If you are like many new writers, deciding to write a memoir had produced much excitement. You are psyched by the thought of how good this piece of writing is going to be and how finally you are going to get your book written and out into the world. This initial feeling is often followed by the challenge of actually getting started with the writing.
Writing begins to seem like pick-and-shovel work!
A letdown sets in. Or, perhaps the feeling is better described as fear. You’ve never written a memoir before. Where do you start and how do you keep going? And why should you ever believe you could pull this one off! After all, you’ve been a nurse or an accountant or a housewife or a UPS carrier—not a writer. What do you know about writing?
Are you supposed to have an outline, you ask yourself, and is there a best point in the story to launch your writing? Should you start from the beginning? You want to “do it right.”
Success is possible—if you commit to getting started.
Many people just like you have succeeded at what you propose to do. One day, they had a book in hand to pass on to family friends and perhaps to the world.
You, too, can succeed at getting started writing an interesting and meaningful memoir. It takes determination and discipline—and some knowledge of how to put a story together. But…
Not to worry. This is what the Memoir Writer’s Blog is here to do: we can help you write the best memoir you are capable of producing.
In conclusion
In this section, we offer you some conceptual and hands-on suggestions for you to start writing a memoir well so that you keep writing to the end.
Prioritize your memoir writing time
Note from the Editor: The following post is taken from Writer’s Time: Management That Works. This program functions with an open enrollment.
How do you prioritize your memoir writing time? Time management calls for understanding how you think of yourself and what you are willing to consider as important in your life. It entails becoming conscious of your priorities.
Prioritize your memoir writing time
While you cannot say “first priority”—prior means first in Latin and there cannot be a “first first”—you can have a number of things that are in first rank in your life: [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
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Commit to writing your best memoir with a time management strategy
Note from the Editor: The following post is taken from Writer’s Time: Management That Works. This program functions with an open enrollment.
The first step to maximize your writing time is to commit to writing your memoir—really commit. More than other choice, committing to write will focus you and make every other decision easier—and even sometimes unnecessary.
“But I already want to write my memoir!” I can hear some hypothetical writer protesting. “I am very interested.”
How “committed” manages time and how “interested in” does not
No, commitment is not about wanting to write a memoir, not about trying to write one, and not about being interested in writing one… [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
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Writing a memoir: how to
Writing a memoir is not easy.
Writing a memoir requires a lot of time and energy—but you can do it. You can succeed in writing a memoir. Many people just like you have succeeded in doing so already.
I want to share a system with you for getting started on writing a memoir.
As with so many projects you might undertake, you can reinvent the wheel or you can plug into a system that has been shown to work. My Memoir Network has been helping people just like you to write personal and family stories since 1988 and our proven system can help you, too, to write a memoir.
The system that I have found to be best for launching new writers—and many practiced writers, too—has three parts to it.
1. When writing a memoir, create a memory list.
A Memory List is a list of everything you remember either in your life or in the life of the person you are writing about or, instead of memory listing an entire life, you can choose a part of a life—the period you are currently writing about. In fact, I usually ask people to chose some small period of their intended memoir and To make a Memory List of that time.
[Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
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Your Subject—Where Write With Passion Starts
“What to write about in a memoir?” is a basic question. The right answer—which I believe is writing with passion—will keep you writing and the wrong may lead you to believe that writing a memoir is too hard and not for you.
My answer to what to write about in a memoir is always to write about something important to you—not what you think is important to others.
Why are you writing? What is it that you hope to get from this effort of creating a memoir? You are about to devote a lot of time and energy to this task. Be sure it is for reasons that will keep you writing with passion. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
“What to write about in a memoir?” is a basic question. The right answer—which I believe is writing with passion—will keep you writing and the wrong may lead you to believe that writing a memoir is too hard and not for you.
My answer to what to write about in a memoir is always to write about something important to you—not what you think is important to others.
Why are you writing? What is it that you hope to get from this effort of creating a memoir? You are about to devote a lot of time and energy to this task. Be sure it is for reasons that will keep you writing with passion. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
We'd love to have you access this content. It's in our members-only area, but you're in luck: becoming a member is easy and it's free.
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Where Do You Start Writing Your Memoir?
Where Do You Start Writing Your Memoir?
It’s a quandary: where do you start writing your memoir? Many people may say: from the beginning. So? Does that mean you start from the first thing you can remember in the sequence of the story? I suppose you could do that, but, I don’t think that is the best place to start your memoir. So where is the best place to start your memoir?
1. The answer is actually quite simple: Start your memoir anywhere in the story.
[Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
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Why Should You Write Your Memoir?
Should you write your memoir? This is such a basic question that perhaps everyone who contemplates writing will be—or should be—asking him/herself that question.
How to Start Writing a Memoir: What’s Your Focus?
DL: I are pleased today to introduce an Australian writer and memoir professional to readers of The Memoir Writer’s blog with this post: How to Start Writing a Memoir: What’s Your Focus? This post was previously published on Alan’s website which is full of informative articles for the memoir writer.
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At first glance, writing memoir might appear to be easier than writing fiction. After all, it’s your life and you know the story, yes? It’s not as if you have to make anything up. Not like fiction writers who have to think the whole lot up: plot, characters, everything.
But writing about your own life is rarely simple and never easy. Some writers suggest that memoir is harder to do well than fiction.
Before we go on, it’s probably useful to define what a memoir is and isn’t. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]