How to Write Your Memoir (Cont)

We need to satisfy our curiosity. Aren’t you sometimes curious about what your mother or father were like when they were children? Have you asked one of their siblings?

I have an elderly aunt and during the last time that I saw her, I asked if she would talk to me about what my father was like when he was a young boy. She said she didn’t want to talk about those times. I didn’t want to upset her so didn’t insist, but I will forever regret not trying to at least get her to do it surreptitiously by asking her questions and recording it.

A cousin once asked me to talk about our grandfather because I was one of the cousins old enough to have known him. She commented that she had not had the privilege of having a grandparent on either side of her family. I was lucky enough to have had 3 grandparents and one great grandmother, who lived long enough for me to remember interacting with them.

I have also been in settings where family friends would start relating “stories” of childhood happenings. Knowing my family I know that you have to discount half of what they say because memories can be distorted and also because my family tends to exaggerate some things in life, such as sports, fights, and fish stories. But I love being in those settings and just sit back and absorb what they are saying.

So curiosity plays a big part in why we should document our memoirs.

You’ll get more ideas about how to do this in my book, “How To Write Your Memoir: Three Simple Steps.” See the cover to the right.

We’ll continue the discussion of writing your memoirs in the next blog.