Every ordinary life story is extraordinary!

Every ordinary life story is extraordinary!

eHow Memoir Writing Tips, Part 4

Add photos to your memoir, and think about whether you want a “what I learned from life” chapter.
eHow Memoir Writing Tips, Part 4
This is the last post in our series on eHow.com’s “mini autobiography” suggestions.
7. Conclude by writing about how you see the world and what you have learned from life and those in your world so far. Discuss your goals, dreams and hopes for yourself and your family.
WriteMyMemoirs commentary: While this is a valuable suggestion, I wouldn’t call it a “must do.” Not everyone wants to use a memoir to philosophize. If you’ve fully told your story as you went along, including your feelings and point of view, you may not feel it’s necessary to cull your impressions into a chapter on “what you have learned from life.” As to this tip’s second suggestion, I think it can be risky. For example, if you put into writing your hopes and dreams for your grandchildren, you could regret it later if your goals for them turn out to be out of touch with their goals for themselves. It’s not that I believe that tip #7 is inappropriate—not at all. It could make an interesting concluding chapter. I just don’t think you should feel that your work is not complete work if you choose to forego this idea.
8. Include photos and captions in your mini autobiography. Start with your childhood and include photos of your friends and family members as well.
WriteMyMemoirs commentary: This is good advice. Visuals always serve a purpose in a memoir. Anyone reading your life story will be interested to see what you and the people in your life looked like when all of you were younger. I would just caution you that, if you publish your work, even online, make sure to get permission of living people to show their image.
And that ends our look at these 8 tips. It’s been fun!

This is the last post in our series on eHow.com’s “mini autobiography” suggestions.

7. Conclude by writing about how you see the world and what you have learned from life and those in your world so far. Discuss your goals, dreams and hopes for yourself and your family.

WriteMyMemoirs commentary: While this is a valuable suggestion, I wouldn’t call it a “must do.” Not everyone wants to use a memoir to philosophize. If you’ve fully told your story as you went along, including your feelings and point of view, you may not feel it’s necessary to cull your impressions into a chapter on “what I have learned from life.” As to this tip’s second suggestion, I think it can be risky. For example, if you put into writing your hopes and dreams for your grandchildren, you could regret it later if your goals for them turn out to be out of touch with their goals for themselves. It’s not that I believe that tip #7 is inappropriate—not at all. It could make an interesting concluding chapter. I just don’t think you should feel that your work is not complete work if you choose to forego this idea.

8. Include photos and captions in your mini autobiography. Start with your childhood and include photos of your friends and family members as well.

WriteMyMemoirs commentary: This is good advice. Visuals always serve a purpose in a memoir. Anyone reading your life story will be interested to see what you and the people in your life looked like when all of you were younger. I would just caution you that, if you publish your work, even online, make sure to get permission of living people to show their image.

And that ends our look at these 8 tips. Now go back to writing your memoir!

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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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