You don’t have to be a celebrity or involved in a major scandal to write a memoir. And there are many reasons why sharing your story could be worthwhile.
In fact, you might find the personal benefits more rewarding than money or fame that could come from writing your memoir. You might discover deeper meaning in your life story – and be help your readers too. Here is what writing a memoir could do for you.
Rewards in Writing Your Memoir:
1. Learn from experience. Putting your thoughts on paper can help you reflect on significant events in your life. You may discover underlying reasons and patterns you missed before. You could gain new insights that will enable you to make positive changes.
2. Express your feelings. Do you have trouble talking about your emotions? Your memoir could help you understand why you feel angry or lonely on certain occasions.
3. Enhance thinking skills. Spending too much time watching TV, on social media platforms or other devices can lead to increased anxiety, brain fog and other health issues. Investing time on writing projects could enhance your critical thinking skills and may relieve stress.
4. Confidence booster. When someone asks what you’ve been doing, you can say you’re writing a book! Completing such a big task can give you a sense of accomplishment.
5. Document family history. Your loved ones may benefit from your memoir too. It’s one way to share family history and leave a record for future generations.
6. Inspire others. People you don’t know or likely never meet may learn something valuable from your story. Many memoirs are inspirational tales about overcoming hardships and fulfilling your dreams.
Tips for Writing Your Memoir:
1. Select a theme. You’ve decided to write your memoir, but you’re wondering where to start. It often helps to list the events you want to talk about and find a unifying theme. Remember that a memoir usually focuses on a few highlights rather than your whole life story.
2. Know your target audience. Envision the readers you’re likely to attract and imagine you’re speaking to them. It may be a relatively narrow niche, like single parents or mountain climbers.
3. Write regularly. Publishers typically recommend that a memoir be as long as a novel, which is about 70,000 words. Applying yourself regularly makes that more feasible
4. Start a journal. Have your writing skills grown rusty since you left school? Starting a simple diary or journal can help. Jot down anything you like and get in the habit of expressing yourself.
5. Be authentic. One of the greatest challenges in writing about yourself is trying to be honest and objective. Your memoir will be more useful if you face reality and take responsibility for your choices.
6. Solicit feedback. Asking others to review your drafts can help you to reduce bias and gather other suggestions about your content and presentation. Consider hiring a professional editor if you plan to publish your memoir.
7. Honor privacy. You may be comfortable using real names and other details. But if you’re dealing with sensitive issues, you might want to write with a pseudonym and protect others as well. If you have serious concerns, seek legal counsel.
8. Enjoy yourself. Successful memoirs are usually entertaining. If you're enjoying yourself, your readers may like it too.
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Writing your memoir gives you an opportunity to understand your past and build a brighter future. Taking an honest look at yourself can be empowering. And this is a benefit for you whether you publish your manuscript or keep it private.
And here is another benefit. You could turn your experience with writing your memoir into a service of writing life histories for others.
As the elders in a family pass away, their children and grandchildren may have trouble preserving the family history and legacy.
You could provide a service to get their life histories in writing, and even help them self-publish a book.
You can do this for fun as a free service. Or, maybe, after you "practice" with those you know, you could turn it into a business.
You can get the tools to put this service together with a resource called Writing Life Histories. This comprehensive "toolkit"comes with worksheets, templates, a list of 100 interview questions, and more resources that will get you set up quickly. To get all the details, go here.
Sources
https://www.health.state.mn.us/people/tvviewing/index.html
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