Kia ora, my rewrite (read new write) of my book Your Life, Your Story, a practical guide to writing memoir, is finished.
Your Life Your Story is for those who want to write their life story for family and friends, not for those who want to publish a book.
I read it through a few times, made some mental notes, wrote and rewrote, allowed for a lot more people having computers now which is great because its so much easier to write on a computer than in an exercise book. If you make a mistake it can be corrected instantly, cutting and pasting is a breeze, and if you want to change the sequence or the title, it’s a matter of moments.
I changed the sequence and wrote new stuff, made it into two parts and divided the parts into chapters. I didn’t want a long book – that’s fatal in how-to books anyway – my aim is to get the reader to write their memoir – they need the nitty gritty of how to go about it, they need a springboard to set them off, what they don’t need is to be swamped by a mass of unnecessary words from me.
Now its finished, kei te pai, kei te pai.
I’ve planned the cover, I’ve got a good friend helping me organise the printing. Your Life Your Story will soon be available as an ebook on WednesdayBusk and also as a print book from me or from selected bookshops.
It’s been an interesting exercise reading and rewriting a work written ten years ago. I was pleased with some of it and found some of it needed to be rewritten and some, chucked. All shows I’ve learned lots over the last ten years.
I credit all the years of teaching for that. There’s nothing like teaching a particular subject to make you really learn a lot about that subject. If you don’t teach yourself, the students will. I’m not the first teacher to say that.
Seeing things I wanted to do differently now also proves (to my satisfaction anyway) that you never stop learning, that your brain just keeps getting better.
It’s true I’m the one who presents myself with challenges, sets deadlines. It’s true that as the deadline approaches, I think (grumpily) I thought getting older was supposed to be when everything slows down and gets easier? But its also true that the work keeps me healthy, sane (most of the time) and happy.
Its taken me a while to learn this – there’s an expectation from others about what you’ll do and not do as you get older – you just have to ignore that. We all make our own maps, our own journeys, and they depend a lot on our upbringing and our genetic inheritance.
You just have to follow your particular star. I’m very happy I’ve found mine. Renée
