Six Years of Journals, Outlines, and False Starts. His Memoir Still Isn't Finished. Here's Why.
My writing journey took me on a detour a few years back. I became an editor for a handful of publications, including three that I co-founded with two friends. This was one of the best experiences I could've had, and I would've never sought it out.
I had an opportunity to meet hundreds of writers and edit thousands of pieces.
I want to tell you about a very talented writer I know.
He had everything you'd think you'd need.
A genuinely remarkable life — the kind with real stakes, real loss, real transformation. A sharp, natural voice. Decades of journals filled with material. Retirement, which meant actual time. Children who had been asking for years when the book was coming.
He had been "working on his memoir" for six years.
Six years of notes.
Six years of opening chapters.
Six years of folders and outlines and false starts that each felt, for a week or two, like the real beginning.
His memoir is not finished.
I'm not sharing this to be discouraging. I'm sharing it because he is not the exception. He is the rule.
The people with the most material are often the ones who finish last — because the abundance of what they have to say makes starting feel impossible.
Where do you begin when your whole life is on the table?
What do you leave out?
What if you pick the wrong story?
These are not writing problems. They are structural problems.
With the right structure, the question "where do I begin?" has a specific, answerable answer. The question "which story do I tell?" has a framework that makes the choice obvious. The question "how do I know when it's done?" has a definition built into the process itself.
That's what the Story Frame gives you.
And the Sprint gives you four days to use it — with guidance, with feedback, and with eleven other writers in the room who showed up for the same reason you did.
The Story Frame Sprint starts March 9th. Doors close when all spots are filled — whichever comes first.
You will receive unlimited access to all sessions' recordings if you sign up before the invitation expires.
Happy telling!
-Carlos
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