Lucy Luck (1848-1922):Researching Writing Lives

The opportunity to write about a memoir of a working-class writer has been a greatly rewarding process. Upon first encountering the task it seemed impossible to find out so much about a memoir that was so short. However, the Writing Lives module has enlightened me on how information is waiting to be discovered through local history sites and genealogy sites. I have gained some vital skills through taking on the role of researcher and learnt information about the lives of the working-classes that I had no idea about before the module.

I feel as though I have contributed to public history by sharing my transcription of Lucy’s memoir and by blogging about her life on the Writing Lives website. I have compiled various pieces of information from my research, along with comparisons to other memoirs to create a new look at memoirs that are much more interesting and informative when researched.

The blogging experience is something that enriches how memoirs are analysed. I have used blogging before when creating blogs for the Prison Voices module and know how much blogging contributes to creating interesting and accessible writing on long forgotten pieces of literature.

The interaction with other bloggers on the module has been an element of the module that I have enjoyed. Using twitter we have helped promote each other’s author blogs and in this way help increase awareness and access to a wide variety of memoirs by working-class people. The engagement that social media can provide is truly beneficial when creating blogs. Particularly when posting a new blog, it was exciting to see the responses that the blogs were given from other blogs and how they displayed similar themes.

I will take away a sense of pride in providing my own contribution to a blogsite that gives voices to memoirs of the working-classes. The responsibility that is entrusted into students as writers is something that I have appreciated when reading and writing about Lucy’s memoir. It is an experience that I have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in, as I have gained so many new skills that can be applied to so many different areas.