Retired instructor authored book on writing “micro-memoirs” in 30 days

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ON the left, a headshot of Rick Bailey. On the right, the cover of his new book, "Snap Shots".
Retired HFC English instructor Dr. Rick Bailey wrote his seventh book, “Snapshots: How to Write Your Life in 30 Days,” in a month.

Retired HFC English instructor Dr. Rick Bailey gave himself a month to write his latest book.

“November is National Novel Writing Month. I wondered why there isn’t a National Memoir Writing Month. I decided to give that a try. In March of 2025, I wrote 20-30 minutes twice a day. There were specific memories I wanted to capture. I thought in terms of topics, themes, and ideas to jog my memory. For example, family, school, religion, work, health, success, failure, friends, travel. Twice a day I wrote on two specific memories,” explained Bailey.

The result was Snapshots: How to Write Your Life in 30 Days, Bailey’s seventh book of creative non-fiction. Described as a “micro memoir,” Snapshots is a collection of 50 short narrative pieces. It serves as an invitation for the reader to write and capture vivid memories – both distant and recent – that make up a life.

“For each writing session, I tried to produce a snapshot,” said Bailey. “When you look at a snapshot, you ask: ‘Where was this? Who are these people? What’s happening? Why is it important? What happened before and/or after this snapshot was taken?’ I didn’t attempt to write the story of my life. That seemed like way too much work. I didn’t think and remember in chronological order. Each session, I simply focused on what interested me at the time. I focused on big stuff and little stuff.”

Snapshots invites readers to write about their own lives

Bailey was born and raised in Freeland in Saginaw County. He has been married to Tiziana Canducci for 47 years. The couple, who live in Bloomfield Hills, has two children and four grandchildren.

An alumnus of Freeland High School, Bailey earned a bachelor's degree in English from Eastern Michigan University; a master’s degree in English from Duke University; a teaching certificate from the University of Michigan-Dearborn; and a doctorate in English, language, and literature with a focus on teaching writing from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Bailey taught English at HFC for 38 years, retiring in 2015. Since he retired, he has been spending time with his family, traveling, and – of course – writing. Bailey spoke about how writing Snapshots was different than writing his previous six books.

“Each piece is 500-1,000 words in length. These pieces are shorter. They are pithy vignettes,” he said. “This book invites readers to write about their lives, capturing their own vivid memories, and comes with appendices with practical pointers on writing.”

He reflected on the memories that surfaced.

“For me, writing is about memory recovery and capture. The more I write, the more I remember,” said Bailey. “I recall my first baby being born, swamping my sailboat in the middle of Burt Lake, wearing my orange Nehru shirt in high school, playing ‘Hey Joe’ in my rock band, punching a kid in the face in ninth grade, losing all my money playing poker in 11th grade, eating shrimp at an airport restaurant, eating two airplane chicken dinners, trying to learn enough French to get a master's degree in English. I captured some pretty vivid memories!”