How to Write Your Own Life Story: The Classic Guide for the Nonprofessional Writer [Paperback]

Lois Daniel (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1556523181 | ISBN-13: 978-1556523182 | Publication Date: August 1, 1997 | Edition: Fourth Edition, Fourth edition

Writing the story of one’s life sounds like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. This warmhearted, encouraging guide helps readers record the events of their lives for family and friends. Excerpts from other writers’ work are included to exemplify and inspire. Provided are tips on intriguing topics to write about, foolproof tricks to jog your memory, ways to capture stories on paper without getting bogged down, ways to gather the facts at a local library or historical society, inspired excerpts from other writers, and published biographies that will delight and motivate.

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press; Fourth Edition, Fourth edition edition (August 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556523181
• ISBN-13: 978-1556523182
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #44,922 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

126 of 127 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book I've found for life story writing, September 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Write Your Own Life Story: The Classic Guide for the Nonprofessional Writer (Paperback)

More than seven years ago I decided to get some folks together to write our life stories. I haunted bookstores looking for the ideal book, and when I came across Lois Daniel's book, I knew it was the right one. That was her Third Edition. The updated Fourth Edition presents the same material, plus a couple of extra chapters.

The book has been ideal for our purpose. Lois Daniel's approach to writing about your life is to suggest that you write in bits and pieces, rather than starting with your birth and what I call "plowing through your life" from birth to the present day. That can be a chore for many; whereas writing about interesting incidents becomes an enjoyable challenge.

Grandma Moses, in her autobiography, wrote, "I have written my life in small sketches, a little today, a little yesterday, all the things from childhood on through the years, good ones and unpleasant ones, that is how they come out and that is how we have to take them."

That is the approach suggested by Lois Daniel. And the author makes it easy for persons who shy away because, they say, "I'm no writer." She suggests that you need not be a "writer", but merely to "write as you talk."

Our weekly class is now entering its eighth year, with 43 participants, both women and men. Since the class started, the members have purchased between 250 and 300 of her books, and, without exception, they are pleased. They find the book to be interesting, while at the same time it provides many suggestions and examples to motivate the writer.

64 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The classic memoir writing book: a grandmother of them all., October 18, 1998

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Write Your Own Life Story: The Classic Guide for the Nonprofessional Writer (Paperback)

I have taught memoir courses from this book, so examined most others in the field of writing one's own life story. This was the first, and I think, the best. Author makes the task manageable with "get started" topics that trigger memories, inspiring samples from her real-life writing classes, and helpful tips. Perfect if you have an elderly parent or grand- who should record his/her life for family archives...or if you want to do it yourself.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Makes the task of writing about your life not so overwhelming, September 4, 2005

By 

Anna M. Walker "AMW" (California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Write Your Own Life Story: The Classic Guide for the Nonprofessional Writer (Paperback)

I am teaching a life history class for the first time and am using Lois Daniel's book as part of my curriculum. I like the fact that she breaks down the book into categories and reminds you that you do not have to write in chronological order or even whole categories at once. She is informal and supportive, gives many writing examples and even has a section about do's and don'ts. She also does not restrict her teachings to only older individuals, but encourages younger people to begin their stories as well. Her categories are rather broad and so I am using this book in conjunction with "Legacy" by Linda Spence, which has individuals put down their story in the form of answers to questions. Between both books I feel I now have a good handle on not only teaching my class, but also starting my own life story for my child.