Memoir, which is essentially narrative nonfiction, is that perfect connection between the two modes. Academically, memoir provides a bridge between narrative and informative writing.What did this small moment mean to my life? How did this event, person, place, or memento influence or change me? How did it contribute to the person I am today and the adult I will become? That deliberation causes the writer to ask critical questions. Reflection induces writers to think about the story behind the story and possibly the story that will come after the story.In short, memoir = memories + reflection. I tell my writers that the “R” in memoir stands for reflection. The difference between memoir and autobiography is that memoir includes reflection. Affectively, memoir writing compels writers to reflect.Memoir writing, specifically, induces students to write more, write better, and write more willingly and meaningfully. Quality of writing improves when writers write about what they know, what they have experienced. Teachers need to coach developing writers to discover and craft their personal stories to impart the joy and power of writing. Memoir writing leads to more meaningful writing.Through memoir writing, writers can learn strategies and skills that will transfer to all types of writing. All children, most especially adolescents, like to write about themselves. Memoir entices students, especially reluctant writers, to write. Writers become better writers by writing.And memoir writing becomes a journey of self-discovery. As writers learn about themselves while “researching” and writing their memoirs, memoir writing becomes inquiry. But the most important reason our writers can write is to discover who they are and to reflect on the people, places, objects and mementos, and events that made them the persons they are and the adults they will become. We write for many reasons-to entertain, to inform, to persuade, to enlighten, to show what we learned, to find out what we know.

My thirteenth winter a memoir