The wonderful support of We Love Memoirs

This week's post is a bit of a departure for me. I don't normally write about my books or even the books I've read. My review blog is for those and I prefer to keep this one about life here in the Netherlands, my boating world and our various travels.

This week, though, I want to pay tribute to a group on Facebook without which I wouldn't have half the readers I do have either for my blog or for my books. That group is We Love Memoirs founded by Victoria Twead and Alan Parks, two memoir writers who brilliantly saw the opportunity to start a community on social media for both readers and authors to get together. From this group alone, I have gained many, many lovely friends across the world just by being a member of a community where reading is the glue that binds us. I've also 'met' dozens of brilliant authors, some of whom have also become dear friends in real life.

I can't remember exactly how long I've been a member of We Love Memoirs – it's been several years now – but I have to say it's my favourite corner of Facebook. In fact, it provides everything I personally want from social media: likeminded people in terms of both readers and authors, and a wonderful platform on which to share stories, photos, reviews and events. I get most of my reading recommendations from WLM, not to mention numerous free books from promotions, competitions and giveaways.

The other thing I love about the group is that it's strictly non-political and non-denominational, so the discussions are all completely without any rancour; exactly, to my mind, what the 'social' part of social media means.

We Love Memoirs is, for me, the perfect example of what a well run group should be. It has getting on for 6000 members, and because of that, there are numerous moderators, all of whom seem to have special focuses. They are amazing, they really are. They don't only make sure the posts members put up conform to the group's rules; they organise daily features, competitions and promotions, all of which must take a huge amount of time and dedication, and guiding them all is the endlessly inspiring Victoria Twead. 

For those of you who've never read much in the way of memoir, I was amazed to discover the wide range of genres that fall within this umbrella: everything from lighthearted travelogues to inspirational accounts of people overcoming the most appalling difficulties. There really is an enormous selection of possible books to choose from. My Kindle is positively bulging with all the books I've bought, won and found through the various recommendations, games and links on the group's page. 

In this lockdown time, especially, I think WLM has been a huge boon to me and so many of the members there, and so I just wanted to say thank you to We Love Memoirs, to Victoria and Alan for founding it, and to all the marvellous moderators, members and authors for making it the truly great group that it is.

And as if you haven't already noticed, the link to the group is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/welovememoirs 😁

Many of my friends say it's their happy place on the Internet, and I agree with them. Come along and make it yours too!

Enjoy the rest of your week allemaal.