🎧 When Memory Resists: What We Don't Want to Write

The surprising truth your "no" list reveals

Part Two of our Ten Things exercise reveals why the stories we resist most often hold the key to powerful memoir. Plus, a simple but profound way to identify what your resistance is trying to tell you.

Hi: Welcome to Part Two of our Ten Things exercise.

Last post, you made your list without thinking. Today, we're going to learn what that list is trying to tell you.

Why Resistance Matters

In my years of teaching memoir, I've noticed something fascinating: the stories we resist most often hold the greatest power. Our "absolutely not" becomes a compass pointing toward truth. That resistance, that immediate "no," tells us exactly where we need to look more closely.

Your Next Step

Got your list? 📃 Got your pencil (or pen)? ✏️

Circle the three items you do not want to write about. Then number them in order of "will-not-write-ness."

Simple? Yes. Easy? Seems so.

Revealing? More than you know.

Here's what I've learned: those three circled items often become the heart of our most powerful writing. Not because they're necessarily the most dramatic or tragic, but because they're the stories we've been protecting, the ones we've been carrying carefully, the ones that still have something to teach us.

In our next post, we'll explore exactly what these resistance points mean for your memoir journey.

~ Jennifer 🐦‍⬛