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You have had an interesting career that deserves a memoir, and you would like—actually feel the need—to write your professional memoir, to leave a statement of your experience.

A record of your life

Your hope is not to produce a how-to, career-development book although you understand your reader would find inspiration and ideas for emulating your success. No, you are planning to leave a record of your life, not so much to flaunt all you have accomplished but to share your experience with the world and perhaps to review how your career and influences shaped you.

While this is not a how-to book you have in mind, you want a book that will:

  • mentor young people at the start of their educations or careers.
  • help older readers to reflect on their own experience which may be coming to a closure of some sort.
  • celebrate all the wonderful people who helped you through your life’s journey. No one makes life’s journey alone.
  • create order in your own thinking about the trajectory you have taken.
  • serve to launch you into new phase of your life—whether personal or professional. Writing a memoir is something of a life review!

Write a professional memoir as the folks below did.

Below are posts by professionals who have had interesting careers that took them to positions of influence and to places around the world that they had not dreamed of as young people. Links to their books are available in the articles.

If you would like to explore writing our own book, to examine and record your experience, click here for more info to write your Professional Memoir.

If your experience is more that of a businessperson rather than that of a professional, we have much to share with you elsewhere. Click here to be brought to our Business Memoir webpage or our business memoir category.

theme-focused memoir

The Theme-focused Memoir

While many of the people whom I have helped to write a memoir have come ostensibly to write about their lives – to celebrate some achievement, I would say that many of these people are also writing a mission-driven memoir, a theme-focused memoir.

Behind the desire to tell about their lives, there is some intent to promote a point of view. This comes under many guises. Generally, of course, this point of view is called “theme.”

The theme-focused memoir is the most common model.

Writing a manuscript only of one’s experience—the dates, the facts, the activities—may often not enough to entice the reader—at least, it will not interest the reader who is not family and friends. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]

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The Memoir Network

Working in Saudi Arabia

DL: The following is a guest post by a write who co-incidently bears the family name of Guest—Colin  Guest. It presents his first days working in Saudi Arabia. The excerpt is form Follow in the Tigerman’s Footsteps / The Memoirs of a Serial Expat.

On my arrival at Jeddah Airport, now called the King Abdulaziz International Airport, Harold was there to meet me. As it was lunchtime by the time we arrived on site, Harold took me straight to the canteen. As we walked in, I noticed two seated English guys having lunch. On seeing me walk in, one looked up.

“Do you have my passport?” he asked. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]

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memoir writer's experience

How to Write a Successful Memoir: One Memoir Writer’s Experience

Congratulations to author Dennis Blue who received the 2019 Christian Indie Award in the business category for Through the Eyes of a Fisherman. Dennis is truly one of those authors who was a pleasure to work with. He brought much thoughtfulness to bear on his task, and we are so proud to see his efforts rewarded. I recently had the opportunity to interview him about his experience writing his recent books, Running the Good Race and Through the Eyes of a Fisherman.  I am pleased to share his “One Memoir Writer’s Experience.” —DL

Talking with Dennis Blue about his writing

Denis Ledoux: Can you tell our readers what your book is about and why you were impelled to write your book? What was driving you to spend the time, energy and money to get this book out into the world?

[Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]

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write a successful memoir

How to Write a Successful Memoir: With No Extraordinary Power

Mary Ellen Ellwell was a writing client with whom I especially enjoyed working. She brought to the relationship a sense of the value of collaboration. This made the time together a creative one for both of us as we worked together, first with coaching and then with editing—the two often not separable—to write a successful […]