Welcome to The Memoir Project,
the portal to your writing life.
What began with one little book is now a proven method to meet all your memoir writing needs. How do we know it works?
151 Books published
by our students
Plus countless personal essays, Modern Love columns, op-eds and more.
Ready to Write Memoir?
Sign up and I'll send you my 5-day challenge for creating a memoir-writing plan, plus articles, expert interviews, and more.
Hello, my name is
Marion Roach Smith
The Memoir Project is the latest incarnation of me, Marion Roach Smith, and was begun in April, 2017, as the online expression of my unique form of teaching memoir.
I work as a memoir coach, memoir teacher and editor. I have an entire curriculum of online memoir classes. You can hire me to edit your work, or work with you as a writing coach. Perhaps you’d like to listen to my audio book. There are many ways in which I can help you. Just ask.
I welcome you, and hope you find what you are looking for in my albeit deeply personal approach to the greatest portal to self-discovery that I know: writing memoir.
Do you want to learn to write memoir of any length, and on every platform? You've come to the right place.
No one else teaches memoir like I do. To help you create writing that others will read, we will never use prompts or writing exercises. Ever. I have never used them and no one I’ve taught gets any from me. Instead, we get right to work.
Sound good?
Buy the Book
The Memoir Project: A ThoroughlyNon-Standardized Text for Writing & Life.
THE GREATEST STORY you could write is one you’ve experienced yourself. Knowing where to start is the hardest part, but it just got a little easier with this essential guidebook for anyone wanting to write a memoir.
Through the use of disarmingly frank, but wildly fun tactics that offer you simple and effective guidelines that work, you can stop treading water in writing exercises or hiding behind writer’s block.
Online Classes
Here at The Memoir Project, we teach you the fine art of writing what you know. We do so through our classes, our editors and our many free webinars.
Our classes begin with Memoirama, our 90-minute include introductory session and run through the fine art of the personal essay, how to write opinion pieces, advanced instruction in book structure, and include a Master Class in which you may complete a first draft of your book-length memoir.
I welcome you, and hope you find what you are looking for in my albeit deeply personal approach to the greatest portal to self-discovery that I know: writing memoir.
Memoirama 1
Everyone starts here. Learn Discover the principles of good memoir, get the tools to start writing immediately, and ask me questions during the live Q&A.
Memoirama 2
Take this next. Learn book structure. Get direct feedback from Marion as you map out your book beat by beat, chapter by chapter, and scene by scene.
How to Write Opinion Pieces
Ready to Write & Publish? Test your voice in the world by writing solid pieces for newspaper op-ed pages, public radio, and digital sites.
The Master Class
Now you can write a book. Limited to 6 students, in this class you will write the first draft of your book and receive feedback. The class meets live online for 3 hours, once a month for six months.
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QWERTY Podcast
DON’T MISS an episode of Qwerty, the podcast for memoir writers.
