Writing Your Life Story

My passion is hearing your life stories. No two can ever be the same. We may share the same adventures, walking side by side, but our perspectives might be completely different. A desert hike can be a spiritual journey for one while the other finds it hot and exhausting. In many cases we walk alone in our lives with no one to share our adventures and the lessons we have learned along the way. Our lives become ordinary to us and we forget the wonder of each day.

Almost every potential student of mine asks the same two questions. What’s so special about my life? Why would I write about my life story?

There are four compelling reasons.

1. A life unexamined is a life of missed opportunities. Kierkegaard wrote: ‘Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards’.
2. A life story is a legacy. It is a gift to the next generation.
3. Jim Birren, founder of Guided Autobiography, wrote: “I continue to be amazed at how resilient people are. Most don’t even know how impressive they are until they tell their stories to one another.”  We are all magnificent survivors.
4. We live in the present. Writing our life story allows us to look back, often resulting in a growing appreciation of the things we accomplished. We come to acknowledge that each of our lives is remarkable. A life story is our celebration.

There are many ways to capture your own life story. Dozens of D-I-Y books exist in the marketplace. For a different approach, I recommend You Don’t Have to Be Famous – How To Write Your Life Story by Steve Zousmer, How To Write Your Own Life Story by Lois Daniel, Writing Your Life – Putting Your Past on Paper by Lou Willett Stanek, and The Power of Memoir – How to Write Your Healing Story, by Linda Joy Myers. I counted my own life story resources and now have over 50 titles. I’ve read them all and these  selections are among the best.

Writing Your Legacy – A Step-by-Step Guide to Crafting Your Life Story, will be released by Writer’s Digest Books in July 2015. Co-authored with Dr. Cheryl Svensson of Los Angeles, we will show you how to write your life story in short mini-memoir segments. For many of you this can be the perfect method. Otherwise, the above-mentioned titles may serve you best.

There is no right or wrong method. Whether you write your life story in chronological order – concentrate on a singular theme, memoir style – or base it on several core themes, mini-memoir style – you will always get it right. You are the expert in everything you.