Memoirs are different than autobiographies. While autobiographies tend to be written for people who simply want to know more facts and details about your life, memoirs are more focused on entertainment and your unique point of view. Just like in any conversation, you want to think about what would be the most interesting stories to talk about and leave out some of the rest. Here are some tips I like for writing a memoir.

A memoir shouldn't be focused on recounting every single event. A good memoir has a specific theme or purpose that is the focus for the book. Some themes might be "raising a family is the most fulfilling part of life," or "if you keep on working and keep your integrity, you're bound to succeed." A purpose might be "to explain my involvement in the car sales industry," or "to give people the optimism I had to learn from facing a horrible disease." Once your story has a focus, it becomes much easier to figure out what stories are applicable and what could be left out.

After you have a focus, you may want to write down the stories you know you will want to cover in your book. Once you start making a list you can move items around and begin to get an idea of what your book may look like. Then you can begin writing down your stories in the 1st person point of view ("I always looked forward to fishing on the Mississippi River with pop..."). Writing about stories might be easier than trying to begin with page one, and you might have a better idea about what the rest of the book will look like after that practice.

As you begin writing your stories and filling in the rest of your book, always keep in mind that your first draft is allowed to be bad. It is better to get the first draft done and over with than to constantly fret about your writing throughout the process. It's good advice in any type of writing to avoid proofreading until you've gotten it all down.

Finally, as you write and certainly as you edit, make sure you cut down a lot of the extra detail that might bog down your story. The reader is not going to be interested in every single detail the way that you are, and you have to make sure that the book avoids rambling on and on. Also avoid inside jokes or details that might take too long to explain to the reader.

If you keep these tips for writing a memoir in mind, it may be easier for you to get started and get finished with the rough draft--the two most important hurdle in any long writing project.

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