This step-by-step program gives you the tools, guidance, clarity (and gentle nudging!) to turn your memories into a compelling memoir.
Join Memoir Writing Ink ↗USD$497 once · or 3 monthly payments of USD$199 (USD$597 total)
See what’s inside ↓Many of my students have been thinking about writing their story for ages. Some have made numerous attempts, but for one reason or another they lost momentum, lacked discipline or clarity, or ran into obstacles that keep them stuck...for years.
I've been there! Which is why I am able to genuinely say: I can help.
This program is a distillation of everything I’ve learned over 35 years of writing bestselling books with major publishers, as well as multiple award-winning stories and plays. I've helped hundreds of people achieve their dreams of publishing their memoirs, winning awards, or creating priceless gifts for their families.
Whatever your dreams for your writing might be, you can finally birth the memoir that lives within you.
A STUDENT’S EXPERIENCE
“Before taking this course, I felt like I was lost in a maze with no way out. I knew I had a lot to tell, and lessons in life that I could pass along to others, but I didn’t know how to put all that together and make a book out of it. I was in constant doubt. This course made me realize I could do this. And now I can look at this same maze from above and know my way out. I call Alison ‘my angel’ because she and her work truly rescued me.”
Parvin Kolahdooz Author of The Big Brown Suitcase
And many questions that can stand in your way.
Without a clear understanding of how to shape story and maintain its momentum and purpose, it is easy to become discouraged and give up. But with the right tools, guidelines, direction and support, not only can you begin your story, but you can also successfully complete it.
A wonderful memoir is less about the content than how that story is written and shaped. When a memoir is framed and executed well, when key mistakes are avoided and the proper questions are asked along the way, your story can become one readers invest in and care about.
What if you don't remember exactly? What if someone remembers things differently? How do you recreate dialogue that happened decades ago? What is the line between memory and invention? What if someone doesn’t want you to write this story? These questions can feel like obstacles, but they can actually be the doorways to the finest iterations of your story.
You may wish to publish a book or story, which is an immensely satisfying endeavour. But just writing your story is an important honouring of your life. In fact, it can be one of the most empowering, illuminating, and liberating things you ever do. When it is done well, it can even become one of the most generous creations.
THE COMPLETE PROGRAM
Regardless of your level of experience, the program's 4-step framework will help you craft the memoir you wish to write.
Whether you are an experienced writer or a rank beginner, these lessons will guide you through every essential aspect of memoir writing, ensuring that you are considering your story from all angles and crafting your finest possible work.
Designed for every type of learner, the program includes over 50 engaging and inspiring video, audio and text lessons. [CLOSED CAPTIONS are available.] For a full course curriculum, click HERE.
Each of the selected readings demonstrates a lesson in action, so that you are not just learning ‘concepts’ but seeing exactly how to become a better writer every time you read.
Hearing memoir writers talking about their books, struggles, and insights can illuminate the writing process and help us understand how these authors went from ideas to bestselling books.
Depending on your level of experience, you can choose to apply what you are learning to an existing manuscript or follow the clear prompts and suggestions to get you started. Either way, you'll develop a writing practice and a rhythm that will give you the momentum you need to explore, craft, and complete your memoir.
Gentle nudges and breaths of inspiration are helpful! Twice-weekly email check-ins will keep you accountable (and smiling), offering you fresh ideas, encouragement and focus.
Get your specific questions answered and addressed! Bi-monthly live Q&As are extremely popular with our students, who often say they learn as much from hearing the answers to other people's questions as their own.
These popular sessions offer the opportunity to connect with other students in the program, find a writing partner or join a writing group, or simply discuss your writing with other people who are engaged in similar work. These are people with whom you can share writing and/or stay accountable and write together on a regular basis. Writing doesn't need to be lonely work!
A deep dive into a great book, an interview with a guest writer or editor, in-depth instruction on a particular aspect of memoir writing -- these special events are additional ways to expand your knowledge and add some extra zing to your course experience!
INCLUDED WITH YOUR ENROLLMENT
You will also have access to a series of extra teachings, including Become Your Own Best Editor, Memoir as Poetry, How/Where to Publish Your Work (including lists of magazines and publishers that actively publish memoir) and What an Octopus Can Teach You About Memoir {hard to explain...}. :)
Read some examples of pitch letters for personal stories that got published. You may not need them now, but they may be helpful once you are looking to publish some of your writing.
Receive a discount to attend a memoir writing retreat in Canada, Europe, Mexico, Australia or New Zealand...[Why not dream?]
“The difference is the ongoing teaching and support available throughout the course. None of the usual ‘Thank you for your money, here’s your Powerpoint, good-bye.’”
Jane MacLean Memoir Writing Ink student
FROM OUR STUDENTS
“I could hardly wait to open each weekly lesson. Alison’s contagious enthusiasm was totally worth the price of admission. The content itself is priceless: dynamic author interviews, thoughtful presentations, generative writing exercises, a library of resources to draw upon for a lifetime. Memoir Writing Ink is one of the best investments I have ever made in myself.”
Cate Whittington
“I was a bit reticent to participate in any kind of writing course as I had been badly burned by several negative experiences with writers groups in the past. Taking this course has been the best decision ever!
I am writing again. The stories are flowing and I am now feeling inspired, hopeful, energized and thrilled with my progress. Alison’s lightness of being, her kindness, and her incredibly comprehensive and well-thought out program have led me out of the darkness.
I have taken many writing courses over the last 25 years, have earned an MFA in Creative Writing, and I can say without hesitation that this is, by far, the most well-organized, comprehensive and effective course I have ever taken.”
Marlene Simon
“I would shout from the rooftops if I could! I highly recommend this course, Alison is a fabulous and inspiring teacher, and this is a wonderful opportunity. Seize the moment. It could be life-changing!”
Ellen Moss
YOUR GUIDE, ALISON WEARINGA NOTE FROM ALISON
I believe deeply in human creativity, authenticity and compassion, especially in a world that seems to be increasingly built of the opposite. There are programs that promise that you can write your memoir in 6 weeks (or maybe even 6 days!) using AI, and I would like to state clearly: this is not one of those programs.
You will not create a quick product partly shaped by a robot. You will not be given a formula into which you plug your details.
Instead, I will honour the unique shape of your life and story. I will help you strengthen your own voice and develop creative capacities you didn't know you had, gain insights that could be life-changing, trust the compass of your heart, and write a memoir that may surprise, and perhaps even liberate, you.
If this speaks (or sings!) to you, I hope you'll join me in Memoir Writing Ink.
Alison
Bestselling, award-winning author,
playwright, performer
and writing mentor.
A PROMISE FROM ALISON
I imagined and created every aspect of this program, wrote every word of it myself, and our community and support people are all human beings who lead with their hearts. ❤️
I will never suggest that you give your voice or your creative power away to AI, and I believe that only you can truly understand your story's highest iteration and meaning.
Alison Wearing
IS THIS COURSE FOR YOU?
You don’t need to want to publish your story to want to write it.
You don’t even need to know what you want to write about.
It means that something in you is longing to be born.
YOUR MASTERCLASS INVITATION
We are a Canadian company based in Stratford, Ontario. Our students are from all over the world and we invite you to pay in your home currency. ❤️
Choose Canadian dollars, British pounds, Euros, Australian dollars, New Zealand dollars, or US dollars in the pricing panel to pay in that currency.
Prefer to start at a later date? Simply purchase the course now and email support@alisonwearing.com to request an alternate start date.
THE COMPLETE MEMOIR WRITING INK PROGRAM
Both payment options include the same lessons, readings, exercises, live sessions, emails, and bonuses.
Join Memoir Writing Ink ↗Choose Your Home Currency
Your chosen currency and payment option will be selected at checkout. Review your order and any applicable tax before paying.
Please note that online course purchases are non-refundable. Questions about fit? Contact hello@alisonwearing.com before enrolling.
BEFORE YOU DECIDE
The course is a combination of video and audio lessons, recommended readings, exercises, interviews and live events. You can access the course lessons whenever you like and move through them in your own time. The live events are always recorded so you never need to worry about missing anything.
No. One of the interesting things about memoir is that people with all levels of writing experience tend to come up against the same series of questions, obstacles and issues – and the same answers, tools and perspectives can help everyone. You do not need to ‘be a writer’ to write your story. We become writers by writing.
It varies. Each chapter's videos, readings, texts and writing tasks might take 30-60 minutes to review, but everything is broken down into small pieces to give you the option of sitting down for 10-20 minutes at a time OR becoming inspired by an exercise that has you writing for an hour or more. It’s entirely up to you.
Impossible! Once you register, you’ll have lifetime access (held for you as long as Memoir Writing Ink continues turning its pages!) to these materials and be free to go at your own pace well beyond our time together. The 12-week timeline refers to the weekly unveiling of chapters, and it is a suggested pace only. You are welcome to move through the materials and return to them whenever you wish, and to take as long as you like.
We do everything we can to schedule the live sessions to accommodate people in different time zones (so that no matter where you are in the world, you will have the opportunity to attend at least one of the events live).
And, all the live sessions are recorded and made available for 30 days after the event, so you never need to worry about missing anything.
Absolutely not! This course is actually designed with beloved Luddites in mind, so if you can read this FAQ page, you can navigate the course. :)
AN INVITATION FROM ALISON
Just an idea. :)
Join Memoir Writing Ink ↗USD$497 once · or 3 monthly payments of USD$199 (USD$597 total)
