Have you ever considered writing a book about your life? How do you condense all of your memories and life experience into just one book? Where do you begin? 

Many writers begin their memoir by selecting one event in their life, usually from the day they were born, and just start writing. This could be the worse thing to do. Writing any novel requires a great deal of planning, so why should writing a memoir be any different? There are three main steps in the planning process and if you do these, you are making the whole process of writing your memoir so much easier. 

Step One -   Write a Premise

Your first step before you begin to write your memoir is to summarize the entire story into one sentence. You may be thinking, 'How can I sum up my entire life in one sentence?' The answer is, you don't. A memoir is not supposed to be your life story, but a specific event in your life and the lessons you learned from that situation. Your premise should include three things. Your character, the situation and the lesson learned. 

Step Two - Create a Plan

I have, from past experience, realized that if I plan anything I write correctly and I will have a far greater chance of completing the project. A memoir plan should contain the following key points. 

Intent - If you stand any chance of completing your memoir, you need to plan a writing schedule. This means having a clear plan on when, where and how much you will write each day. Write this information in your plan and stick to it.

Accountability - To help you achieve your goal of completing your work even further, it is a great idea to have someone that is going to hold you accountable. This could be an editor or even a supportive friend that will check in on you during the writing progress. You also need the support of other writers to give you constructive feedback. 

Personal Marketing - Give some thought to what your publishing and marketing strategy is going to be, even while you are still in the planning stage of your memoir. You are far more likely to stick to your writing schedule if you think about the entire writing process from beginning to end and have clear objectives.

Summarise Each Chapter - This should be the final stage in the planning process because outlines for each chapter will change during the writing process. Write a brief outline of each chapter but remember to be flexible with the finer details too. 

Step Three - Do Not Be Perfect

Remember that every first draft is going to be terrible, so dismiss the need to be perfect. Perfectionism is going to be the number one reason you will face the dreaded writer's block and not complete your memoir. Instead, use the process of the first draft to just get on with writing your memoir, paying little attention to the grammar, awkward dialogue and typing errors. If your memoir has been planned sufficiently, the standard of your first draft will probably be very good. 

So, the time has come to begin writing your memoir. Remember to connect with your reader on an emotional level and they will definitely engage with your story. That will make all the hours and days spent on the creative process so worthwhile. What event in your life will be the subject of your memoir?