Today is the Day – Official Release Date of Writing Your Legacy
Today our new book Writing Your Legacy: The Step-by-Step Guide to Crafting Your Life Story is being officially released in bookshops across North America. The European release date is July 30th. Many people already have their copies, thanks to Amazon. It seems so much easier to have things brought to you rather than having to go out and get them. I have a tiny confession. I think I was the first to order a copy and that was way back in September 2014 when we were still working on our main draft. Talk about pressure to perform! For some reason Amazon was able to jumpstart the process. I’m guessing that the bulk of sales will come from that source. Now it’s up to the public to make or break our book. If it’s good, it will survive. To help this happen, your reviews on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Chapters/Indigo (wherever the book was purchased) would be greatly appreciated.
In my research library I have 50 + books on life story writing. I’m going to list the best ones here with my recommendations. I look for two things.
1) Is it easy to read? That may sound shallow but I don’t enjoy trying to get through dense tomes with breaks far and few between. That’s not the way I learn.
2) Does it offer a better way of writing your life story than through chronological, year-by-year autobiography?
Note: I’m not including our book Writing Your Legacy because I don’t really know where to place it in my listings. It’s too new and untried.
My Top Five
- The Power of Memoir: How to Write Your Healing Story by Linda Joy Myers
- Writing Your Life: Putting Your Past on Paper by Lou Willett Stanek
- How To Write Your Own Life Story by Lois Daniel
- You Don’t Have to Be Famous: How to Write Your Life Story by Steve Zousmer
- Courage and Craft: Writing Your Life Into Story by Barbara Abercrombie
Five Honorable Mentions
- Shimmering Images: A Handy Little Guide to Writing Memoir by Lisa Dale Norton
- Writing Life Stories: How to Make Memories Into Memoir by Bill Roorbach
- Writing the Memoir: From Truth to Art by Judith Barrington
- Elderwriters: Celebrate Your Life by Sue Barocas
- Your Life As Story by Tristine Rainer
Each of these titles can help you explore the idea of writing your own life story. As a legacy to your children and grandchildren, nothing else comes close.
Richard Campbell
