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memoir

Why Your Memoir is Good Enough

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Why Your Memoir is Good Enough
Here on the WriteMyMemoirs blog, we talk a lot about how to craft a compelling memoir. We give general writing tips as well as targeted advice regarding what makes a really good memoir. But you know what? None of that necessarily applies to you.
Many of you are writing your autobiography not with the hope of scoring a best-seller, but really just to get down, digitally or on paper, a record of your life. You probably want your grandchildren to know about their ancestry and to preserve all of the fascinating tidbits that you know about your family. If you publish it at all, most likely you intend to print a small run so that you can hand out a couple of dozen copies to your friends and family. For those targeted readers, your memoir will be compelling, because they have a built-in interest in your story—either they’re part of it or they know people who are. That makes the reading very interesting!
So please don’t worry too much about whether your grammar is perfect or the structure meets the latest conventional wisdom about how to write a memoir. You don’t really need a focus. If you start at the beginning of your life and work your way through the anecdotes and important facts, that will be just fine. You’re not writing a textbook or a novel; you’re producing a highly personal manuscript documenting, in your authentic voice, the truth about your life.

Here on the WriteMyMemoirs blog, we talk a lot about how to craft a compelling memoir. We give general writing tips as well as targeted advice regarding what makes a really good memoir. But you know what? None of that necessarily applies to you.

Many of you are writing your autobiography not with the hope of scoring a best-seller, but really just to get down, digitally or on paper, a record of your life. You probably want your grandchildren to know about their ancestry and to preserve all of the fascinating tidbits that you know about your family. If you publish it at all, most likely you intend to print a small run so that you can hand out a couple of dozen copies to your friends and family. For those targeted readers, your memoir will be compelling, because they have a built-in interest in your story—either they’re part of it or they know people who are. That makes the reading very interesting!

So please don’t worry too much about whether your grammar is perfect or the structure meets the latest conventional wisdom about how to write a memoir. You don’t really need a focus. If you start at the beginning of your life and work your way through the anecdotes and important facts, that will be just fine. You’re not writing a textbook or a novel; you’re producing a highly personal manuscript documenting, in your authentic voice, the truth about your life.

Think You’re Funny? Write a Memoir

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Think You’re Funny? Write a Memoir
Everybody’s a comedian, right? If you’re witty and thinking about writing a funny book, you might want to start with a memoir. New writers are always advised to write about “something you know.” What do you know better than your own life? And if you’re naturally funny, you’ve no doubt been picking up comedy material for decades about your relatives, your pets, school, your workplace, colleagues, friends and the typical, yet absurd, situations in which we all find ourselves. Write out all of those stories, one by one, and soon you will have the chapters to your humorous memoir.
Coming from the opposite direction, you may start out to write an ordinary memoir and discover that through your writer’s eye everything comes out funny. Even though you document your life’s dry facts and chronicle some unpleasant milestones such as parents’ deaths, you may find that what you recall best are the amusing, often heartwarming anecdotes that accompany even the saddest occasions in your life. In developing your voice as a writer, you should embrace that approach not only because it’s your natural voice, but also because humor keeps the reader engaged.
As part of your research, read some funny memoirs! There are plenty available; catch these links on Bookish.com and more on Flavorwire.com. From The Lottery author Shirley Jackson’s 1953 autobiography, Life Among the Savages, to recent memoirs of comedy icons like I Hate Everyone…Starting With Me by Joan Rivers and Seriously…I’m Kidding by Ellen Degeneres, you will be laughing as you pick up tips for the construction and flow of a funny memoir.
http://www.bookish.com/articles/can-we-talk-recent-hilarious-memoirs-by-women?=edit1
http://flavorwire.com/281223/10-of-the-most-hilarious-memoirs-youll-ever-read

Everybody’s a comedian, right? If you’re witty and thinking about writing a funny book, you might want to start with a memoir. New writers are always advised to write about “something you know.” What do you know better than your own life? And if you’re naturally funny, you’ve no doubt been picking up comedy material for decades about your relatives, your pets, school, your workplace, colleagues, friends and the typical, yet absurd, situations in which we all find ourselves. Write out all of those stories, one by one, and soon you will have the chapters to your humorous memoir.

Coming from the opposite direction, you may start out to write an ordinary memoir and discover that through your writer’s eye everything comes out funny. Even though you document your life’s dry facts and chronicle some unpleasant milestones such as parents’ deaths, you may find that what you recall best are the amusing, often heartwarming anecdotes that accompany even the saddest occasions in your life. In developing your voice as a writer, you should embrace that approach not only because it’s your natural voice, but also because humor keeps the reader engaged.

As part of your research, read some funny memoirs! There are plenty available; catch these suggestions on Bookish.com and Flavorwire.com. From The Lottery author Shirley Jackson’s 1953 autobiography, Life Among the Savages, to recent memoirs of comedy icons like I Hate Everyone…Starting With Me by Joan Rivers and Seriously…I’m Kidding by Ellen Degeneres, you will be laughing as you pick up tips for the construction and flow of a funny memoir.

The Memoir Poem: Another Format Choice

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The Memoir Poem: Another Format Choice
Perhaps you’d like to write a mini-autobiography—either a brief overview of your entire life with only the essential details, or a full account of a single event in your life—but you do not feel confident at writing prose. Is poetry an option? It sure is. There’s even a name for it: “confessional poetry.”
Walt Whitman is widely considered to be the first confessional poet, with his Song of Myself and Leaves of Grass infusing first-person narrative into poetry. Before Whitman’s time, it was considered indulgent for poets to insert themselves into their verses. But Whitman seems to have opened the barn door. “For good or ill, we live in the age of the memoir,” write David Graham and Kate Sontag in their anthology, After Confession: Poetry as Autobiography.
Perhaps you’ve always written poetry and you’re comfortable with it; then you’re a perfect candidate to express the episodes of your life in verse. If you haven’t written much poetry before but the memoir poem appeals to you, take a course in poetry writing. And, of course, read lots of contemporary “confessional poetry” to get into the rhythm of this genre. Here are a few lines from For My Lover, Returning to His Wife, by 20th century poet Anne Sexton:
She is the sum of yourself and your dream.
Climb her like a monument, step after step.
She is solid.
As for me, I am a watercolor.
I wash off.
http://www.amazon.com/After-Confession-Poetry-as-Autobiography/dp/1555973558/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370379070&sr=8-1&keywords=After+Confession%3A+Poetry+as+Autobiography
http://www.valpo.edu/vpr/byrneessayconfession.html
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/for-my-lover-returning-to-his-wife/

Perhaps you’d like to write a mini-autobiography—either a brief overview of your entire life with only the essential details, or a full account of a single event in your life—but you do not feel confident at writing prose. Is poetry an option? It sure is. There’s even a name for it: “confessional poetry.”

Walt Whitman is widely considered to be the first confessional poet, with his Song of Myself and Leaves of Grass infusing first-person narrative into poetry. Before Whitman’s time, it was considered indulgent for poets to insert themselves into their verses. But Whitman seems to have opened the barn door. “For good or ill, we live in the age of the memoir,” write David Graham and Kate Sontag in their anthology, After Confession: Poetry as Autobiography.

Perhaps you’ve always written poetry and you’re comfortable with it; then you’re a perfect candidate to express the episodes of your life in verse. If you haven’t written much poetry before but the memoir poem appeals to you, take a course in poetry writing. And, of course, read lots of contemporary “confessional poetry” to get into the rhythm of this genre. Here are a few lines from For My Lover, Returning to His Wife, by 20th century poet Anne Sexton:

She is the sum of yourself and your dream.
Climb her like a monument, step after step.
She is solid.
As for me, I am a watercolor.
I wash off.

StoryCorps Project Records People’s Memoirs

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StoryCorps Project Records People’s Memoirs
“I believe if you don’t tell your family history, or document it somehow, you lose it.” That’s the sentiment of one son who interviewed his father for the ongoing StoryCorps oral history project, as quoted in a Chicago Tribune article. Certainly here at Write My Memoirs, we agree with that!
The decade-old StoryCorps project records ordinary people being interviewed by a friend or relative about their life stories. Excerpts air Friday mornings on local radio station WBEZ-FM 91.5. Funded by nonprofit groups and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the project is open to everyone and has recorded more than 45,000 life stories, which are archived at the Library of Congress.
To open the project to as many people as possible, this month the Chicago Cultural Center opened a StoryCorps booth containing a desk, a few chairs, a pair of microphones and a box of tissues that, according to the Tribune report, gets used up quickly. A StoryCorps facilitator sits in on the hour-long interview session to work the audio equipment and ask an occasional clarifying question. Participants receive a free audio recording of their interviews on a CD.
“The idea of StoryCorps is that the act of people interviewing each other could change their lives, make their lives better and tell them that they matter,” StoryCorps founder Dave Isay told the Trib reporter. If you would like to make an appointment to participate, call 800-850-4406 or go to chicago.storycorps.org.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ent-0520-story-corps-20130519,0,3676901.story
http://storycorps.org/record-your-story/locations/chicago-il

“I believe if you don’t tell your family history, or document it somehow, you lose it.” That’s the sentiment of one son who interviewed his father for the ongoing StoryCorps oral history project, as quoted in a Chicago Tribune article. Certainly here at Write My Memoirs, we agree with that!

The decade-old StoryCorps project records ordinary people being interviewed by a friend or relative about their life stories. Excerpts air Friday mornings on local radio station WBEZ-FM 91.5. Funded by nonprofit groups and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the project is open to everyone and has recorded more than 45,000 life stories, which are archived at the Library of Congress.

To open the project to as many people as possible, this month the Chicago Cultural Center set up a StoryCorps booth containing a desk, a few chairs, a pair of microphones and a box of tissues that, according to the Tribune report, gets used up quickly. A StoryCorps facilitator sits in on the hour-long interview session to work the audio equipment and ask an occasional clarifying question. Participants receive a free audio recording of their interviews on a CD.

“The idea of StoryCorps is that the act of people interviewing each other could change their lives, make their lives better and tell them that they matter,” StoryCorps founder Dave Isay told the Trib reporter. If you would like to make an appointment to participate, call 800-850-4406 or go to chicago.storycorps.org.

Your Memoir Should Draw From Your “Emotional Truth”

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You Memoir Should Draw From Your “Emotional Truth”
Author Diana Raab observes that writing a powerful memoir is more about connecting—and connecting the reader—with your feelings and outlook on life than it is about coming up with tantalizing stories. Reach deeply into yourself, and the power will unfold.
“The most compelling memoirists reveal a deep emotional truth about their lives,” Raab told the Journal of Humanitarian Affairs in an interview promoting a memoir-writing workshop she’s leading this summer at the first annual 2013 Summer Writing Institute of Antioch University, Santa Barbara, California. “I urge my students to ‘get down to their emotional truth.’ Sometimes this is not easy to do, but once the flow begins, it is a very gratifying experience.” The author of two published autobiographical books—Regina’s Closet: Finding My Grandmother’s Secret Journal and Healing with Words: A Writer’s Cancer Journey—Rabb told the interviewer that a memoir offers a snapshot of your life centered around a theme, which is distinguished from an autobiography, which tells the story of your entire life.
“Memoirs tend to be interesting to read,” she noted, “because our lives are the accumulation of stories—some tender and heartwarming, some frustrating, some boring, and others dark and destructive—all helping to build who we are.”
Scheduled for July 28-August 3 and limited to 10 students, Raab’s workshop will blend teaching techniques ranging from lecture and discussion to critique and writing exercises. If you’re interested, apply here by June 15. (Write My Memoirs is in no way associated with the workshop.)
http://greenheritagenews.com/the-essentials-of-memoir-writing-in-santa-barbara-summer-2013/
http://www.antiochsb.edu/swi/how-to-apply/
http://www.dianaraab.com/

Author Diana Raab observes that writing a powerful memoir is more about connecting—and connecting the reader—with your feelings and outlook on life than it is about coming up with tantalizing stories. Reach deeply into yourself, and the power will unfold.

“The most compelling memoirists reveal a deep emotional truth about their lives,” Raab told the Journal of Humanitarian Affairs in an interview promoting a memoir-writing workshop she’s leading this summer at the first annual 2013 Summer Writing Institute of Antioch University, Santa Barbara, California. “I urge my students to ‘get down to their emotional truth.’ Sometimes this is not easy to do, but once the flow begins, it is a very gratifying experience.” The author of two published autobiographical books—Regina’s Closet: Finding My Grandmother’s Secret Journal and Healing with Words: A Writer’s Cancer Journey—Rabb told the interviewer that a memoir offers a snapshot of your life centered around a theme, which is distinguished from an autobiography, which tells the story of your entire life.

“Memoirs tend to be interesting to read,” she noted, “because our lives are the accumulation of stories—some tender and heartwarming, some frustrating, some boring, and others dark and destructive—all helping to build who we are.”

Scheduled for July 28-August 3 and limited to 10 students, Raab’s workshop will blend teaching techniques ranging from lecture and discussion to critique and writing exercises. If you’re interested, apply here by June 15. (Write My Memoirs is in no way associated with the workshop.)

10 Fall Reading Suggestions

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10 Fall Reading Suggestions
When you’re not writing your memoir, many of you are avid readers. Our local reviewer, Julia Keller of the Chicago Tribune, recommends five fiction and five nonfiction books coming out this fall. Enjoy!
Fiction: 1) The Lost Memory of Skin, by Russell Banks, a “disturbing” portrait of a convicted sex offender. 2) The Cat’s Table, by Michael Ondaatje, a 1950s story of a young boy’s dinners aboard a ship crossing the Indian Ocean. 3) The Stranger’s Child, by Alan Hollinghurst, following a wealthy family in post-World War I Britain. 4) 11/22/63, by Stephen King, exploring what might have happened if someone had stopped Oswald from assassinating JFK. 5) Mrs. Nixon: A Novelist Imagines a Life, by Ann Beattie, an imaginative trek through the private thoughts of Pat Nixon during the 1960s-’70s.
Nonfiction: 1) The Other Walk: Essays, by Sven Birkerts, a collection of personal reflections on myriad topics. 2) Floating Worlds: The Letters of Edward Gorey & Peter F. Neumeyer, edited by Peter F. Neumeyer, a must for any fan of the reclusive Edward Gorey. 3) The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food, by Adam Gopnik, exploring, and contributing to, the nation’s fixation on food. 4) Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman, by Robert K. Massie, a textured look at a player in pre-revolutionary Russia who has been regarded narrowly. 5) Freud’s Couch, Scott’s Buttocks, Bronte’s Grave, by Simon Goldhill, which channels Victorian times, when fans traveled to authors’ homes for inspiration.

When you’re not writing your memoir, many of you are avid readers. Our local reviewer, Julia Keller of The Chicago Tribune, recommends five fiction and five nonfiction books coming out this fall. Enjoy!

Fiction: 1) The Lost Memory of Skin, by Russell Banks, a “disturbing” portrait of a convicted sex offender. 2) The Cat’s Table, by Michael Ondaatje, a 1950s story of a young boy’s dinners aboard a ship crossing the Indian Ocean. 3) The Stranger’s Child, by Alan Hollinghurst, following a wealthy family in post-World War I Britain. 4) 11/22/63, by Stephen King, exploring what might have happened if someone had stopped Oswald from assassinating JFK. 5) Mrs. Nixon: A Novelist Imagines a Life, by Ann Beattie, an imaginative trek through the private thoughts of Pat Nixon during the 1960s-’70s.

Nonfiction: 1) The Other Walk: Essays, by Sven Birkerts, a collection of personal reflections on myriad topics. 2) Floating Worlds: The Letters of Edward Gorey & Peter F. Neumeyer, edited by Peter F. Neumeyer, a must for any fan of the reclusive Edward Gorey. 3) The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food, by Adam Gopnik, exploring, and contributing to, the nation’s fixation on food. 4) Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman, by Robert K. Massie, a textured look at a player in pre-revolutionary Russia who has been regarded narrowly. 5) Freud’s Couch, Scott’s Buttocks, Bronte’s Grave, by Simon Goldhill, which channels Victorian times, when fans traveled to authors’ homes for inspiration.

School’s Start Opens Parents’ Time to Write

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School’s Start Opens Parents’ Time to Write
Whether you’re the parent or the kid, the start of a school year signals a major change in your routine. If you’ve been trying to find time to write your memoir, don’t let this opportunity pass! Now is the time to shape your daily schedule for the next nine months. If you let the first few weeks go by as you “catch up??? from the summer, it will be more difficult to set aside writing time.
Are you home during the day? If you know that you work best at a certain time of day, accommodate yourself! Set aside 9-11am or 1-3pm twice a week to work on your memoir. If you have “writer’s block,??? work on tasks that will help you once the writing starts to flow. For example, make a list and notes of your childhood friends or do some internet research on your hometown and what it was like when you were growing up.
If you go to work, a great way to model discipline for the kids is to set nightly and/or weekend study hours. Perhaps from 4-6pm every Sunday or 7:30-8:30pm Monday through Thursday—or both—your home turns into a sort of library, with the entire family either doing homework, reading or writing. You’ll still find time to do laundry and run errands, I promise. Your memoir is important to you and, with a little attention to it, by the time this school year ends you could be finished!

Whether you’re the parent or the kid, the start of a school year signals a major change in your routine. If you’ve been trying to find time to write your memoir, don’t let this opportunity pass! Now is the time to shape your daily schedule for the next nine months. If you let the first few weeks go by as you “catch up??? from the summer, it will be more difficult to set aside writing time.

Are you home during the day? If you know that you work best at a certain time of day, accommodate yourself! Set aside 9-11am or 1-3pm twice a week to work on your memoir. If you have “writer’s block,??? work on tasks that will help you once the writing starts to flow. For example, make a list and notes of your childhood friends or do some internet research on your hometown and what it was like when you were growing up.

If you go to work, a great way to model discipline for the kids is to set nightly and/or weekend study hours. Perhaps from 4-6pm every Sunday or 7:30-8:30pm Monday through Thursday—or both—your home turns into a sort of library, with the entire family either doing homework, reading or writing. You’ll still find time to do laundry and run errands, I promise. Your memoir is important to you and, with a little attention to it, by the time this school year ends you could be finished!

Your Memoir Can Become a Valuable Artifact

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Your Memoir Can Become a Valuable Artifact
You’re probably writing your memoir in order to provide your family with a written account of your life, which is part of their own personal history. Or you may hope to sell the memoir and make money, or to get it into stores and libraries so that it has a wider impact and people who’ve met the same challenges will have a voice. Either way, please also consider donating your memoir to the local historical society where you grew up or may still be living.
With that in mind, include memories of your surroundings and the events that shaped not only your life but the lives of those around you. Perhaps you witnessed a town’s only tornado, its big earthquake or the “snowstorm of the century.??? Maybe you remember the business district when it had just a handful of merchants, or you can picture farmland where a highway now runs. A colorful civic leader or resident may have made an impact on you. When you learned to drive, how much did it cost to fill up the tank at the gas station that still sits on the corner?
Your life represents a moment in time that we’ll never get back. The era’s good and bad are all worth documenting. As you write about your individual experiences, don’t forget that you’re part of a generation, a member of a society and a writer who has a fascinating story to tell not just about yourself, but about life as we knew it.

You’re probably writing your memoir in order to provide your family with a written account of your life, which is part of their own personal history. Or you may hope to sell the memoir and make money, or to get it into stores and libraries so that it has a wider impact and people who’ve met the same challenges will have a voice. Either way, please also consider donating your memoir to the local historical society where you grew up or may still be living.

With that in mind, include memories of your surroundings and the events that shaped not only your life but the lives of those around you. Perhaps you witnessed a town’s only tornado, its big earthquake or the “snowstorm of the century.??? Maybe you remember the business district when it had just a handful of merchants, or you can picture farmland where a highway now runs. A colorful civic leader or resident may have made an impact on you. When you learned to drive, how much did it cost to fill up the tank at the gas station that still sits on the corner?

Your life represents a moment in time that we’ll never get back. The era’s good and bad are all worth documenting. As you write about your individual experiences, don’t forget that you’re part of a generation, a member of a society and a writer who has a fascinating story to tell not just about yourself, but about life as we knew it.

Branding Yourself With a Memoir

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Branding Yourself: the Memoir Piece
If you have your own business, marketers recommend branding yourself as the best way to establish expertise in your field. Branding yourself simply refers to controlling how you’re defined and then getting your name, and even your face, out there in front of current and potential customers. Today people rely on blogs, podcasts, Facebook, Twitter and the “dinosaur??? of branding—personal appearances.
It’s also smart to become an author. Once you’ve written a book, you have something tangible to talk about as well as a reference through which people can learn more about you. You might be able to get the press to review the book or schedule radio interviews to talk about it. Typically, your book will deal with subject matter relating to your industry. A chef writes a cookbook; a landscape architect might publish a guide to creating a beautiful yard. But to let people get to know you and want to work with you, what’s more effective than writing a memoir?
It doesn’t have to be a long book recounting your entire life story. You can be very selective about the stories from your life that you share. In fact, a smaller book makes it easy to mail out to people or show in pdf form on your website. Instead of including TMI—too much information—you can focus on topics such as what inspired you to go into your field and perhaps some of your most interesting projects. The memoir itself will set you apart from your competition!

If you have your own business, marketers recommend branding yourself as the best way to establish expertise in your field. Branding yourself simply refers to controlling how you’re defined and then getting your name, and even your face, out there in front of current and potential customers. Today people rely on blogs, podcasts, Facebook, Twitter and the “dinosaur??? of branding—personal appearances.

It’s also smart to become an author. Once you’ve written a book, you have something tangible to talk about as well as a reference through which people can learn more about you. You might be able to get the press to review the book or schedule radio interviews to talk about it. Typically, your book will deal with subject matter relating to your industry. A chef writes a cookbook; a landscape architect might publish a guide to creating a beautiful yard. But to let people get to know you and want to work with you, what’s more effective than writing a memoir?

It doesn’t have to be a long book recounting your entire life story. You can be very selective about the stories from your life that you share. In fact, a smaller book makes it easy to mail out to people or show in pdf form on your website. Instead of including TMI—too much information—you can focus on topics such as what inspired you to go into your field and perhaps some of your most interesting projects. The memoir itself will set you apart from your competition!

Rupert Murdoch: Never a Memoir?

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Rupert Murdoch: Never a Memoir?
In light of the current scandal surrounding publishing mogul Rupert Murdoch, I thought I’d take a look at his memoir. After all, an 80-year-old man whose professional life revolves around the written word must have penned at least one autobiography, right? Apparently not.
There are plenty of Murdoch biographies, the most recent a 2008 unflattering portrayal, The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the World of Rupert Murdoch, by Michael Wolff. Reportedly, Murdoch cooperated with this biography, but the author turned against him. This drives home the point we make here at Write My Memoirs over and over: own your life story. Even if you’re not the subject of an entire biography and the only press you get is people’s comments about you on Facebook, why would you risk letting other people define you? Write your own story so at least it’s out there as your perception of the truth.
I’m baffled by the lack of a Murdoch memoir. Three years ago in reviewing The Man Who Owns the News, slate.com noted that biographer Wolff found Murdoch “unburdened by [the] human need to be liked??? as well as “bad at explaining himself in interviews and generally devoid of self-awareness.??? So maybe that combination adds up to zero motivation to write about yourself. These days Murdoch may find that he’s asked to explain himself quite a bit, and the dark side of his memoir will more or less write itself.

In light of the current scandal surrounding publishing mogul Rupert Murdoch, I thought I’d take a look at his memoir. After all, an 80-year-old man whose professional life revolves around the written word must have penned at least one autobiography, right? Apparently not.

There are plenty of Murdoch biographies, the most recent a 2008 unflattering portrayal, The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the World of Rupert Murdoch, by Michael Wolff. Reportedly, Murdoch cooperated with this biography, but the author turned against him. This drives home the point we make here at Write My Memoirs over and over: own your life story. Even if you’re not the subject of an entire biography and the only press you get is people’s comments about you on Facebook, why would you risk letting other people define you? Write your own story so at least it’s out there as your perception of the truth.

I’m baffled by the lack of a Murdoch memoir. Three years ago in reviewing The Man Who Owns the News, slate.com noted that biographer Wolff found Murdoch “unburdened by [the] human need to be liked??? as well as “bad at explaining himself in interviews and generally devoid of self-awareness.??? So maybe that combination adds up to zero motivation to write about yourself. These days Murdoch may find that he’s asked to explain himself quite a bit, and the dark side of his memoir will more or less write itself.

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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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