About Memoir Writing

Memoirs are written memories clustered around a theme, a piece of your life told in detail. The theme may be travel, life on a farm, a career, a city, the theater, any aspect of life. Memoirs tell of particular times or episodes. They are not narratives of a long life history, for that is autobiography. Instead, they are selected parts: the trips, the jobs, the people. A memoir can be as long as a page, a chapter, or a book.

A writer is rarely so well inspired as when he talks about himself.
–Anatole France

Each of us is a link in a generational chain. And each of us has a story to tell that is as unique as our fingerprints. Back in tribal days, we could count on storytellers to pass along ancestral wisdom, values, and traditions. In Western societies, sociologists record our history, but the substance and vitality of our lives is lost to our descendants. It’s left to us to tell the personal stories.

In this age of scattered families, writing down your personal stories is a way for future generations to truly know your life and times. By reading your memoirs, they will become intimate with your culture; they will come to understand your work, lifestyle, travel, values, and beliefs; and they will get to know the people you loved and lost. If your stories are well written, they will be fascinated by what you have to say.

Many people decline to write their memoirs because their stories seem dull, uneventful. But if your life has known goals and obstacles, conflict and emotion, you have the makings of a gripping story. Others decline because they see it as an overwhelming task. In this book you will see it’s not overwhelming. You will learn how much easier it is when you take it chapter by chapter, one story at a time.