is limited to six people.
- Each week you'll get a video that is 20-30 minutes long and covers a particular writing topic. The video also explains your weekly assignment, which is always directly applicable to the writing of your book. No warmup exercises in this class! We have too much to cover.
- You turn in your assignment two days before our meeting time. Several hours later, I send you everyone else's assignments via email.
- The same day of class, I return all assignments with written comments.
- During class, we have a brief discussion of the video topic and then we discuss the assignments one by one so that everyone gets feedback from me.
- Each class lasts between 90 minutes and two hours each week. We meet for eight weeks. Specific dates can be found further down on this page.
- If you need to leave class early, let me know and we'll move your assignment up to the head of the queue.
- You also have the option of joining our private Telegram group where you can connect with your classmates and share additional pages you are writing.
- Classes are recorded so that you can review feedback or catch a class that you missed.
Class dates
(you'll choose your class time at the bottom of the page)
Online classroom opens and materials go out
- January 19
Class 1
- Thursday session: January 27
- Saturday session: January 29
Class 2
- Thursday session: February 3
- Saturday session: February 5
Class 3
- Thursday session: February 10
- Saturday session: February 12
Class 4
- Thursday session: February 17
- Saturday session: February 19
Class 5
- Thursday session: February 24
- Saturday session: February 26
Class 6
- Thursday session: March 3
- Saturday session: March 5
Class 7
- Thursday session: March 10
- Saturday session: March 12
Class 8
- Thursday session: March 17
- Saturday session: March 19
Frequently asked questions
I have an MBA and have taken lots of other writing classes. Is this the right class for me?
Many of my students have MFAs. I've even had people take this class who were college English professors with Ph.D.s in literature. The information you get from this course is information you won't find anywhere else, not even in an MFA program.
I am a newbie just starting my memoir. Will this class be too advanced?
While I encourage experienced writers to take this class, the information is designed to be step by step and easy to understand. If you do the weekly assignments and watch the videos, you shouldn't have any problem keeping up with the more advanced students, especially if you take the Pre-Class first. You can learn more about the Pre-Class by clicking here.
Can I take this class in lieu of hiring a developmental editor?
Absolutely! In fact, sometimes I wish I had called this class, "The Much Cheaper and Better Alternative to Hiring a Developmental Editor." But somehow, that just doesn't roll off the tongue!
A developmental editor will help fix your book. Instead, I like to teach you memoir-writing concepts that will work for any book. You'll understand the moving parts of a memoir and how to bend them to your will. This class will also cost you thousands of dollars less than a developmental editor.
If you're just starting out, you won't finish your book in the eight-week class time period. However, I do have a small group coaching program that is an option after this class. We meet twice a month in groups of four people and you get half an hour of feedback from me on your book alone. (The class lasts two hours and you can turn in up to 10 pages of writing for each meeting.) The cost for this group coaching is $150 per month. You can start or stop at any time. You only have to commit to a month at a time.
However, this group coaching is only available to people who have taken Outline Your Memoir. You have to understand the basic concepts of memoir writing before enrolling in the group coaching class.
I already have a lot of my book written. Should I still enroll in this class?
Even if you have a good portion of your book written, you'll probably still find that your manuscript still needs a lot of work when it comes to structure. Also, if you are moving faster than the other students, I have optional assignments to ensure that everyone is moving at their own pace, no matter where they are in the book-writing process.
What will I have accomplished at the end of the eight weeks?
At the bare minimum, you should have a completed working outline of your book. This outline will be divided into chapters and will include a description of each scene that goes in your book. You should also have at least one chapter written and several scenes. Some people will get more done, especially if they have been working on their memoirs for some time.
Why can't I sign up now? Why do I have to wait for the signup time?
There is so much interest in this class that it always sells out extremely quickly. The last time it sold out in one minute. I establish a signup date and time to give everyone the same chance of getting in. I also find that people who are willing to set their alarms to sign up are the people who are most dedicated to getting their memoirs written. I get the best students this way.
Do you offer one on one coaching?
I get people asking me to coach them privately all the time. The last person begged and pleaded and told me she would even name her new granddaughter after me if I accepted. (I think she was joking about that last part.)
I no longer do one-on-one coaching because I feel that this class plus the add-on class (more about that in a sec) actually offer a lot more value. After this class, you have the option to purchase small group coaching where you submit pages from your book and get half an hour of one-on-one time with me every other week, with three other people in a two-hour class. The cost is $150 per month. But I require that people take the eight-week class first because the group coaching is very advanced.
This is why I don't do one-on-one coaching anymore. People learn so much more in these small group settings. They get the same feedback yet they also get to hear the feedback I give to others struggling with the same memoir-writing concepts. It can often be easier to see a concept applied to another person's pages because you aren't emotionally attached to someone else's work.
I'd have to charge hundreds of dollars an hour to make one-on-one coaching worth my while, which I would feel guilty making anyone pay. I always try and keep my prices very reasonable, even though many people write to me to tell me that I should actually charge much more. My conscience just won't let me. Sigh. What's a girl to do?
To sign up for Fast Track Your Memoir, pick one of the class times below.
You'll only be charged $80 now. Your deposit is fully refundable for a 7-day period.
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Single payment plan
Pay $80 now and $495 in 30 days.
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Two-payment plan
Pay $80 now. Thirty days later, you'll be charged $260. Thirty days after that, you'll make your final payment of $260.
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Three-payment plan
Pay $80 now and your first payment of $180 in 30 days. You'll make two more payments of $180, each spaced 30 days apart.