Memoir as Medicine: The Healing Power of Writing Your Messy, Imperfect, Unruly (but Gorgeously Yours) Life Story

A wonderfully fresh and frank guide to why and how to write personal stories that will heal, liberate, inspire — and entertain — both writer and reader

Writing has been medicine for Nancy Slonim Aronie. At nine months old, her son Dan was diagnosed with diabetes. Then, at twenty-two, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. During the years she and her husband took care of Dan, and when he died at age thirty-eight, Aronie could not find the book she needed. So she wrote her memoir.

In teaching memoir writing, Aronie has found that everyone has a story to tell and that telling it is important. Sharing “this is who I am, these are the things that shaped me, this is where I am now” allows a kind of magic and healing to happen. Over decades of writing and teaching, Aronie has created a set of prompts, directions, and examples that she shares in Memoir as Medicine . She shows readers how to write through where they have been and into deep understanding, profound healing, and even unexpected joy.