Writing the Hawaii Memoir

"Your life is so interesting—you should write a book!"


How many times have you heard that? Do you respond by saying, “I will, some day…” or “I’m still thinking about it...” or “I’m just not sure how to begin?” Perhaps you’ve even said, “I’m not much of a writer...maybe I should hire someone to do it for me.”


There’s a story inside you. It’s just waiting to be told—and the best person to tell that story is you! But don’t worry if you haven’t even written Word One of your memoir. That will change today. Writing the Hawai'i Memoir: Advice and Exercises to Help You Tell Your Story was written by international bestselling author and writing instructor Darien Gee to guide you from start to finish, so you know exactly what to do—and how to do it.


Writing the Hawai'i Memoir uses Hawai'i's rich cultural diversity and history of oral storytelling to propel writers into action. The “soup to nuts” structure of the book leads writers of any experience level through a natural, intuitive writing process that can be followed at any pace, quick or slow. This guide is for anyone who has a life story and wants to share it with others.


For most people, “writing a memoir” never goes beyond the mere idea of writing. It’s time for you to take the long-awaited next leap. Step-by-step, this book will help you put pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard. Your story, your memories, and your experiences will be gathered together in one place in a structured narrative form. This book goes beyond “how to” and gets you to completion through exercises and encouragement. The emphasis here is not on publication—though if that is your end goal, you’ll find pointers here for that, too—but on finishing your memoir so it can be shared with others.


This invaluable guide and how-to book includes writing tips and inspiration from more than 20 of Hawai'i’s best known writers, teachers, and storytellers. Try all of the 29 writing exercises and writing prompts or choose the ones that interest you the most.