Memoirists!
Those of you who have slowed down on writing 'n reading time over the holidays, I hope you enjoyed your break. I know I did! Those of you who held down Fort Memoirist, we salute you!
I have a lot of ground to cover today, so let's jump into it.
New Writers
A big welcome to the following writers who just joined us: Paulina Rau, Melissa Sirois, Hogan Torah, Cynthia Colson, Scarlett Fanshaw, Melissa Marietta, Sheharyar Mumtaz, Cherie Jamison, Katerina Zitta, Deborah Camp, Iván Melicoff Abril, Jeanne Marron, Bec, Cathylouise, and BichoDoMato.
Welcome to the Memoirist Family! Please feel free to join our Facebook group and follow us on Twitter.
Winter Holiday—Editor Picks
Throughout December we've been featuring some amazing stories written by our memoirists about winter/winter holidays, etc.
We thought it would be fun to feature a few of our editorial picks from the bunch. (Read all of the stories here.)
Alex Frederickson, Editor
My Christmas story favourites:
Escape From Christmas Music by DC Palter. This one had me laughing out loud because it's so unexpected and he had me believing it really happened until his third "escape."
Long Ago Christmas on an Alaskan Homestead by Cindy Heath. I loved this for the way she paints the scene and how it's nostalgic without being overly sweet. There's a great lesson in her final paragraph too: "…we had more gifts but a lot less peace."
Rebecca Matthews, Editor
My two favorites are:
The Christmas I Found Out Santa Wasn't Real by Ann van der Giessen. I loved this story because she inadvertently spoiled the surprise, but in so doing realized that her dad was a far better gift than the belief in a man in a red suit.
The Gift of Fame by Laura Lind. I loved this story as the retelling of her and her aunt's Christmas tradition, but the best part to me was the last paragraph. Perfect ending to a delightful story.
Preeti Ramachandran, Editor
Here are my picks!:
The Christmas I Found Out Santa Wasn't Real by Ann van der Giessen. My reason aligns with Rebecca's — usually people remember the time they found out Santa wasn't real as a disappointing moment (from the stories I've read), this had such a touching realization that I loved.
Long Ago Christmas on an Alaskan Homestead by Cindy Heath. Short story with a great message and such vivid descriptions! I absolutely loved the inclusion of her family treasures — the diary notes and pictures.
KiKi Walter, Editor-in-Chief
It was so hard to just pinpoint a couple of favorites. I loved them all!
Christmas Chaos by Zoey Hale. I am drawn to memories others have that invoke similar sense memories from my own past. I am also drawn to chaos. (Surprise, surprise.) I love Zoey's descriptions and style of storytelling. Although they were her words and her memories, my own childhood played like a movie side-by-side to hers in my mind as I read her story.
A Christmas Story by Scot Butwell. I am a huge fan of Scot's writing as I relate to his stories as the parent of a daughter who has autism. In particular, Scot often explores the little details in life that often hold great meaning. His Christmas story was so relatable to me — I found myself rediscovering some of those little details over the past few years with my daughter, and maybe even some that in hindsight I recognize in myself.
Gaurav Jain, Editor
Our douche-rocket-in-chief Gaurav did not hand in his assignment. He probably flew to Paris for lunch or something. He gets an "F" this time. His consequence is that he must write next week's newsletter. (Love ya, G!) (But you're still going to write the newsletter.)
I'm going to use Rocket Man's space to give special mention to Rebecca Morton for her 12-part series Days of a Christmas Carol Past. You can find her entire series at the bottom of our special holiday page, as well as all of our other fabulous stories.
All of your stories were so wonderful!
Did Someone Say CONTEST? Did Someone Say CASH?
I was chatting with ye olde editorial squad on our hip-to-be square Slack channel and we thought it might be a cool idea to kick off the year with a fun little competition.
Writers are gluttons for punishment, right?
It will be attached to our January writing prompt, which I will sneak preview right now!
Next Month's Prompt Will Be: "Starting Over"
Stories can be about new beginnings/fresh start/starting over. Can be good, bad, anywhere in between. Whatever it means to you from the narrative of your life.
Contest Eligibility:
- You must be following The Memoirist
- Submissions must be through the publication only
- Tag: "Starting Over"
- Only memoir-style will be considered
- Only one part stories considered for the contest, no more than 8 minutes in reading time length
- Winner must be a Medium subscriber
- Only one winner will be chosen
- Editorial team will make final vote on February 1, 2022
- In addition to content, voting may also take into account: audience response, stats, fellow Memoirist response
- Editors are not eligible for the contest (but can still submit stories)
Award: $50.00 via PayPal, Venmo, or Ko-Fi (depends on location)
Winner will be announced the 2nd week of February.
Thank you for all that you do and for creating such a supportive, unique community! If you haven't read these stories yet, please check them out and give the authors a little shout-out! xo — Mama Ki