So You Want to Write Your Memoirs

Writing what we call ‘personal essays’ or ‘memoir’ begins with identifying your reason for writing

Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash

For too long, you’ve been saying, “I want to write my memoirs.” But that’s as far as you’ve gotten. You’ve not even had writer’s block yet — since to have such a malady you have to be a writer who has written something, sometime.

OK, stop fretting. Everybody has a story. You do, too. Here’s how to begin writing yours:

Write your reason for writing — your theme

The first step in memoir writing is to decide on and write down your reason for doing this writing. What do you want to accomplish by writing this?

Identifying your motive for writing your memoirs is important for three reasons:

• First, having a motive for writing helps you to decide what stories you want to include in your memoirs. Subjects you consider writing about can be good to include if they have a connection to your reason for writing and good to exclude if they do not.
• Second, keeping what you want to accomplish in mind as you write keeps you on track during the writing process. If you have a well-defined reason for writing, you will be better able to focus on your writing, and the…