Summary

The Memoirist Newsletter for Feb 20th-26th provides updates, welcomes new contributors, shares writing challenges, submission guidelines, and highlights editor's picks and a writer spotlight.

Abstract

The Memoirist's latest newsletter, dated Feb 20th-26th, opens with a message of solidarity for readers affected by storm Eunice. It reflects on Valentine's Day and humorously discusses the Taj Mahal's history as a symbol of love. The newsletter introduces new writers to the community, issues a writing challenge to craft stories around favorite photos, and reiterates the importance of adhering to submission guidelines, with a playful reference to Game of Thrones. It also mentions the sister publication QuickTalk for stories not fitting The Memoirist's theme and offers tips for writers to increase their visibility on Medium. The newsletter concludes with a spotlight on a special needs teacher's memoir, a selection of editor's picks, and a humorous sign-off.

Opinions

The editor expresses concern and sends love to readers affected by storm Eunice, emphasizing the importance of safety.
The newsletter takes a light-hearted approach to Valentine's Day and the history of the Taj Mahal, suggesting that a 'Taj' of one's own might require a similarly grand romantic gesture.
The editor humorously refers to himself as "Commander-douche-rocket-in-chief" and welcomes new writers with a "traditional douche bite," indicating a playful and informal editorial tone.
The writing challenge issued to writers, to tell the story behind a favorite photo in exactly one thousand words, is presented as both an inspiration and a test of writing discipline.
The editor uses a Game of Thrones reference to emphasize the importance of following submission guidelines, hinting at a walk of shame for those who do not comply.
The editor's picks section reflects the editor's personal selection of quality memoirs from the past week, showcasing a range of emotional and narrative depth.
The editor expresses gratitude to the community for their support and engagement, highlighting the collaborative nature of the publication.
The editor concludes with a humorous acknowledgment of the results of a poll for the funniest editor, adding a personal touch to the sign-off.

The Memoirist News: Feb 20th-26th

Commander-douche-rocket-in-chief reporting for duty

A Sneak Peek of My Daily Life at The Memoirist — Licensed by Adobe Stock Images

Ahoy, Matey!

First off, on behalf our editorial team, I send love to all our readers/writers based out of Europe and Britain (Yay, Brexit!) who are dealing with stormy Eunice. Stay indoors and stay safe.

Valentine’s Day was this week. I bet you spread love, ended dry spells, and wrote a pseudo-intellect essay on Medium denouncing the whole charade.

Hippo-crates!

Talking of love, do you know the Taj Mahal — one of the seven wonders — is a mausoleum? The Mughal emperor, Shahjahan, built it for his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

Well, why not? The man was rich, and he didn’t need to answer the wife for the expenses. Because guess what? She was already dead.

Girls, if you want a Taj of your own, you now know the pre-requisite.

Let’s get down to business now, shall we?

The Fresh Honey

Please make room for these newbies who have come buzzing to our hive with sweet nectar.

As your king-bee, I welcome all of you with my traditional douche bite.

It Happened in February

If you have February stories to share with us, you have a little more than a week left to respond to our monthly prompt. Please click here for details.

A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words

If you need further inspiration, I would like to present a unique challenge to all the writers.

Dig in your photo albums and tell the story behind your favorite picture(s) in precisely one thousand words — not a word more or less.

The word limit does not include the titles, subtitles, kickers and photo captions.

Use the kicker — “A picture speaks a thousand words” for these submissions.

Submission Guidelines

We continue to receive stories that aren’t aligned with our submission guidelines. If you haven’t checked them out, I ask that you do in interest of letting your babies have a day out sooner than later.

If you don’t, remember this scene from GOT? I will make you take a walk of shame down the Medium alley. And trust me, none of you look like Lena Headey aka Cersei.

What is QuickTalk?

Any stories not accepted for ‘The Memoirist’ will be referred to our sister publication ‘QuickTalk’ that supports freeform writing.

Fun Facts

‘Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs’ is a sentence with all twenty-six letters.
‘Typewriter’ is the longest word you can type using a single row on the keyboard.
The four letters after Q in ‘queue’ are not silent. They are just waiting for their turn.
The dot on top of the letters ‘i’ and ‘j’ is called a tittle.
‘Uncopyrightable’ is a 15-letter word you can spell without repeating any letter.

Tip of the Week

With the amount of content available on Medium, there is a widespread trend of views and reads going down as the platform grows with new writers joining every day.

Unfortunately, there is no easy solution, but writers support each other. Please do promote your stories on social media platforms.

In addition, I reviewed our all-time top-performing memoirs, and here is the general trend of our readers’ interests.

Writer Spotlight

As per her medium bio — “I am a special needs teacher who loves reading and cats. Helping a child learn to read is a great job; if children were cats, it would be perfect. When not teaching or reading or kowtowing to my cats, I run, lift weights and write. I like to write about books and my husband’s hypochondria.”

Her beautiful memoir about her mother has more than 3000 views, 1800 reads and 285 fans. It’s my pleasure to give you Michelle Scorziello and this is her story.

The Day I Discovered My Mother Was A Lunatic

On the 157 bus

medium.com

Editor’s Picks

I have hand-picked six memoirs published last week for your reading pleasure. Please show these brilliant writers some love.

And That’s a Wrap!

We love you all and can’t thank you enough for your continued support to this haven by sharing your deeply personal stories.

It is and will always be your pub.

I, personally, would like to thank all of you who voted for mama Ki and me in the funniest editor poll I conducted last time. The final result can put this all-important debate to rest now.

As they say, the numbers never lie. Who’s the daddy now, mama? 😘

Oh, and don’t forget to check out your favorite editors who work so hard on editing your stories — KiKi Walter, Preeti Ramachandran, Adelina Vasile, Sally Prag, Susan McCorkindale, Bernice Puzon, Drashti Shroff, Anjali Joshi and Alex Frederickson.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

Yabba Dabba Doo!

Mr. G aka douche-rocket aka Vain Jaguar

NEWSLETTER