My One-Year Memoir

One-Year Memoir is a mentoring group designed for ordinary people, as well as accomplished writers. You don't need to have any writing experience to join and succeed at writing your memoir in a year. We will go step-by-step in a way that works for just about everyone.

Without a doubt, you can do this with the time and help provided. With doable monthly assignments and Susy's feedback, you can write a rough draft of your story in a year. While life can be unpredictable—barring a serious health problem—if you commit to the One-Year Memoir experience, you can get your story down on paper a bit at a time and by the end of the year, you'll have a rough draft.

Probably not. The reality of writing and publishing is that all rough drafts need editing and polishing, and sometimes rewriting (whether you do this on your own or with a professional). But if you don't get your story down on paper, you don't have anything to polish and get ready for publication, or to share with others. This is your chance to actually do this with an expert mentor who will be guiding you for an entire year.

Susy will greet you, do some teaching on a specific topic to help with writing your memoir explain resources she may provide, let you know what she's seeing in the monthly assignments (generally—she won't share comments on your work publicly), Q&A, and give the next month's assignment. Being at the live Zoom is best (and the most energizing), but if you can't make a meeting you can watch the recording.

The easy way—by email! You will email your assignment each month to Susy. She will review it and discuss with you during your monthly one-on-one 30 minute coaching call/Zoom. The suggestions she does give are practical, focused, and positive, and based on her wide experience teaching and writing over a dozen memoirs.

There will be a dedicated Facebook group just for the One-Year Memoir coaching group to use. That group will be a good place to get to know each other, ask questions, share with each other how it's going, and cheer each other on. Susy will also be posting resources, meeting reminders, answers, and encouragement there. If you don't use Facebook--that's okay. Email works well, too.

Two things to know here: 

1. When the group starts, I will have you fill out and sign a contract with your goal word count for your memoir. You will need to hit that goal to get the 15% refund at the end of the year.
2. I will be looking at your monthly assignments and giving feedback (lots of encouraging feedback plus a few suggestions for improvement). With this monthly tracking, I'll be able to see how you're doing as you progress towards your goal for finishing your rough draft. At the end of the year, if you've finished your goal for your rough draft, I'll write you a check for 15% of the registration fee as a "Finishing Reward"!!

(NOTE: Scholarships are closed at this time.) My One-Year Memoir offers one 50% scholarship. When you put down the 50% deposit, you will receive an email within 3 days with a link to apply for this need-based scholarship.

Susy Flory is a memoir specialist and has had two memoirs hit the New York Times bestsellers list (one of them took the #1 slot!!). She is an author, co-author, and very experienced memoir teacher with a background in journalism, literature, education, and nonprofits. She is also a seminary student working on her doctorate, and graduated with her masters in 2022. 

Susy currently directs West Coast Christian Writers, a nonprofit she founded to host events and conferences for writers, which gives her a strong network of connections in writing and publishing. She also closely follows trends and is always working on her own books—she had a new memoir release with Tyndale in March of 2022. 

Susy has written over a dozen memoirs, both her own and with other people, in both the Christian and the general market, and it is her favorite genre to write in and teach to. While most of her experience is in traditional publishing, she has also been part of a number of self-published projects. You and your memoir are in good hands with this experienced, wise and encouraging mentor who loves working both in a group setting, and one-on-one.