I spent today at my newspaper (which I surprised myself by buying in May) – the GB Weekly – helping to finish it for the week. We sent it away to the printers in Christchurch this afternoon, and the next time I’ll see it is this Friday when it arrives in my letter box. It’s always a relief to meet the weekly deadline.
I remember when I first started writing for the Nelson Mail and my boss said ‘and so your job recording history begins.’
That’s what you’re doing too, recording your life and family history so that future generations will know who you were and where you came from. The difference is your deadline is far longer than my new weekly one. Yours can be as long as you want it to be, but I do suggest you set one.
Perhaps you’d love to finish it by next Christmas, in 2027? Books always take far longer than you expect them to. If you wanted it printed by next Christmas, I suggest you aim to finish your first draft by summer 2027. There’s a lot more to do once you’ve written your story – editing and preparing your images.
I have noticed that us humans are very motivated by deadlines. Each month when we have our monthly online gatherings, quite a few students on my memoir course whip up half a page of writing to share in time for our get together. So I suggest you set yourself one important deadline, and then a series of small deadlines, to work towards. Feel free to email and tell me about your deadlines! And if you’d like to be held accountable, think about joining my memoir course. More info here.
The most important thing is to keep writing, one word at a time, until you write your story!
Charlotte x
PS our next monthly memoir meeting is this Friday – and the theme is ‘slowing down.’ If you’d like to join us, click here.
Is it time to write your memoir, life story or history? 