memoir writing

Helena Clare Pittman, one of the Center’s most dedicated teachers, has written, painted, and taught her entire life. In her monthly Helena Writes series, she shares a lifetime of wisdom, one pearl at a time.

In her 67th post, Helena recalls some of the sounds of the old Brooklyn building that was her first adult home. Enjoy!

 

A memoir isn’t about recording everything that’s ever happened to us. It’s about building a narrative around a soul theme.

When I got stuck, I remembered the advice I have given to dozens of students: if you can't keep moving forward in one scene, if you drop the thread, pick up a different one...

I am still painting flowers in glasses. Different destinies. Different kinds of artists, people. Maybe stars. But it was a privilege to see, in a kind of secret act, that lovely little painting...

My older sister, Jolene, was the ringleader in our sister group. It was a group of only us two...We were an organism. Where did she stop and I begin? I can't find a fixed edge...

Many years ago, my sister and I went on a house tour, a walking exploration of some of the great old houses in Oyster Bay, on Long Island, the peninsula that extends east from New York Harbor, sitting in the Great South Bay where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. The house tour was something I was less interested in than was my sister, but it was a way for us to spend time together...