Two Sylvias' Weekly Muse: June 11, 2023

Issue 59

Hello Poets, Writers, and Artists!

A common inquiry we receive here at the Muse has to do with writing about our past, and specifically, about childhood. In a recent issue (May 28), we discussed some journaling prompts to help you write about family, focusing on your younger years. Many of us approach writing about our childhoods with a sense of trepidation—What if I offend a family member? How do I write about traumatic/painful material? How do I keep my childhood recollections from becoming overly sweet and sentimental? Does any reader really care about my childhood? What if my memories aren’t accurate? Is it possible to retrieve details of my childhood that have seemingly faded over the years?

We would like to address the last two questions: What if my memories aren’t accurate? Is it possible to retrieve details of my childhood that have seemingly faded over the years? In a May issue of The New York Times Magazine, author Phoebe Chen discusses the struggles with writing about her chi…