You start with a burst of writing motivation. You are super energized! You have the best motivation for writing—ever!

“By gosh, this memoir is going to get written and it’s going to be good!” you tell yourself. And the writing flows for the first while. Your energy remains high. You write regularly and you think about how to make your memoir better and better. At last, you feel like you are a “real writer!”

Then, you stall.

A day—or two or three—goes by without any writing. Then that “not writing” repeats itself the next week.

“But that’s ok,” you tell yourself. “I’m just taking a few days off.” But…

The few days off eventually become many days off, and the memoir begins to seem a bit less interesting.

You realize you aren’t making much progress. You may even be losing the feel of what you were creating. Your commitment to writing your memoir is on the wane. You may ask yourself…

“Is this memoir really worth my time to write?”

You have entered a danger zone! It leads to quitting. Your motivation for writing your memoir is wavering. It is at risk of disappearing.

Don’t go down that way—at least for long!

If you want to renew your motivation for writing

This article and the video posted below will help yousustain your motivation for writing your memoir for the long run of creating it.

No one said writing a memoir was going to be easy—just that you can do it. The fact is…

Many people just like you have written interesting and meaningful memoirs and so can you—if you follow your BIG WHY.

What is your memoir’s BIG WHY?

Without a BIG WHY, your memoir will not shine. You story will be smaller than it needs to be.

As I interview prospective clients for coaching—something I do often, I listen to why they want to write a memoir. What are their reasons for undertaking this challenging endeavor?

Many do not yet have a compelling reason to write their memoir, a “why” that will push them to persevere when the going gets tough.

Among the inadequate reasons, the reasons that I suspect will not see the writer though are:

• my kids want me to do it.
• I’ve had an interesting life and people tell me I ought to share it.
• I’m so damn mad at my brother and sister that I want to tell the world about how awful they were!

I strongly suspect these prospective clients will not continue into coaching or editing—and may not finish their memoir at all. These are other focused reasons that, when the going gets through—as it will, the writer will stop.

What is your memoir’s BIG WHY?

Yes, there is some reason that has urged them to be in touch with me, but that presenting reason, I sense, is not yet gnawing at their consciousness, boring into them until they have to give in to it, causing non-writing to be more painful than writing. These people will “try to write” a memoir, but I sense they are not committed.

Reasons that compel people to write are generally writer-focused.

• I want to mentor another generation in my family.
• I’ve had an interesting life and I think I can get to a deeper understanding of it beyond the “showy” aspects.
• By writing about my family dynamics, I hope to understand more clearly what happened and how it continued to affect my life.

This second set of reasons covers some of the same material as the first set but it is focused on the development of the writer.

In the videos below, I explore what a BIG WHY is and how to uncover it if you are not yet aware of your own BIG WHY.

Here is a video course I have curated just for you

~ Your Memoir Can Be More Consequential 

~ Upgrade Your Memoir’s Significance: 10 Writing Tips 

~ Don’t settle for less for your memoir. 

~ To Watch this post as a YouTube video: A BIG WHY Will See You to Success in Your Writing.

In conclusion to “Your Memoir’s BIG WHY”

Remember: “Inch by inch, it’s a cinch; yard by yard, it’s hard.”

“Good luck writing your stories!

Keep writing. Your memoir is important.

Best,

Denis