30. That's the Whole Memoir. Let Me Show You What I Mean

My goal every year is to finish a memoir of a specific time of my life so my daughters can read it whenever they feel like it.

That's the thing I've determined will matter most — not a publishing deal, not a byline, not a writing residency in Ohio.

Just the actual finished thing, preserved for the people I love.

To reach that, I don't need years of uninterrupted writing time.

I don't need an MFA or a dedicated home office.

Thirty chapters.

That's all I need.

If I were writing one that incorporated everything in my life, then I would just write one per meaningful chapter of my life.

When you break a memoir down into chapters, the whole thing stops being this enormous, suffocating idea and becomes something that looks a lot more like a to-do list.

30 chapters. 1 of them — fully written, polished, done — by Day 3 of The Story Frame Sprint.

That means you can easily knock out one memoir in 30 weeks, and if you have the right structure, systems, and time, you can do it in 15 weeks.

I used to think about my memoir the way most people do: as a finished book. A thing that exists in the world and proves something about my life.

I stopped thinking about the book and started thinking about the numbers.

30 chapters. That's the memoir. That's all it is.

And here's the thing about 30 chapters — you don't write them all at once.

You write one. You write it well. You get it finished, and you hold it in your hands, and you understand, maybe for the first time, that the rest of them are possible.

That's what the Sprint does.

On March 9th, The Story Frame Sprint runs for four days — one hour each — and by the time it's done, you'll have one complete, polished story and all 30 chapters outlined and waiting for you.

Four days. One hour each. $297.

Twelve writers at a time, working live with me through the structure that makes finishing unavoidable.

Reply to this email with "I'm ready," and I'll send you enrollment details.

Happy telling!

-Carlos

P.S. The Story Frame Sprint runs March 9th–12th at 9 am PST.

There's an optional Day 5 — Memoir Café — where you read your completed story aloud to the cohort. It's included free.

Twelve spots total.

If you've been thinking about it, this is the week to stop thinking about writing your memoir and do it.