When you think about your life what comes to mind? Do you freeze up because you only remember the overall bad stuff, the pains, confusions, or bad decisions? Let’s get that out of the way first and foremost. Being unsure about what to put on paper can be a great way to bring about writer’s block.
Here’s a first tip to consider as you think about writing your legacy through your memoirs: You control what you put on paper.
That is a major reason why writing your memoris are so important. You have the chance to share thoughts, dreams, adventures and memories that you may not have every shared before.
Others in the family see the outside person, but not all can know the inner you; the one that likes to laugh, who sees butterflies in the grass and the grasshopper sitting on the branch invisible to the rest of the world.
You could have dreams that no one would imagine. Someone once asked me where I really wanted to travel to in life. When I said “Venice and Greece” he was shocked. His preconceptions of who I am as a person didn’t match the reality of my personal dreams.
Would your children know that you wanted to see Botswana? Would they think you were satisfied to get to Las Vegas? If you don’t tell people who you really are, they will keep a vision of you created from what they see and their imagination and perceptions.
Start thinking deeper about your life. Think about the real you, not just the situations that you experienced. While all of this can go into the memoir, you decide what goes in and stays out. Start from that point and begin making notes as memories come back to you.