Writing a Memoir Is Hard!

I've discovered that writing a personal memoir is exceedingly difficult. Does one catalogue the sequence of events, or pick out the most important? How can one create dialogue and drama in historical circumstances from 50-plus years ago? Is it possible to re-imagine the emotional settings and memories? Will anyone want to read this?

The advice that Jerry Jenkins gave me when I asked him about writing a memoir was: 

"Good memoirs are not hard to sell, Connie. Look for the transferable, universal principles; leave out the boring parts; grab the reader by the throat from the first line and never let go; write what would keep you reading and hope there are thousands like you out there."

So here's the continuation of the previous section of the memoir. I hope it "keeps you reading!"

...In their [my parents] own words, “In a daze we made little Connie ready.  She was quite lively and smiled as sweet as ever—like a little doll in her white dress with a touch of blue. She almost looked ready for heaven to us and it truly seemed as though we were taking her to her funeral as we went to that hospital.  Sensing something was wrong, Connie kept hugging her sister Cathy, as though this comforted her somehow.”

As the word spread through the mission headquarters, many people rallied to pray, both of the missionary group as well as nationals.  Mom and Dad, on their way to the hospital by taxi with me, were in a state of shock, disbelief and numbness. 

“The hours felt like years were compressed into them and time seemed to stand still,” Jack wrote later.  They were still dazed as the doctors examined me again.  Jack and Marian could read the verdict in their faces and the terrible reality began to sink in.  Their own little baby had polio! This fearful, deforming, often fatal disease had been the scourge of the decade.  Every parent of the 1940s knew the symptoms well, as millions, mostly children, had fallen victim to this world-wide epidemic."

...To be continued. I hope.