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Every ordinary life story is extraordinary!

Rosanne Ullman

Rosanne Ullman owns Write My Memoirs (writemymemoirs.com) to help people write and self-publish their life stories and co-owns Home Memoir (homememoir.com) to help people capture, in a coffee-table book, the love they have for their home. For 20 years, Rosanne taught grammar at a local adult education program, New Trier eXtention, and that well-received course is the basis for the Write My Memoirs Grammar and Writing Course. Rosanne has a long freelance career writing for and about various industries, particularly the professional beauty industry. Her observations about life appear frequently on various blog sites and include regular contributions to Sixty and Me (sixtyandme.com) and Boomer Cafe (boomercafe.com). Rosanne also is the author of the children’s picture book The Case of the Disappearing Kisses. She holds a Master’s degree in Journalism (MSJ) from Northwestern University’s famed Medill School of Journalism.

Two WriteMyMemoirs FAQs

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Two Write My Memoirs FAQs
The email we get from our members and also non-members who are browsing various memoir sites reveals a few common concerns. So for those who have wondered:
Q: This can’t really be free. Where are the hidden charges?
A: This can really be free—and it is! You will never be charged for writing your story on the WriteMyMemoirs site and keeping it safe here. Our fee-based services are outlined under the tabs for “Writing Help” and “Publish My Book.” When you want to have a professional editor polish your work, or if you would like us to publish your work into a real book, you will be taken to PayPal for secure payment and we will proceed from there—you don’t have to do anything more!
Q: Why should I fill out the “interview” before I start writing?
A: You can opt out of the interview, but it’s there to help you pinpoint the important dates in your life such as when you started a new job and when your children were born. The information you provide automatically creates a time line that pops up when you start writing a chapter. That’s why we ask you to assign dates to each chapter—our program can then map out the appropriate time line. Because of space restrictions, not everything you mentioned in your interview will show up on the time line, but you’ll have enough to jog your memory, plus you can always look back at your interview to make sure you have your dates straight.
We’ll answer more common questions periodically on the blog, or please use our Contact Us form if you need to ask us something.

The email we get from our members and also non-members who are browsing various memoir sites reveals a few common concerns. So for those who have wondered:

Q: This can’t really be free. Where are the hidden charges?

A: This can really be free—and it is! You will never be charged for writing your story on the WriteMyMemoirs site and keeping it safe here. Our fee-based services are outlined under the tabs for “Writing Help” and “Publish My Book.” When you want to have a professional editor polish your work, or if you would like us to publish your work into a real book, you will be taken to PayPal for secure payment and we will proceed from there—you don’t have to do anything more!

Q: Why should I fill out the “interview” before I start writing?

A: You can opt out of the WriteMyMemoirs interview, but it’s there to help you pinpoint the important dates in your life such as when you started a new job and when your children were born. The information you provide automatically creates a time line that pops up when you start writing a chapter. That’s why we ask you to assign dates to each chapter—our program can then map out the appropriate time line. Because of space restrictions, not everything you mentioned in your interview will show up on the time line, but you’ll have enough to jog your memory, plus you can always look back at your interview to make sure you have your dates straight.

We’ll answer more common questions periodically on the blog, or please use our Contact Us form if you need to ask us something.

Political Autobiographies Play a Role in Elections

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I happen to be in Florida today, the day of the state’s primary. As you might expect, the local airwaves have been flooded with political ads. They contain a lot of “he said, he said” statements. It makes me wonder why these candidates never penned a memoir to document their own lives and more definitively present their views.

Think back to the last presidential election. In the democratic primary, Hillary Clinton had her husband’s reputation, her four-year record as First Lady and her term as a New York senator. Barack Obama, still only in his 40s, already had two autobiographical books: Dreams From My Father and The Audacity of Hope. The titles became common phrases, and suddenly these books were selling “like hotcakes.” The words were inspirational and trumped any Obama narrative the Clinton opposition and, later in the general election the John McCain campaign, could contrive.

Yet, among the 27 books Newt Gingrich has authored, not one is a memoir. Mitt Romney, with his diverse experience as a businessman, governor and Olympics chief, hasn’t sat down to write his life story. Here in Florida, Romney’s ads do mention an autobiography—Ronald Reagan’s—to use as evidence to counter some of Gingrich’s claims about being the heir to the Reagan legacy. So Mitt realizes the value of a written memoir, yet hasn’t crafted his own. And you know whom he’ll face if he makes it to the next election? The same President Barack Obama who won last time with the power of two very influential autobiographies.

Checking In: Still Motivated to Write Your Memoir?

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Checking In: Still Motivated to Write Your Memoir?
It’s late January, and your New Year’s Resolution to write that memoir may be melting faster than snow in sunshine. A blogger at zenhabits.net zeroes in on two secrets to staying motivated with any goal: 1) enjoying the task, and 2) answering to outside pressure. Let’s take them one at a time.
To enjoy writing your memoir, first make sure you’re in a comfortable setting. You should be pleased with every aspect—your computer, chair and desk; the temperature in the room; perhaps a view; the level of noise/quiet. Identify the time of day and day(s) of the week you feel creative and you don’t feel guilty for taking time away from other responsibilities. For content, choose the parts of your life you like to remember. If there are painful segments, leave those for later, after you’ve grown accustomed to your writing routine. Bite off little bits so that the project doesn’t overwhelm you. Review your life one anecdote at a time.
The second motivating tool—developing outside pressure—should be easy. Just tell your family and friends that you’re writing a memoir! Give them weekly updates, and have them commit to ask you about it if you forget. As our own memoir writing community, we can be accountable to each other. Leave a comment here about how far you’ve progressed toward your goal, or friend us on Facebook. We’ll start a thread on the Write My Memoirs page for you to leave a comment to motivate yourself as well as everyone!
http://zenhabits.net/the-only-two-secrets-to-motivating-yourself-youll-ever-need/
http

It’s late January, and your New Year’s Resolution to write that memoir may be melting faster than snow in sunshine. A blogger at zenhabits.net zeroes in on two secrets to staying motivated with any goal: 1) enjoying the task, and 2) answering to outside pressure. Let’s take them one at a time.

To enjoy writing your memoir, first make sure you’re in a comfortable setting. You should be pleased with every aspect—your computer, chair and desk; the temperature in the room; perhaps a view; the level of noise/quiet. Identify the time of day and day(s) of the week you feel creative and you don’t feel guilty for taking time away from other responsibilities. For content, choose the parts of your life you like to remember. If there are painful segments, leave those for later, after you’ve grown accustomed to your writing routine. Bite off little bits so that the project doesn’t overwhelm you. Review your life one anecdote at a time.

The second motivating tool—developing outside pressure—should be easy. Just tell your family and friends that you’re writing a memoir! Give them weekly updates, and have them commit to asking you about it if you forget. As our own memoir writing community, we can be accountable to each other. Leave a comment here about how far you’ve progressed toward your goal, or friend us on Facebook. We’ll start a thread on the Write My Memoirs page for you to leave a comment to motivate yourself as well as everyone!

Attend a Memoir-Writing Retreat

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Attend a Memoir-Writing Retreat
You might want to consider attending an upcoming Memoir Writing Conference 2012, where you can join people like you who are looking for information and motivation to help them write their life stories. This event takes place Saturday, April 28, in Bethlehem, PA, and costs $225 plus $100 if you choose to attend a Friday night dinner. WriteMyMemoirs has no association with this conference and does not receive anything for publicizing this event, but we like to alert you to any tool or experience that might help you write your memoir.
The full day of inspiration features an impressive roster of presenters, all authors themselves who, as a group, represent a diverse range of expertise that reflects the theme for this year’s conference: getting in touch with your five senses to help you recall and describe events in your life.
The keynote speaker is newspaper columnist, blogger and journalism professor Bill White. I love the reason he was asked to speak, as stated on the website: “Bill became interested in memoirs a few years ago when he wrote a piece about a Ukrainian woman who used her dying days to write about her life growing up in the old country, her hardships during World War II, her emigration to the United States and her life here with her husband and children. Bill was struck by how beautifully she told her story, but even more by how much other families, including his own, would appreciate that kind of memoir from our parents and grandparents to share with future generations.” Click here for details about the conference.
https://memoir2012.com/Presenters.php

You might want to consider attending the upcoming Memoir Writing Conference 2012, where you can join people like you who are looking for information and motivation to help them write their life stories. This event takes place Saturday, April 28, in Bethlehem, PA, and costs $225 plus $100 if you choose to attend a Friday night dinner. WriteMyMemoirs has no association with this conference and does not receive anything for publicizing this event, but we like to alert you to any tool or experience that might help you write your memoir.

The full day of inspiration features an impressive roster of presenters, all authors themselves who, as a group, represent a diverse range of expertise that reflects the theme for this year’s conference: getting in touch with your five senses to help you recall and describe events in your life.

The keynote speaker is newspaper columnist, blogger and journalism professor Bill White. I love the reason he was asked to speak, as stated on the website: “Bill became interested in memoirs a few years ago when he wrote a piece about a Ukrainian woman who used her dying days to write about her life growing up in the old country, her hardships during World War II, her emigration to the United States and her life here with her husband and children. Bill was struck by how beautifully she told her story, but even more by how much other families, including his own, would appreciate that kind of memoir from our parents and grandparents to share with future generations.” Click here for details about the conference.

New Features on WriteMyMemoirs

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We hope you’ve been enjoying the additions to our website. We’ve tried to come up with ways to keep you writing if you get stuck.

You probably have noticed the button, “Don’t know what to write about?” If you click on that, you’ll pull up hints about topics that you might want to include in your memoir. For example, one hint is: “Did you volunteer for charities or other organizations? Did you enjoy that?” That might trigger your memory about being a room mother for your child at school, a coach for your kid’s basketball team or a candy striper when you were younger. Remembering those experiences can lead to interesting anecdotes, so we hope a reminder like that helps to move your life story forward.

Each hint also includes the question, “Was this helpful to you?” You can opt out of answering this, of course, but if you do click on either “yes” or “no” your response becomes part of our database that automatically brings up that particular hint either more frequently or less frequently, depending on whether people have found it helpful.

Through these hints and a few other features we’ll explain in future blogs, we aim to make your experience on WriteMyMemoirs unique. We value all of our members and, when you sign up with us, your goal becomes our goal: we want each of our members to complete a full memoir. Good luck writing!

How to Keep Your Memoir-Writing Resolution

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How to Keep Your Memoir-Writing Resolution
If you’re here at WriteMyMemoirs because you made a New Year’s Resolution to either start or work harder on your memoir, listen up! Statistics show that 4 out of 5 of us will probably abandon our New Year’s Resolutions within just a couple of weeks. Some suggestions to put yourself in the 20 percent who stick to it:
1. Be specific about your goal. Set up a regular schedule of when you will write.
2. Don’t over-promise, even to yourself. We all burn out easily. Make a realistic schedule that does not let this project monopolize your time. Maybe you’ll get up one hour early three times a week, you’ll write the first hour after dinner on a couple of evenings or you’ll write from 9am-1pm every Sunday.
3. Develop a full plan. Maybe you’ll decide to have a book with six chapters and complete one chapter per month so that your book will be finished by July 1. Then write out the title of each chapter.
4. Start easy. If there’s one chapter, or even just one anecdote, that you can write out effortlessly, get that on “paper” so you’ll have something solid. Then you can tackle the more challenging sections that require research or take an emotional toll on you.
5. Tell people. No matter what the goal, you tend to stay more accountable when you know that friends and family members will be asking about your progress. Maybe you can find a “memoir buddy” who also wants to write a memoir; then you can motivate each other to stay on task.
Much of the technology we’ve developed for WriteMyMemoirs should help you. You can create name all of your chapters, which creates a type of outline. Some of the details will pop up in the time lines that result from our Interview questions, so make sure you fill out your Interview. We may even be able to help you find a memoir buddy. Leave a comment here that you’d be interested in that, and we’ll put you memoir writers in touch with each other.

If you’re here at WriteMyMemoirs because you made a New Year’s Resolution to either start or work harder on your memoir, listen up! Statistics show that 4 out of 5 of us will probably abandon our New Year’s Resolutions within just a couple of weeks. Some suggestions to put yourself in the 20 percent who stick with this one:

  1. Be specific about your goal. Set up a regular schedule of when you will write.
  2. Don’t over-promise, even to yourself. We all burn out easily. Make a realistic schedule that does not let this project monopolize your time. Maybe you’ll get up one hour early three times a week, you’ll write the first hour after dinner on a couple of evenings or you’ll write from 9am-1pm every Sunday.
  3. Develop a full plan. Maybe you’ll decide to have a book with six chapters and complete one chapter per month so that your book will be finished by July 1. Then write out the title of each chapter.
  4. Start easy. If there’s one chapter, or even just one anecdote, that you can write out effortlessly, get that on “paper” so you’ll have something solid. Then you can tackle the more challenging sections that require research or take an emotional toll on you.
  5. Tell people. No matter what the goal, you tend to stay more accountable when you know that friends and family members will be asking about your progress. Maybe you can find a “memoir buddy” who also wants to write a memoir; then you can motivate each other to stay on task.

Much of the technology we’ve developed for WriteMyMemoirs should help you. You can name all of your chapters, which creates a type of outline. Some of the details will pop up in the time lines that result from our Interview questions, so make sure you fill out your Interview. We may even be able to help you find a memoir buddy. Leave a comment here that you’d be interested in that, and we’ll put you memoir writers in touch with each other.

A Lifetime Can’t be Summed Up in One Letter

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A Lifetime Can’t be Summed Up in One Letter
“As I near age 80, I feel that the story I have carried in my heart since childhood should be written,” begins a letter to the Chicago Tribune published last week. The letter goes on to summarize the writer’s happy childhood, which takes a total of eight paragraphs.
It’s nice that a major newspaper gives people the opportunity to relate their memories, but this also made me sad. The letter-writer is 80 years old and bursting with the desire to share the story she’s has carried in her heart all these years. So why has she waited until age 80? You can never be sure that you will be physically and mentally capable of sharing your story if you wait. Also, why limit your reach to one letter in one newspaper when you can write a book to have forever or list on amazon.com?
One of our WriteMyMemoir authors who asked us to publish his memoir started out last summer with 20 books. He’s already twice asked us to print up 20 more, because people see the book and want a copy for themselves. It’s so special to have a memoir available! As the New Year approaches, think about what you want your life to represent. You can shape the concept people have of you by crafting it in a memoir, and you don’t have to wait until your golden years or limit yourself to eight paragraphs when you have a whole book in you to write!
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-vp-1224voicelettersbriefs-20111224,0,5671839.story?page=3

“As I near age 80, I feel that the story I have carried in my heart since childhood should be written,” begins a letter to the Chicago Tribune published last week. The letter goes on to summarize the writer’s happy childhood, which takes a total of eight paragraphs.

It’s nice that a major newspaper gives people the opportunity to relate their memories, but this also made me sad. The letter-writer is 80 years old and bursting with the desire to share the story she has  carried in her heart all these years. So why has she waited until age 80? You can never be sure that you will be physically and mentally capable of sharing your story if you wait. Also, why limit your reach to one letter in one newspaper when you can write a book to have forever or list on amazon.com?

One of our WriteMyMemoir authors who asked us to publish his memoir started out last summer with 20 books. He’s already twice asked us to print up 20 more, because people see the book and want a copy for themselves. It’s so special to have a memoir available! As the New Year approaches, think about what you want your life to represent. You can shape the concept people have of you by crafting it in a memoir, and you don’t have to wait until your golden years or limit yourself to eight paragraphs when you have a whole book in you to write!

For Memoir Research, You CAN Go Home Again

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For Memoir Research, You Can Go Home Again
We’re all so mobile these days! Many of us have moved several times since birth and today live nowhere near what we’d identify as our hometown. As seniors, we often relocate to wherever our children’s whims have taken them! Maybe as you write your memoirs, it’s time to go home again.
“If you are tracing your family’s history, few activities are more thrilling than traveling to your ancestor’s village or gravesite,” claims the “senior travel” section of about.com. “Standing where your forebears walked long ago is an amazing experience.” Calling this research a “genealogy vacation,” the piece has a few suggestions:
Schedule enough time to just wander.
Spend enough time there to soak up the culture by doing things like eating in a family-owned restaurant, attending a worship service, visiting the area’s historical museum and chatting up the locals.
Talk to everyone about your memoir. You may find someone who knew your family or who has a colorful anecdote to share about the town.
Take a GPS or map so you don’t get lost! If the townspeople do not speak in your native tongue, also bring a good dictionary for their language.
The obvious: take tons of photographs.
The not-so-obvious: keep a journal of your experiences and a written log of the photos, in order.
Next week, between Christmas and New Year’s, is a great time to schedule this type of visit. You probably have some time off work, and the town will be decorated and cheery.

We’re all so mobile these days! Many of us have moved several times since birth and today live nowhere near what we’d identify as our hometown. As seniors, we often relocate to wherever our children’s whims have taken them! Maybe as you write your memoirs, it’s time to go home again.

“If you are tracing your family’s history, few activities are more thrilling than traveling to your ancestor’s village or gravesite,” claims the “senior travel” section of about.com. “Standing where your forebears walked long ago is an amazing experience.” Calling this research a “genealogy vacation,” the piece has a few suggestions:

  • Schedule enough time to just wander.
  • Make sure to soak up the culture by doing things like eating in a family-owned restaurant, attending a worship service, visiting the area’s historical museum and chatting up the locals.
  • Talk to everyone about your memoir. You may find someone who knew your family or who has a colorful anecdote to share about the town.
  • Take a GPS or map so you don’t get lost! If the townspeople do not speak in your native tongue, also bring a good dictionary for their language.
  • The obvious: take tons of photographs.
  • The not-so-obvious: keep a journal of your experiences and a written log of the photos, in order.

Next week, between Christmas and New Year’s, is a great time to schedule this genealogy visit. You probably have some time off work, and the town will be decorated and cheery.

More Celebrity Memoir Beginnings

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More Celebrity Memoir Beginnings
Let’s examine a few more celebrity memoirs for inspiration in constructing a first sentence or two. Michael J. Fox begins his 2002 memoir: “I woke up to find the message in my left hand. It had me trembling. It wasn’t a fax, telegram, memo or the usual sort of missive bringing disturbing news. In fact, my hand held nothing. The trembling was the message.” Readers know that Fox will receive a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease, but the beginning still is poignant compelling.
Each chapter of the 2011 memoir of Dancing With the Stars professional dancer Cheryl Burke is named for a type of dance, which Cheryl uses as a metaphor for something in her personality or experience. She begins Chapter 1: “The freestyle dance is not restricted by any conventional steps or choreography. It is simply a dance in which the dancer can showcase whatever movement or emotion seems appropriate.” So you don’t have to begin with something personal. This is a little different way to begin a memoir.
Actor Alan Arkin chose a more traditional, straightforward two sentences to start his 2011 memoir: “My father said that at the age of five I asked him if he could keep a secret. He said yes he could, so I told him I was going to be an actor when I grew up.”
These authors zeroed in on an essence—ultimately the theme of the book. If you can identify what that is for you, your first sentence will write itself.

Let’s examine a few more celebrity memoirs for inspiration in constructing a first sentence or two. Michael J. Fox begins his 2002 memoir: “I woke up to find the message in my left hand. It had me trembling. It wasn’t a fax, telegram, memo or the usual sort of missive bringing disturbing news. In fact, my hand held nothing. The trembling was the message.” Readers know that Fox will receive a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease, but the beginning still is poignant and compelling.

Each chapter of the 2011 memoir of Dancing With the Stars professional dancer Cheryl Burke is named for a type of dance, which Cheryl uses as a metaphor for something in her personality or experience. She begins Chapter 1: “The freestyle dance is not restricted by any conventional steps or choreography. It is simply a dance in which the dancer can showcase whatever movement or emotion seems appropriate.” So you don’t have to begin with something personal. This is a little different way to begin a memoir.

Actor Alan Arkin chose a more traditional, straightforward two sentences to start his 2011 memoir: “My father said that at the age of five I asked him if he could keep a secret. He said yes he could, so I told him I was going to be an actor when I grew up.”

These authors zeroed in on an essence—ultimately the theme of the book. If you can identify what that is for you, the first sentence of your memoir will write itself.

Celebrity Autobiographies’ First Sentences

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Celebrity Autobiographies’ First Sentences
The opening sentence of a memoir is such a brain-freeze that many people give up the goal of writing an autobiography simply because they cannot come up with a satisfactory first line. Even country crooner Willie Nelson resorts to launching into his life story, The Facts of Life and Other Dirty Jokes, with the cop-out, “They say writing the first line of a book is the hardest part.”
Fortunately, other celebrities make up for Willie’s appalling lack of originality. Consider this Chapter 1 first sentence: “My father was a very wise man who hated dishonesty more than he hated stupidity.”—from Don’t Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It’s Raining, by television’s Judge Judy Sheindlin (written with a co-author).
Judy’s opening is followed by an anecdote from her youth that not only gives an example of how her dad chastised Judy when she tried to spin a bit of a tall tale, but also reveals her father’s influence on her own moral development as well as explaining the origin of her autobiography’s title. From there, Judy jumps to her first day as a judge, because her career is the focus of this memoir. The transition is deftly achieved, but there’s still a formula to it that you can borrow: begin with a statement that gets the reader curious, offer a pertinent anecdote and then make the connection to what you really want to talk about. More celebrity first-liners this next time.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0060927941/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

The opening sentence of a memoir is such a brain-freeze that many people give up the goal of writing an autobiography simply because they cannot come up with a satisfactory first line. Even country crooner Willie Nelson resorts to launching into his life story, The Facts of Life and Other Dirty Jokes, with the cop-out, “They say writing the first line of a book is the hardest part.”

Fortunately, other celebrities make up for Willie’s appalling lack of originality. Consider this Chapter 1 first sentence: “My father was a very wise man who hated dishonesty more than he hated stupidity.”—from Don’t Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It’s Raining, by television’s Judge Judy Sheindlin (written with a co-author).

Judy’s opening is followed by an anecdote from her youth that not only gives an example of how her dad chastised Judy when she tried to spin a bit of a tall tale, but also reveals her father’s influence on her own moral development as well as explaining the origin of her autobiography’s title. From there, Judy jumps to her first day as a judge, because her career is the focus of this memoir. The transition is deftly achieved, but there’s still a formula to it that you can borrow: begin with a statement that gets the reader curious, offer a pertinent anecdote and then make the connection to what you really want to talk about. More celebrity first-liners next time. Tune in!

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Then just set up a chapter and start writing your memoir. Don’t worry about rules. There are no rules to writing your memoir; there are only trends. These trends are based on techniques and features identified in current top-selling memoirs. At best, they’re the flavor of the month. If you’re capturing your life in print for your family, for your own gratification or to inspire readers, rather than aiming to set off Hollywood screenplay bidding wars, these trends don’t even apply to you. You’ll write the memoir that suits you best, and it will be timeless, not trend-driven.There are no rules, but there are four steps:

1. Theme/framework
2. Writing
3. Editing/polishing
4. Self-publishing

You’ve researched this, too, and you’ve been shocked at the price for getting help with any one of those steps, much less all four. That’s because most memoir sites promise to commercialize your work. They’ll follow a formula based on current memoir trends, because they want to convince you that they can turn your memoir into a best-seller. These sites overwhelm you with unnecessary information not to help you, the memoir author, but to address Search Engine Optimization (SEO) algorithms so they can sell more.

That’s not what we do at Write My Memoirs. Our small community of coaches, writers and editors are every bit as skilled as any you’ll find, and we charge appropriately for their expertise and the time they’ll spend helping you craft a compelling, enjoyable read. But you won’t pay an upcharge for other websites’ commercialization, the marketing that follows, and the pages of intimidating “advice.” You can sell your book if you like—we have ISBNs available for you—but our organic process of capturing your story takes a noncommercial path.

If you want help with any or all of the four steps above, choose from our services or save money by selecting one of our packages. If you’d like to talk about what’s right for you, schedule a call. One year from now, you can be holding your published memoir in your hand. And at that point, it will be a big deal!

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