A History of You

How to write a memoir—and why you should

-  Karen Stiller

MY STORY BY RUSSELL DURLING is my 85-year-old father’s account of the highlights of his life. He is writing and editing it, by hand, in several notepads I gave him as a Christmas gift in 2019 to encourage the memoir project he had talked about for years.

In it, my dad shares stories of summer jobs when he was a teenager, breaking up log jams on the Saint John River near his hometown of Meductic, New Brunswick. He’d move from log to floating log to reach shore again safely—and he loved every minute of this adventure, even when he’d land in the water.

Reading an early draft, I learnt new details of his history, like how when they were children, his cousin Clara had a pet crow. He also wrote about lessons learnt from his RCMP career, which was spent mostly in Nova Scotia, and shared insights about how to retire well. Pro tip from my father: to add a decade to your life, ditch the city (if you can).

This memoir will be a treasure for our family, and I’m glad my father was finally able to start writing it, after spending a long time talking about wanting to. And I get it. Writing your life story can feel like a daunting project. But it’s worth it, both to the writer and their potential readers. If you’re having a hard time putting pen to paper, here’s advice to get you started.

First, Ask Why