Why Write Your Life Story? Eva Shaw

Keep in mind as you begin your life's story: When disaster causes the familiar ground to shudder beneath the feet of a child, a neurotic is sometimes born, or a writer, and often both.(Time magazine (May 20, 1957)

As long as you're writing and working to polish your work, you will succeed.

Writing your story will take time. Let's say you can write just a page a day. That's "do-able," isn't it? Now do the math: One page a day for a year, and you'll have a book that's 365 pages long. That's a very good size for a memoir. Or you may want to write incidents in your life and will write only a few paragraphs a day. As long as you're writing and working to polish your work, you will succeed.

There may be loved ones or real or imagined critics in your life who will disapprove of what you're about to do. Creativity scares some people. Depending on what you're writing about and how you plan to write it, feelings and egos of others may become hurt.It's up to you as a writer to reveal what is necessary and not disclose what seems inappropriate. But only you can make the decisions on these details.

One day you'll feel brilliant and the next, you may feel as if your brain has gone on vacation without you.

Yes, that IS a personal question. Only you know the right response as to "why write?"

Maybe writing your life story has been on your mind for years. Maybe someone recently got you thinking about it when you told one of your "stories."

Has anyone ever said, "Wow—what a life you've had." Or has someone told you, "Geeze, you should write about your life"? Have your parents and kids or siblings and friends hounded you to recount childhood exploits or the heroics of your ancestors?

Those of us who have the knack of telling great stories—especially our own stories—often have others asking for more details, asking that we write down the story and asking that we save these tales for others to read.

Have you thought you wanted to share with others how you've overcome hurdles, challenges or a traumatic event? Would you like to share wisdom or a quirky take on experiences with readers? If you've ever thought about writing about your life, now is the perfect time.

Not all life stories are filled with sunshine, smiles and white picket fences. Some are complicated, dreadful and hurtful. Some are more terrible than any horror novelist can create. There's need for both types of life stories and stories that blend the two.

Joyful, inspirational work reminds us of sweet, loving people, and warm-hearted families. Yes, it's true—there are still inspirational life stories in our often-tragic world.

What of these tougher times? Do they make good life stories? Yes, many times over. Those who have survived unhappy, dramatic, traumatic events can tell the stories in ways that touch the listener and the reader.

Life stories, memoirs, autobiographies and true-life tales including essays about real people doing real things are extremely popular in today's publishing world. Just look at the popularity of books such as "Chicken Soup for the Soul" and look at books such as Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes."

As you're looking, be sure to include work by Maya Angelou, humor from Dave Barry, mid-life crisis stuff from Jon Katz, slice of real life revelations from Bill Bryson. Just look at the bestseller list, look at magazines, browse through the e-zines and you'll see: Life stories are everywhere. Why isn't yours among them?

Every life has a story to tell, whether it's successfully told has everything to do with the writer. In this course, you'll learn how to tell your story in a way that's forceful, intriguing, entertaining and most important satisfying to you.

We'll go over ways to empower yourself and allow memories to surface. We'll talk about how to jog brainwaves in a way that will get you thinking about the emotions you've experienced.

We'll talk about re-creating compelling details, dynamic characters and action-packed dialogue. We'll format a story line that will keep your saga moving and the reader glued to the page.

Don't be hesitant. There's no mystery to writing a life story. If you'll read the lessons and apply that which feels pertinent, along with following your intuition, your story will come together. You'll learn to reveal yourself and your experience in a way you want.

You'll learn where to start your story, you'll learn how to ask questions and conduct interviews, write for the reader and share your life without being a world-class "I" dropper. We'll go over how to write and define the details and look for cliff-hanger events, and even understand when and how to share your own stories.

Throughout the course I'll be talking about YOUR life's story. If you've been asked to write a loved one's, colleague's or friend's life story, you can apply the same information.

Let's say your grandmother gave you her diaries just weeks before she passed on. You want to write about her life. She was a courageous lady who left Asia with scores of immigrants. Once she made it through the masses of red tape to step foot on Angel Island, in San Francisco's bay, she traveled on horseback and walked across the Great Plains with her aunt and uncle. The three built a house in Nebraska. There she raised seven healthy children and buried three husbands before moving to the "city" of Lincoln.

Any evening when the wind has a hint of fall in it, you can practically hear her voice retelling the tales. These are the same tales you heard as a child, sipping hot chocolate or spiced cider and rocking away the chilly evenings in her creaking old rocker in that plain and simple Nebraska house. Some of the stories you've heard again from your father as he tells your own children.

Now that you're serious about writing Grandmother's life story, you've been taking notes as Dad talks to the kids. You know that life is all too short and you'll want Dad's perspective as you write your grandmother memoirs.

Trust me, in this case there's plenty of information to write a life story from the personal accounts in the diary, from your dad, from your own memories and from researching accounts and histories during your grandmother's life span.