I have a story to tell about my life, my trials, my breakthroughs. How do transform my memories into a book?

In my Publish-It-Yourself Course, I meet many writers with a strong impulse to share their life experiences and help others find a way through struggles of their own. Humble, maybe desperate beginnings, traumatic childhoods, young adult crises, adult failures. But somehow they found their way to better times, hope and healing, with support from people, faith, or inner strength.

Writing a memoir is hard. The place to start is to decide the one message that you want to pass along and maintain focus on that. Begin unpacking your memories and experiences, crafting them into clear, compelling stories. Compile the stories around a central structure and journey through your life. Forget being chronological; be thematic.

Will I offend? Will I be criticized? Will I pay for my honesty? These and more questions will challenge your resolve and eat away valuable time better spent just writing.

As you begin writing, read what others have said about the writing of memoirs. Here is a short list of the best of the best:

The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr. As she breaks down the key elements of great literary memoir, she breaks open our concepts of memory and identity and illuminates the cathartic power of reflecting on the past. Anybody with an inner life or complicated history, whether writer or reader, will relate.

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. Agonizing over the seemingly impossible task of writing a school report on birds, Anne’s father counseled “bird by bird. Just take it bird by bird.” For a quarter century, more than a million readers—scribes and scribblers of all ages and abilities—have been inspired by Anne Lamott’s hilarious, big-hearted, homespun advice and learned how to approach writing memoir. 

Educated by Tara Westover. About a young woman home-schooled and isolated by survivalist parents to age 17. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. Immensely helpful and illuminating to any aspiring writer, this bestseller shares the experiences, habits, and convictions that have shaped him and his work.