GO ON, TRY my interactive calendar of emotional high holy days, regular-version high holy days and more. It’s probably my number one memoir writing tip, since writing on deadline, or to a deadline, is one of the single best ways to learn how to write memoir.
How to Use the Memoir Project Calendar
Hover your cursor over a cinnamon-colored date to see what pops up. Use it to start personal essays, radio pieces and op-eds to submit on deadline. How? Look three months out for radio ideas; six to twelve for magazine pieces. Pluck something from the calendar and start now to submit the very best work you can produce.
Here is how to stop using writing prompts and writing exercises, those time-wasting devices leave you merely practicing writing. You want to write with intent, and you want to succeed. So start today and do so.
Write with intent: Pick it, write it, submit it. Read and react. You’re a writer. That’s what writers do. So write on.
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| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4July, 4 2025Holiday Jell-OOf all the Jell-O salads I’ve seen, perhaps my all-time favorite was a Fourth of July concoction. Got a Jell-O story? Sure you do. One of mine even tosses in a funeral. | 5 | 6 | |
7July, 7 2025Daylillies in BloomIt’s daylily time in my neck of the woods. Do you know about the American Hemerocallis Society, an international daylily society? It was there I learned the preferred spelling is “daylily” as one word, and that the word Hemerocallis is derived from two Greek words meaning “beauty” and “day,” referring to the fact that each flower lasts only one day. Ah research. Remember to do it. See here for more on that topic here. | 8 | 9 | 10July, 10 2025The Full Buck MoonJuly’s Full Moon is known as the Full Buck Moon, a name we take from the Native American tradition. July is the month when the new antlers of buck deer push out of their foreheads in coatings of velvety fur. Also called the Full Thunder Moon, July’s moon has also been referred to as Full Hay Moon. Think that moments in nature are merely small stuff? Never disparage the small stuff. All Hail Kitty Litter!Today is birthday in 1920 of the inventor of kitty litter. After serving a stint in the Navy, Edward H. Lowe suggested the use of clay instead of ashes for his neighbor’s cat, in an attempt to deal with the sooty footprints. What started as ten bags filled and labeled kitty litter and sold at his local dept store, resulted both in the use of kitty litter as a household name and the product being appreciated by cat owners worldwide. Got a pet story? I do. | 11 | 12 | 13 |
14July, 14 2025Meet the BeetlesIs there an official beetle month? Not really, but if there is an unofficial month for them, July is surely it. Fireflies in the twilight, whirligigs in the ponds, beetles are on your roses, beans, squash, and potatoes. Love them, hate them? Write to nature’s calendar. Here’s an example of how to do that. | 15 | 16July, 16 2025Armadillos are MatingAccording to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, armadillos are mating right about now. I wouldn’t lie to you. The season occurs July and August. Normal litter size is four, all of the same sex and all genetically identical since offspring are derived from a single egg. Born fully developed, it takes only several weeks for their pink leathery skin to harden into its lifelong protective covering. Nature has its own calendar, you know. Got an armadillo story? I’d love to see it. | 17July, 17 2025A Great Gift to AmericaOn this day in 1838 a ship left port in England carrying the possessions of James Smithson, who left those treasures to America to found the Smithsonian Institution. Interestingly, Smithson had never visited the US. Got a Smithsonian story? Here’s your news peg, news you can use to write memoir. | 18 | 19 | 20 |
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