Your memories are worth preserving.
Maybe you didn’t play a rousing game of shirts and skins football with the Kennedy brothers at Hyannisport, but the memories you do have are meaningful to your loved ones and should be recorded. And no one can tell your favorite stories better than you can.
Of course, deciding to preserve your memories and actually preserving them are two different things. Putting together a book—whether it’s a traditional memoir, a book of letters or diary entries, or some other chronicle of family deeds—is a huge undertaking. But don’t let the enormity of the project psych you out. Here are a few tricks I’ve seen clients employ to get their family history project rolling.
Start at the beginning
If you’re wondering how or where to start on your grand literary adventure, don’t overthink it: start at the beginning. You don’t need to redefine the memoir genre with your first draft. Once you start typing, you’ll find that some scenes naturally take shape: one memory will unlock another, and so on, and pretty soon you’re done with chapter one. Maybe later, as the project finds its form, you can experiment with opening the memoir with a scene that resonates thematically—but if you’re looking for a place to start, try the beginning.
Start writing down your favorite stories
Of course, the beginning isn’t always that compelling. Unless you were like the titular boss baby in the 2017 animated film starring Alec Baldwin, you probably didn’t do much for the first few years of your life. If you’d rather not start your story in diapers, skip what you might perceive as the boring parts and get to the interesting stuff, like that time you bowled a turkey in the tenth frame to beat Spiro Agnew in a bowling tournament. Once you have a gaggle of those stories, you might feel compelled to fill in some of the gaps: and if not, that’s fine too. My late father set out to chronicle some of his greatest stories, and he just kept going until he had a book of two hundred of his favorite anecdotes, including several written by friends and family members.
Break out the tape recorder
Perhaps the trickiest part of writing your memoir is the actual writing part. If you’re allergic to your office chair, or if you have trouble setting time aside every day to write a story, then turn to your friend the tape recorder instead (or more likely the voice memo app on your phone). Pretend you’re telling an eager audience your stories for the first time and go nuts: talk and talk and talk until you can’t. Then, when the time is right, get the audio transcribed cheaply and accurately by an online vendor like rev.com. Boom, you have a perfectly serviceable first draft for your memoir. It doesn’t matter if you ramble—you can always go back through and put things in order. Or better yet, you can hire a competent ghostwriter to structure your ramblings, zero in on compelling themes, and polish the prose.
Dig up old letters and journals
You know that box of old letters you’ve been keeping in your garage for no reason? Well, maybe there is a reason: they’ve been waiting to be turned into a book. Going through old documents is an amazing way to get inspired, and who doesn’t love a trip down memory lane? Pick out the letters that interest you the most and transcribe them (or, again, have someone else transcribe them for you). Your brain will inevitably begin forming some narrative structures, and with a bit of added context, you’ll end up with a perfectly interesting book. Pictures make it all the better: again, you can hire a service to get old pictures scanned and ready to get published.
Write first; edit later
There are going to be ebbs and flows to your project—times when you crush it and times when it crushes you. Frankly, there were times when this silly little blog post crushed me, but I hammered my way through it, edited it a little, and now you’re reading it. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Sure, do your best, but don’t let your perceived inadequacy keep you from continuing. There will be a time to refine your writing: in any case, you’ll find it’s more satisfying to work with a full draft, even if it’s kind of crummy. If you’re truly at a loss for where to go, find an editor to help you figure out which themes to emphasize and how to structure your story.
Speaking of editors, I’d be deeply honoroed to help you make progress on your memoir, family history anthology, or other passion project. I can jump in at any point in the process—whether you’re just getting started or are looking to publish a polished manuscript.
Don’t you ever wonder what life was like for your ancestors a couple hundred years ago? Wouldn’t you love to tap into their thoughts, their hopes, their senses of humor? You can give that gift to future generations by preserving your memories in a book. Shoot me a message, and let’s get started.