Special invitation to writers and aspiring writers:
You want to transform life events and insights into a publishable memoir. Follow a proven path to guide your process and decisions to author the book only you can write.
The Complete Memoir Course: Master the Art and Craft of Writing Life Stories
Write personal narrative (memoir, essay, and more) without getting stuck, so that you transform life experience into meaning that matters and books your readers will love.
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The Pain of an Untold Story
Have you ever felt the burden of your untold stories? Do your experiences and lessons matter? Your life brims with extraordinary moments, invaluable lessons, and unique perspectives. Yet, when left unspoken, they vanish into obscurity. Unwritten memoirs don't just dodge your chance to make meaning from your life, they squander the opportunity to share your experiences and insight, land to build a lasting legacy for future generations.
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
– Maya Angelou
- Every story left untold is a missed opportunity to contribute to the tapestry of human experience, a voice silenced that could have echoed through time.
- Imagine the frustration and sorrow of reaching the twilight years, burdened by the realization that the chapters of your life remained unwritten and unshared. This is not just a personal loss; it is a loss for your loved ones and the world at large.
- When you find your story, you make meaning from your life. You may discover that there are news ways to think about your life as you recognized the arc of growth in your life.
- Living a life without meaningfully capturing and sharing your journey can leave a hollow sense of incompletion. It's not just about the stories of grand achievements or extraordinary events; it's about the everyday moments, the lessons learned from challenges, the joy found in small victories, and the love shared with others.
Your story is the greatest legacy that you will leave to your friends. It’s the longest-lasting legacy you will leave to your heirs.
– Steve Saint
Don’t let your life be a story that is never told. Don’t let your experiences be lessons that are never learned by others. Embrace the power of your narrative, and ensure that it is not only remembered but celebrated and cherished for generations to come.
A Proven Path to Success
Use the process used by successful writers and structured for you in this course so you don't get stuck. The reason people fail to complete a literary work are predictable and are often tied to being overwhelmed and to believing they don't have time. You can write for less than an 40 minutes for 4 or more days a week and still complete a draft of your memoir in less than 6 months. But you can take as long as you need. Just don't get stuck because you failed to make an important decision that will move you forward. We teach our JUMP method that will keep your writing engine in gear. Amy Lou Jenkins developed the JUMP method after working with hundreds of writing students. It works!
Step One
Take the online course delivered via video and written content, and follow the content creation schedule that you create based on your schedule.
You plan your learning and writing schedule (hint: we recommend short and easy word count goals, so you'll look forward to meeting and exceeding your goals).
Step Two
Meet on our Facebook Group and find support, encouragement, and problem-solving. When you are ready for feedback looking for supportive feedback, join an online workshop to share a few pages of your work. Get feedback about where readers engage or disengage from your work. We'll point out your strengths and challenge you a bit. This course includes five workshop sessions if you choose to participate.
Step Three
When you complete what you believe is a final draft, we'll help to set you on your publishing path and explain the options. Your story deserves to be read. If you've engaged with others as your write, you may have your readers and supporters waiting for you.
Course Access
$697
Facebook Group
5 Workshop Sessions
Video and Written Lessons to move from prewriting through drafting, and decision making about publishing options
Downloadable workbooks, worksheets, and resources
Craft Lessons to build your writing skills as you go
Writing Exercises to help you find your art and narrative direction
Wait--What if I don't Want to Write a Publishable Memoir, What if I Simply Want to Write out Family Stories and Give Copies to the Family?
We hear you! Your stories are important, and not everyone has the urge to complete a book. You can write stories centered around family photos or write mini-memoirs, or write a full-length manuscript that doesn't need to be publisher-worthy. Find the tech lessons, samples, templates and more in our Write-A-Gift Course.
Your course creator, Amy Lou Jenkins, has published hundreds of projects, yet she also uses words and stories as gifts. Consider the Write-A-Gift Course to honor those you love and to tell your stories. This course is for anyone who wants to use words and or stories as the basis for meaningful gifts.
Special Beta Launch Pricing will expire.
About Amy Lou Jenkins BSN MS MFA
Meet Your Memoir Mentor
Amy Lou Jenkins is an award-winning writer and nonfiction writing teacher. She holds an MFA in Literature and Writing from Bennington College. She is widely published in books, anthologies, essays, and literary criticism. articles, Her students have published dozens and dozens of books, essays and more. Esteemed writers and reviewers have praised her writing prowess.
• “Any reader drawn to the outdoors will cherish Every Natural Fact and its author's sensual intelligence potted in the fertile soil of a boundless curiosity for the world. Amy Lou Jenkins is the Anna Quindlen of the north woods, the Rachel Carson of the good land of Wisconsin, bequeathing to her son and to all of us an indestructible sense of wonder.” — Bob Shacochis, National Book Award-winning author of Easy in The Islands and The Immaculate Invasion
•"Braiding together history, memoir, gentle parenting guidance, and superb nature writing, Jenkins' prose illuminates the details of ordinary life."—Susan Cheever, author of American Bloomsbury
•Wisconsin's wild areas become the world in extraordinary debut by Amy Lou Jenkins'. Every Natural Fact is nothing less than sensational.— Pamela Miller, Minneapolis Star Tribune.
•"If you combined the lyricism of Annie Dillard, the vision of Aldo Leopold, and the gentle but tough-minded optimism of Frank McCourt, you might come close to Amy Lou Jenkins, a writer who obliterates the distinction between regional writing and actual, honest-to-god writing. I, for one, would follow her anywhere."—Tom Bissell, author of The Father of All Things
•"What makes this book such a marvel is the way the human and the non-human are kept in perfect balance: the psychological dance of a mother and son, with all its funny, touching, realistic two-steps, intersects with the desire to be opened up to the mystery and rapture of the natural sublime. It is a splendid fusion, as much about parenting and education and generation gaps as it is about patient observation of landscapes in flux. Jenkins' polished literary style makes it, sentence by sentence, a joy to read."— Phillip Lopate, author of Waterfront and The Art of the Personal Essay
•"Amy Lou Jenkins writes with complexity about the dance human beings do with nature, and with one another...She puts together pieces of history, natural history, and parenting to make a touching and memorable whole. The whole thing rings true." —Michael Finley, judge of the Ellis Henderson Outdoor Writing Award.
•"Her vivid imagery mixes a naturalist's precision with a spiritual seeker's poetry." –Robert Wake, author and editor of Cambridge Book Review Press and co-judge for the X.J. Kennedy Award for Nonfiction.
•"Every generation has needed an Aldo Leopold or Thoreau to waken us from the weariness of the day-by-day. Amy Lou Jenkins is our John Muir and we never needed what she does more" —John Lehman
•Patricia Ellis Herr writes, "Jenkins writes beautifully and brilliantly. As a resident of mountainous New Hampshire, I never thought I'd be interested in the lands of Wisconsin, but Jenkins's lush descriptions of her state's natural habitats instill a deep appreciation for those beloved meadows, marshes and woodlands. She is a gifted writer; her narrative is rich and detailed."
Every Natural Act: Five Seasons of Open-Air Parenting by Amy Lou Jenkins (Holy Cow! Press, $14.95): Wisconsinite Jenkins holds an MFA in creative writing from Bennington College, and it shows in this intimate account of how she used nature to talk to her daughter and son about everything from freedom of speech to overpopulation. From trips to the Wisconsin Dells to watching eagles at Prairie du Chien, Jenkins wants her children to see the world through a natural prism.
•Always Jenkins is introspective, as when she shares with readers her thoughts as she looks at herself after 40: “I will do no more to propel my genes into the future through childbirth. The biologic drive to reproduce and raise children is essential to survival of the species, but it is a worthless effort without a healthy planet. My purpose is to nourish the earth, to point my descendants to a way and a land where they may thrive.” — Mary Ann Grossmann of the Twin Cities Pioneer Press
•"Jenkins cites her Grandpa Ed as the font of her vast knowledge of Wisconsin flora and fauna, but it is her turn of phrase that makes this knowledge captivating to both D.J. and the reader"— Wisconsin People and Ideas
•"Ratings that go above and beyond the standard five stars should be made specially available for books like this. Magnificent. Beautiful. Intelligent. Thoughtful."— 5 Minutes for Books
•"This is a rich book, reflective of an active and thoughtful intellect." —Susan Schoch, Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
•"With a nod to the powerful spiritual roots that we all share, Every Natural Fact is a poignant reminder that we best enhance our own individual growth and development by maintaining a healthy deference to the inherent wisdom that lies within us all. An enlightening, spiritually fulfilling read." —Read the full Apex review and press release
•"The history, the stories, her love of nature and her family come through in these wonderful essays." — Fran Lewis' Reviews.
•"I am happy to say that Every Natural Fact now has a home next to A Sand County Almanac on my bookshelf!" —TCM Book Reviews
Course Access
$697
Facebook Group
5 Workshop Sessions
Video and Written Lessons to move from prewriting through drafting, and decision making about publishing options. Course lessons released at least twice a month until all modules have been released.
Downloadable workbooks, worksheets, and resources
Craft Lessons to build your writing skills as you go
Writing Exercises to help you find your art and narrative direction
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What's Included?
Enjoy unlimited access to the online lessons which will guide you from brainstorming your memoir and prewriting all the way to a finished draft. Along the way,
- Get Access to the LearnDash Classroom where you will find Modules packed with multiple video lessons, worksheets, and support.
- Module One: Inro to Memoir and Jump Method
- Module Two: Into to Your Memoir
- Module Three: Writing the Personal Essay (Including -why this will help you sell your book)
- Module Four: Structure and Plotting
- Module Five: Finishing your Memoir including Fictionalizing your Memoir, Publishing Options and Legal Considerations
- Other Sections with additional Craft lessons and Writing Exercises.
- Enjoy 5 group workshop sessions where you will get feedback on up to 1600 words of your memoir writing at each group session.
2. What is Your Refund Policy?
We want you to be completely satisfied with your purchase of The Complete Memoir Course. If for any reason you are not happy with the course, we offer a 21-day refund policy, minus a $25 processing fee.
To request a refund, please email us at AL at JackWalkerPress dot com] within 21 days of your purchase with your name, email address (you must use the same email as used in your JWP course), and reason for requesting a refund. Once your request is received, the $25 processing fee will be deducted from the refund amount and the remaining balance will be processed within 7-10 business days.
Please note that by purchasing The Complete Memoir Course, you agree not to share any of the course instructions or resources with others as they are copyrighted material. Sharing or distributing course content without permission is a violation of copyright law and could result in legal action. Don't be a schmuck.
We appreciate your understanding and cooperation with our refund policy and copyright protections. Your purchase indicates you understand and accept these policies If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at AL at JackWalkerPress.com.
3. What if my familly doesn't want me to write my story?
Writing your memoir is a powerful way to honor your experiences and share your unique story. It's understandable that family members might have concerns, but it's important to remember that your narrative belongs to you. Here are some of the topics we will cover to balance your storytelling with their sensitivities:
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Privacy Measures: You can protect your family's privacy by changing names and altering identifying details, ensuring your memoir remains authentic without compromising confidentiality.
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Fictionalization: Consider fictionalizing certain sensitive aspects. This approach allows you to convey the essence of your experiences while framing them as a story inspired by real events.
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Professional Guidance: Consulting with legal or ethical experts can help you navigate potential conflicts and ensure your memoir respects both your rights and your family’s concerns.
Don’t let potential objections stop you from sharing your voice. The Complete Memoir Course provides the support and guidance you need to address these challenges effectively. Embrace your story and let it be heard—your experiences are worth sharing, and there are respectful ways to do so. Start writing today and don't let "what ifs" hold you back!
4. Will my memoir get published?
We understand that many students who take The Complete Memoir Course are eager to see their memoir published and shared with a wider audience. Your hard work and dedication to crafting your memoir deserve to be read and appreciated by others.
While The Complete Memoir Course is primarily a writing course focused on helping you develop and refine your memoir, we also offer valuable information and resources towards the end of the course to help you decide on your publishing path. We provide insights on traditional publishing, self-publishing, and other avenues for sharing your memoir with the world.
Throughout the course, we will discuss the different publication options, their pros and cons, and provide guidance on how to begin the process of bringing your memoir to publication. We will equip you with the tools and knowledge you need to make informed decisions about how and where to publish your memoir.
Remember, the most important thing is to share your story with others and to make your voice heard. We are here to support you on your journey to publication and to help you navigate the exciting world of sharing your memoir with the world.
Thank you for choosing The Complete Memoir Course, and we look forward to helping you achieve your publishing goals.
5. Can I really write a memoir that others would care about even if I'm not famous?
Absolutely! The beauty of memoir writing is that everyone has a unique story to tell, and you don't need to be a celebrity to capture the attention and hearts of readers. In fact, there have been numerous memoirs written by ordinary individuals that have become best sellers and deeply resonated with audiences worldwide.
Consider memoirs like Wild by Cheryl Strayed, Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs, and Educated by Tara Westover. These memoirs, authored by individuals who were not widely known before their books were published, have touched countless readers with their compelling narratives of personal triumph, resilience, and growth.
Your story is equally valuable and deserving of sharing, irrespective of your fame or recognition. By tapping into your own unique experiences and perspectives, you have the potential to create a memoir that will captivate and inspire others. Trust in the authenticity of your storytelling and the universal themes that connect us all through memoirs.
So, yes, you can certainly write a memoir that others would care about, even if you're not a household name. Your voice is important, and there is an audience waiting to hear your story. Let The Complete Memoir Course be your guide in crafting your memoir and bringing it to a wider audience.
6. What if my writing skills are not the best?
Where ever you are on the writing newbie to genius continuum, If you can string together a few cogent sentences and are open to learning, you can do this now. One of the great things about the process of writing your memoir is that we suggest you do dirty drafts first. As you are writing your dirty drafts, you will be learning more and more about writing that captivates and inspires your reader. You'll do a few rounds of drafting, so the more you learn, the more you can refine your work.
Some of the most stilted writing I've ever seen comes from super intelligent professionals who have been writing in research oriented journals. Yet these students learned to write creatively and build beautiful memoirs. Those who didn't like or loved writing in school find extra motivation to learn writing when it isn't about an abstract subject they are not enthralled with. If you have an urge to make meaning from your life and leave a legacy, you are motivated to do this. So do it.
At the End of Your Life, You Will Be Happy You Have Made Meaning From Your Life and Left a Legacy that Matters.
Begin Your Memoir: You CAN do this!