by Patti M Hall
Why would I write a memoir?
Want an answer to that question you’re asking yourself?
I can hear what you’re thinking….
- “I’m not famous, I’m not an actor, I was not born into a well-known family.”
- “I didn’t set a record, save 10,000 refugees, or develop a cure for blindness.”
- “I am neither super-human, nor truth be told, super at much.”
- “I’m not a writer, and no one is going to want to read my story.”
Am I right? Is that some of what you’re thinking?
Okay, so you’re not Angelina Jolie, Hilary Clinton or that Steve Jobs guy. You did not set the record for the one minute mile and your cape never even got out of the package.
Writing about your life doesn’t start with a powerful sense of mission, for most people. Many of us just remember something funny, or sweet, or sad and finding ourselves motivated and close to a pen and piece of paper, we dribble out a few words. There’s no more magic to it than that.
It feels pretty good, so we leak out a few more words, and then paragraphs form, and then pages get turned and filled, and then we go to the stationery store and buy a stack of notebooks. Stories are built. Tales get told.
Write your story for the pure pleasure of hearing it again.
- Write because it feels good.
- Write because to see a memory in another way, that you want to paint some details on.
- Write for the pleasure of savoring a moment again, a delicious feeling you thought you’d forgotten and bring along your pen.
- Write for you. Just write.
You’ll be the first, and possibly only, reader of this work in progress and that is reason enough to fill some pages.
When you’re curious, losing faith, or just wondering whether to keep on dribbling word paint on the page–ask the person next to you at the dinner table, in your life, or in your heart if you have a story that the world wants to hear, and they will give you back a “Hell, yeh.”
Ask your grand-daughter, your best friend, and your neighbor if you should write about your life and they will all scream YES!!
But start with you. Savor a moment, paint a word picture and add to it next time.
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