November is National Memoir Writing Month. It’s the perfect time to start writing your autobiography.

It’s not clear to me how November came to be National Memoir Writing Month. It’s not even clear which “nation” the title is referring to. But it appears that in 2015, people started to observe it.

November is also NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo is much better known with hundreds (or thousands?) of participants each year.

I suspect that National Memoir Writing Month was created by somebody who doesn’t like writing fiction.

What does National Memoir Writing Month mean for you?

November is the perfect time to write your memoir. If you’ve lived anything exciting, dangerous, intriguing or eye-opening, or something that really makes you think, you might have a memoir to write.

A memoir is not necessarily the same thing as an autobiography. A memoir could be about your life, but it usually focuses on one aspect of your life:

• a specific period of your life
• a specific theme of your character development
• a profound experience you went through
• a specific aspect of your life, such as your romances, your artistic achievements or even something as arcane as all the times when a peanut butter and jam sandwich mysteriously made an impact on you

Of course, it could be about your whole life. It’s whatever you have to share with the world about your experiences and thoughts.

Actually, you don’t even need to share it with the world. Many of our clients have written memoirs to share just with their family, as a legacy to live on after they are gone.

In fact, many of our clients come to us to write a memoir for their parents to pass on their stories.

Others have come to us to help them write their memoirs just for themselves. The process of writing the memoir is often therapy.

Whether as a future best-seller, a family legacy of simple therapy, what you put in the memoir should be the story you want to tell, whether it’s your whole life or just a part of it.

Are you too young to write a memoir?

Yes.

You have no idea how the story ends. Something you write about now might still have an impact 100 years from now.

But don’t let that stop you. If we all waited to find out how the story ends, we would never write anything.

Are you too old to write a memoir?

Yes.

Some of your stories are already fading. You are forgetting some details. You need to get them down right away. At very least, write detailed notes so that you’ll remember them when you are ready to write your memoirs, if not this November in a future November.

Do you have to write your memoir in November?

No.

Many people write their memoirs all year ’round. In fact, we have helped dozens of people write memoirs in many other famous months.

The right time to write your memoir is when you feel inspired. When you feel the need. When it’s time to tell your story.

Why should you write your memoir?

If you are reading this, you probably have your own reasons. We have seen so many reasons over the years. Most of those reasons involve challenges and successes.

A lot of people ask us to help them tell their tales of overcoming abuse. It might be abuse at the hands of a partner or even a family member. It might be abuse at their own hands through drugs, alcohol, crime or gambling. Sometimes it is all of the above and more.

Others want to tell their stories of overcoming disease or disability.

Some have stories of redemption and discovering God through their trials and tribulations.

Many stories we’ve written have included harsh challenges immigrating to North America or Europe from a much poorer region or a war-torn country. And many include the creation of businesses or charitable organizations, building them from scratch to become important pillars of society.

These are the kinds of stories people feel compelled to tell.

And guess what? These are also the kinds of stories people are eager to read.

If you have a story in you and you don’t know how to get it out, we can help. Contact us today to help you write your memoir.