The Work of Memoir

Posted on May 25, 2018 by Irene Waters 19 Writer Memoirist

The first of a series of memoir post I wrote for Carrot Ranch.

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About Irene Waters 19 Writer Memoirist

I began my working career as a reluctant potato peeler whilst waiting to commence my training as a student nurse. On completion I worked mainly in intensive care/coronary care; finishing my hospital career as clinical nurse educator in intensive care. A life changing period as a resort owner/manager on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu was followed by recovery time as a farmer at Bucca Wauka. Having discovered I was no farmer and vowing never again to own an animal bigger than myself I took on the Barrington General Store. Here we also ran a five star restaurant. Working the shop of a day 7am - 6pm followed by the restaurant until late was surprisingly more stressful than Tanna. On the sale we decided to retire and renovate our house with the help of a builder friend. Now believing we knew everything about building we set to constructing our own house. Just finished a coal mine decided to set up in our backyard. Definitely time to retire we moved to Queensland. I had been writing a manuscript for some time. In the desire to complete this I enrolled in a post grad certificate in creative Industries which I completed 2013. I followed this by doing a Master of Arts by research graduating in 2017. Now I live to write and write to live.
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4 Responses to The Work of Memoir

  1. Sharon Bonin-Pratt's avatar Sharon Bonin-Pratt says:
    May 25, 2018 at 2:10 pm

    The Carrot Ranch site is closed to comments so I’m going to tell you here how much I enjoyed this article, Irene. I don’t write memoir with the intention of publication as a book, but I draw on my personal experiences for many of my blog articles. Nearly always I disguise other people with characteristics not their own. They don’t deserve to be poorly represented even when they do. I think we live events through a filter of our backgrounds, determined by our age and location, our neuroses and aspirations, and our ability to glean what was really essential about an event. If we thought it was the number of cupcakes each kid ate when it was really how difficult it was to acquire sugar and flour and chocolate, then we’ve missed the provocative element. It’s this unique perspective that makes one memoir frivolous and the other momentous.

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  2. Charli Mills's avatar Charli Mills says:
    May 27, 2018 at 2:38 pm

    Good idea to repost! I can go back and adjust the comments. I think I have it set at 30 days because of shutting down the challenges.

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