Memoirs have Commonality

I find that Bible Verse, Romans 14:7, "None of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself," is helpful to keep in mind when writing a memoir. We all have an impact on each others' lives and we aren't always aware of the ways we have positively impacted someone. It is the same with our life stories. Famous or not, we all have the same basic life needs. When we share our joys and frustrations, our hopes and our failures, and our history in writings, others we don't know benefit from that commonality and knowledge

Write

Don't wait for the perfect words. Just put words down on paper or computer. Later, go back to what you wrote and look at the verbs, adverbs, and adjectives to see if there is repetition. Are they the best ones to describe what is happening? Perhaps, you didn't use any adverbs or adjectives, but just wrote down the bare essentials. Then, it is an opportunity to question what more is needed to make you or others feel the memory.

Don't wait for the opportunity to sit down and write perfectly. Just get the memory written and later work at perfecting what you have to say and save. If it never gets down, perfect or imperfect, it will never be a memoir. Too simple? It's true. We often spend too much time waiting for perfection and memoirs are lost.