Every ordinary life story is extraordinary!

Every ordinary life story is extraordinary!

Top Memoirs for Summer 2012

Check out these good memoir reads this summer.
Top Memoirs for Summer 2012
I love this—“When you finish a memoir there’s a sense of satisfaction no novel can give: you’ve been let in on a truth about another person, living or alive.” That observation comes from Forbes blogger Meghan Casserly, who has declared this to be the Summer of the Memoir. Combining Meghan’s Top 10 memoirs for women released this year with the five favorite 2012 celebrity autobiographies listed by The Telegraph blogger Mark Sanderson, here are 15 memoirs worth a read during the remaining summer days:
Mimi Alford, Once Upon A Secret: My Affair With President John F Kennedy and its Aftermath, recalling a youthful, not altogether voluntary, affair.
Harry Belafonte, My Song: A Memoir of Art, Race and Defiance, for more than just “Banana Boat” fans.
Monique Colver, An Uncommon Friendship, tracing the effects her husband’s mental illness had on their marriage.
Maggie Fergusson, Michael Morpurgo: War Child to War Horse, which sounds like a biography rather than an autobiography but that’s only because she sees herself as a combination of six “selfs.”
Gabrielle Hamilton, Blood, Bones & Butter, a sort of food memoir from the owner of Prune, a restaurant in NYC.
Diane Keaton, Then Again, a self-analysis with the help of her mother’s journal.
Carole King, A Natural Woman, from the “Tapestry” folk-rock queen.
Madeleine Albright, Prague Winter, focusing on the former secretary of state’s early years.
Louise Krug, Louise Amended, chronicling the struggle to recover from a brain hemorrhage.
Ann Lamott, Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son’s First Son, on ushering her son into fatherhood when he was just 19.
Terry Leahy, Management in 10 Words, part memoir and part business advice from the former CEO of Tesco.
Jane Lynch, Happy Accidents, a humor-driven account of the actress’s road to stardom.
Anna Quindlen, Lots of Candles & Plenty of Cake, the latest navel gaze from the prolific NYTimes columnist.
Billy Bob Thornton, The Billy Bob Tapes, as told to Kinky Friedman.
Mitch Winehouse, Amy, My Daughter, about the late British rocker.

We love this—“When you finish a memoir there’s a sense of satisfaction no novel can give: you’ve been let in on a truth about another person.” That observation comes from Forbes blogger Meghan Casserly, who has declared this to be the Summer of the Memoir. Combining Meghan’s Top 10 memoirs for women released this year with 10 of our own WriteMyMemoir picks, here are 20 new(ish) memoirs worth a turn of the page during the remaining summer days:

  • Mimi Alford, Once Upon A Secret: My Affair With President John F Kennedy and its Aftermath, recalling a youthful, not altogether voluntary, affair.
  • Harry Belafonte, My Song: A Memoir of Art, Race and Defiance, for more than just “Banana Boat” fans.
  • Gail Caldwell, Let’s Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship, a year or two old but an uplifting tale of devotion.
  • Monique Colver, An Uncommon Friendship, tracing the effects her husband’s mental illness had on their marriage.
  • Andre Dubus III, Townie, offering insight into the two polar societies in which the author grew up.
  • William Foege, House on Fire: The Fight to Eradicate Smallpox, explaining the author’s role in wiping out the dreaded disease.
  • Gabrielle Hamilton, Blood, Bones & Butter, a sort of food memoir from the owner of Prune, a restaurant in NYC.
  • Diane Keaton, Then Again, self-analysis with the help of her mother’s journal.
  • Carole King, A Natural Woman, from the “Tapestry” folk-rock queen.
  • Madeleine Albright, Prague Winter, focusing on the former secretary of state’s early years.
  • Louise Krug, Louise Amended, chronicling the struggle to recover from a brain hemorrhage.
  • Ann Lamott, Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son’s First Son, on ushering her son into fatherhood when he was just 19.
  • Jane Lynch, Happy Accidents, a humor-driven account of the actress’s road to stardom.
  • Garry Marshall, My Happy Days in Hollywood, the TV and film director’s account of his long career.
  • Caitlin Moran, How To Be A Woman, the British media personality’s look at her life through a modern-day feminist lens.
  • Sal Polisi and Steve Dougherty, The Sinatra Club: My Life Inside the New York Mafia, released just today, told by the mobster-turned-state’s-witness against John Gotti.
  • Anna Quindlen, Lots of Candles & Plenty of Cake, the latest navel gaze from the prolific NYTimes columnist.
  • Billy Bob Thornton, The Billy Bob Tapes, as told to Kinky Friedman.
  • Paul Wortman, Think Jung! How I Found Meaning in My Life, a self-published memoir by a guy whose letters frequently appear in the NYTimes.
  • Mitch Winehouse, Amy, My Daughter, about the late British rocker.

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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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