When’s the Right Time to Write Your Memoir?
I had the pleasure of being a guest on Marion Roach Smith’s QWERTY podcast where we covered a lot about memoir writing, including this question:
When is the right time to write your memoir?
Click here to listen to the podcast. 🎙️
That’s a big question and it raises another question: Is there ever a wrong time to write your story?
Here are three questions to help you determine whether the time is right for you to write your memoir:
1. How much distance do you have from the events you are writing about?
For example, if you’ve just come out as queer and you are in the messy middle, you may not have enough perspective to craft a meaningful narrative for your reader. But that doesn’t mean you should refrain from writing. If you feel called to write about your experience now, go ahead, recognizing that this writing will likely be raw material that you will draw upon later.
2. Have you processed your experience (on your own, with a therapist, or with a trusted friend or family member)?
This is especially important for people who are writing about trauma, such as LGBTQ+ folx dealing with religious trauma. While the act of writing can help you process that trauma, again, this kind of writing is primarily for you. Write now to help you heal, and later when you are ready to write from the scar and not from the wound, write your memoir.
3. Do you have the time, space, and emotional bandwidth now to embark on this memoir writing journey?
To be clear, there will never be a perfect time to get started. Trust me, the stars will never align perfectly; that cabin in the woods is a fantasy; and the idea that your calendar will ever be empty? Not going to happen. But when you are radically over-committed it’s not ideal to add another commitment to your plate. And yet, if your story is calling you despite all the busyness, answer that call. We find the time for the things that matter to us.
There’s no one right time to write your story. Consider these three questions to help you think about whether the time is right for you.
