Memoirs are at the heart of story telling. My academic paper, Memoir Writing: A Contextual Analysis, examines a full range of memoirs for style, fact or fiction, writing methods, and the writing process.

My research includes The Way I Am by Eminem; Why I Jumped by Tina Zahn; The Night of the Gun by David Carr; A Million Little Pieces by James Frey; Photo Nomad by David Douglas Duncan; Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea and My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler; We Thought You Would Be Prettier by Laurie Notaro; It Takes a Village Idiot by James Mullen; Living to Tell the Tale by Jane Taylor McDonnell; and many articles.

This paper includes three mini-memoirs. Each written in a different style while exploring form, content, and what makes a memoir unique. Rabies and Honey is a collection of humorous short stories; Don't Go, a narrative, is a story of love and addiction; and the third mini-memoir, Girl Builds House, is a blog-in-a-book based on my adventure building my home.

The academic paper with three mini-memoirs was my final project for graduate school. I spent a year and a half researching, writing, and developing my final presentation. Collectively, the work resulted in my being honored with my department award, Eliza Grace Whipple Communications Award for Commitment and Creativity. My acknowledgements go out to my professor Gary McLouth and the tutors at the Writing Center. Gary McLouth gave me the room to be myself, supported me, and saw my spirit. His classes inspired me and I am blessed to have studied under him. The Writing Center tutors, Rebecca, Jessica, Christine, Emily, Jackie, Cindy and more all held me up. If it wasn't for McLouth and the WC tutors, I wouldn't be writing today. Thank you Gary, Rebecca and Jessica and The College of Saint Rose.

And most of all, thank you to my daughter, Cori, who has always supported my dreams. I am grateful.