Debbie LaChusa

I Just Completed a Memoir Writing Course, Now What?

memoir writing course taught me writing memoir is an unraveling

I enrolled in an online memoir writing course last November. Twelve weeks. Twelve lessons. All taught by an award-winning, best-selling memoirist. It’s one of the smartest (I’m patting myself on the back!) decisions I could have made. Although I’ve been writing my entire adult life, I didn’t know what I didn’t know about writing memoir, …

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I Asked Dad To Send Me A Sign Before He Died. He Sent Me a Hummingbird.

Hummingbird with quote

Hummingbirds are considered a sign, that the spirit of a loved one who has passed, may be near. This story was originally published in The Memoirist on Medium. I first saw the delicate, hand-carved hummingbird tied to the bottom of a birdhouse, hanging in the sunroom. Handcrafted of tightly twisted twigs, the birdhouse was the …

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Battling the Dry Drunk Demons

The Serenity Prayer Plaque

The challenge of loving someone who got sober but never went through recovery. This story was originally published in Black Bear on Medium. It happened again. Like it always does. With words. Cold, defensive, attacking. Once again it’s not about anything big or important. It never is. Simple conversations turn into explosive arguments that activate …

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Memories of Mom: How a 25-year-old letter changed everything

writing a letter to mom 25 years ago

This piece is the result of a memoir-writing exercise to shine a light behind a difficult character. I sat down to write about my memories of mom and ended up writing 3,000 words that were more about me than her! I pulled out the part that resonated the most, cleaned it up, and I’ve shared …

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