There are people in this world who know exactly how to impress – and they do it seemingly with little or no effort.

I was reminded of this once when reading an interview with Paloma Picasso. She talked about her life as the daughter of a famous artist, and also about her rise in the designer jewelry business. Paloma Picasso had little help from her father, but perhaps the famous name alone was enough to establish her as a serious player in the high fashion world.

Or so we are tempted to think

The writer described what Paloma was wearing, something simple in black with a splash of red, one of her own creations that perfectly suited her curvy figure and dramatic Spanish style.

She had dressed for  the interview in an outfit that looked every inch the perfect daytime business ensemble, something that would have been equally acceptable in either a boardroom or a boulevard. But then as the interview ended there was a surprising twist.

Paloma Picasso was getting ready for an evening out

Now had this been me I would have felt obliged to rush home and change into something more suitable — probably to stand in front of the wardrobe and agonize over just which of my two evening outfits would have been most suitable.

But not so Paloma

She simply opened her handbag and pulled out a pair of amazingly elegant gold earrings, the long hooped kind that can’t help but attract attention. For extra effect she added a gold bracelet and a heavy neck chain and presto – her evening ensemble was complete!

So what has this to do with your memoirs?

It’s worth thinking about your life in a very different way. You have the basic facts, the sometimes interesting but often rather dull events that happened.

But what if you were to add some sparkle? Take that basic black and dress it up with gold. In other words, give your writing style. A dash of humour, a splash of colourful description, an anecdote delivered with flair – these elements will turn your ordinary memoir into a memorable reading experience.

To learn more about writing your memoirs go to:

Lifestorynow.com

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I’m doing an experiment for a new blog. If you were looking for information on how to write your memoirs how would you answer the questions below?

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Through my job as a Process Analyst I have learned to see everything in process blocks.
Life is like this:
Step One, then Step Two, then Step Three interrupted at some point by a decision or:
1. Go for a Walk 2. Go to Cafe. 3. Eat Pasta 4.Take the Dog? 5. Dog Will Behave? 6. Dog Will Bark at Strangers? 7. Don’t Take Dog – and so on.
But I had honestly never thought of laying out different types of pasta as an infographic.

What kind of pasta is on your plate? by Charming Italy

This is a perfect example of how otherwise dull content (different types of pasta) can be made interesting and colourful. It’s also a good reminder that information architecture can produce surprisingly creative results and help people understand what it is we want them to know.

See a larger version of the graphic

Related Posts
Map Your Creative Ideas

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The debate goes on, fueled recently by Malcolm Gladwell writing in The New Yorker, attacking the prevalent idea that online social networks represent the future of campaigning and protest, and perhaps – in totalitarian states – of revolution.

Gladwell debunks this argument in typical style, as Tim Adams of The Observer explained:

Gladwell examined the most effective mass protest of modern times – the American civil rights movement. Using an account of the courageous coffee bar sit-in in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1960, he argued that such activism was based on the strength of intimate friendships and shared experience, and directed by hierarchical power, could never have arisen from the “weak ties” and “horizontal” associations that characterise the campaigning of online “friends” and “followers”.

Perhaps this is so, but there are certainly arguments to be made for the fact that totalitarian regimes, for all their control, are much more liable to come unstuck when they are subject to intense scrutiny by loose networks of people that are impossible to supervise.

That aside, there is an aspect to social media, and Twitter in particular, that I for one had overlooked until recently. I set up a new Twitter account @ipadbooksnews to promote a blog that, as it clearly states, reviews books available on iPad. I had not much hope for this new Twitter venture, having previously set up another Twitter account that quickly attracted a few thousand people in whom I have no particular interest and vice versa. It rolls on even today, gathering more and more superfluous and indifferent ‘followers’.

This new account though brought an unexpected benefit. Where once Twitter was like a dumb terminal, taking little interest in the type of network I could become part of, I see now that it makes suggestions about those with similar interests I might want to follow. Twitter sensed my interest in books and presented me with options to follow such worthies as GuardianBooks, GrantaMag, the britishlibrary, BookTV and so on.

Which brings me to the title of this post

GuardianBooks tweeted about their poem of the week, Emily Dickinson’s What Mystery Pervades a Well! and I have to say it affected me profoundly. I’ve long been an admirer of the nineteenth century poet who manages to express herself with wit and brevity, while at the same time reminding us of how little we can know of the natural world outside our own ring-fenced experience.

What mystery pervades a well!
That water lives so far –
A neighbor from another world
Residing in a jar

Whose limit none has ever seen,
But just his lid of glass –
Like looking every time you please
In an abyss’s face!

As the poet Carol Rumens says: ‘Dickinson’s brevity convinces you that poems were never meant to be long or ostensibly complicated.’

And while I hesitate to draw parellels between the 140 character behemoth that is Twitter and Emily dickinson’s spare style, there is a connection, at least for me. Twitter is indeed a well that offers up mystery after mystery, whether it’s a call to action to join a crusade or a reflection on the nature of reality.

Here’s a link to the whole poem What Mystery Pervades a  Well by Emily Dickinson.

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