5,000 Words in 31 Days
The January Memoir Jumpstart Project with memoir coach Anne Bokma
Are you struggling to begin the memoir you’ve been dreaming about writing?
Feeling stuck in the middle of a project you’ve already started?
Curious to explore memoir as a way to capture some of your life stories?
Start your new year with intention and momentum. The January Memoir Jumpstart is a live, online workshop series led by memoir coach Anne Bokma, an award-winning journalist and author of My Year of Living Spiritually: One Woman’s Secular Quest for a More Soulful Life, winner of two Hamilton Literary Awards.
Over the course of five 90-minute Zoom sessions, held on Saturdays from January 3 to January 31 (1–2:30 p.m. ET), you’ll write 5,000 words—and finally get your memoir moving.
Each session includes craft insights, inspiring resources, and—most importantly—two guided “burst-writing” sessions designed to help you generate 1,000 new words each week. Burst writing is a technique that uses short, focused, fast-paced writing sprints to bypass overthinking and self-editing so you can build momentum, tap into flow, and get unstuck.
By the end of January, you’ll have:
5,000 new words on the page
A clearer understanding of your memoir’s direction
Renewed confidence and inspiration to keep writing with intention
This workshop is designed for adults of all experience levels and offers a warm, supportive environment to finally begin (or return to) the memoir you’ve been carrying with you. You’ll learn accessible craft tools, practice writing in focused sprints, and uncover the stories that matter most. No prior writing experience required—just a willingness to show up.
Together, we’ll explore how memory becomes narrative, how small moments open into meaning, and how the discipline of returning to the page can turn fragments into a living manuscript.
Pricing for the January Jumpstart Your Memoir Series:
Early bird (by Dec. 12): $189 CDN + Eventbrite fees and taxes
After Dec. 12: $225 CDN + Eventbrite fees and taxes
BONUS: A free guide to 115 Memoir Markets, including 35 memoir writing contests
