Why You Should Write a Memoir

Abuse, alcoholism, homelessness, death of a loved one. How I became a star. It's all been done, right? No matter the topic of your memoir, someone else has lived it and already written about it. So why should you bother?

It's been said that since the advent of the internet, everyone thinks they're a writer. There are blogs and columns, opinions and life stories everywhere. With all the free templates, low cost web hosting services, PODs, and vanity presses, everyone has something to say and can say it for cheap. So what makes you different? Why add to the chorus? Simple. A style and voice that belongs to only you.

It's more than what you write. It's the way you write it. Say you lived on the streets in downtown Portland. During the day you panned for money and at night you slept in an old warehouse. That sounds like a story, right? It is, but if you search online for stories about homelessness, you may find thousands. How do you make yours stand out from all the rest?

If publication is what you're looking for, read the other stories you find. Look at what makes them work (or not). Find out what people are looking for when they read a memoir. Find the one thing that hasn't been written about or the one angle only you can write. Then be funny, be honest, be real. However you write it, be you and nothing less.

So what if your story is more common than that? What if you want to write about your parents' divorce or your adventures as a sophomore in a parochial school? It comes down to the same thing. Your job is to find out what makes your story yours and not someone else's. Your job is to write the style and content that belongs to you alone. Then bring the humor, the drama, the raw emotions.

Regardless of topic, if a memoir is written and put together well, there will be an audience, whether it's the book buying public or the loyal blog browsers. Human beings are, by nature, a curious species. We want to find someone with whom we can connect. Someone who shares our story. And sometimes we want to find stories about a life we could only imagine. We want to read it in a way that makes us yell, "Yes!" If you can do that, then write your memoirs and start looking for an agent.

But what if you aren't looking for national publication or if your life story is less than stellar? So what? Write it anyway. Do it for self-discovery. Writing down the events and people that made us who we are can be self-indulgent, but also healing. We can find patterns we didn't see before and new ways around obstacles. We can learn how to move forward. Keep it for a family record. Let your children and grandchildren read it. Pass it down. It's history, after all. And who knows? Maybe those less than stellar memoirs can lead to a greater work.

The fact is, been there, done that can be said about any type of writing. Articles, fiction, memoirs, even ad copy. Don't worry about all that. If you have something to say, then say it. Whether you want to be published or just record family history, we all have a story that only we can tell. Tell yours.