How to Write Your Story

Record Your Personal History in 30 Minutes a Day

By: Deb Graham

Narrated by: Meghan Crawford

Length: 1 hr and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Why write your own story? It's a scary thought: What if you died before you told your life's story, and your busybody sister-in-law decided to write it for you? Yes, she's diligent, but she never really liked you, and she surely doesn't know you as well as you know yourself. No one can tell your life's story as clearly or as accurately as you can! Now's the time, before it's too late.

In only 30 short minutes a day, you can begin to tell your own history, drawn from your own memories. Thousands of people have done this and found it compelling, even addictive. This short book makes it easy, with dozens of questions and memory-prompts, carefully designed to get you thinking, to aim your mind in a direction to record your own life history. As you begin, it's as easy as any essay test you've ever taken. Easier, because you know the subject matter intimately - it's all about you.

©2014, 2017 Deb Graham (P)2016 Deb Graham

Starting Platform for Your Story

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would suggest this book to anyone who is struggling with the commencement of writing about themselves or journaling.

Which character – as performed by Meghan Crawford – was your favorite?

There are no characters in this book, simply a narrator explaining and detailing one’s experience with writing about their life. I think the narrator did a great job moving along through the questions and her voice was soothing, not distracting.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This audiobook sparked an interest in writing my own life story and I continually wrote down ideas shared in the audiobook.

Any additional comments?

This audiobook begins with listing the importance of writing one’s story. It provides tools to establish a daily routine for writing. It then goes on for about 40 minutes providing questions and themes to review and then write about. I think this is a good audiobook for someone who wants to begin journaling or documenting their life story, but does not know where to begin. This brief audiobook will definitely get anyone motivated to assess their life and begin writing your own autobiography.

Write your story from your perspective!

Take time, relax and begin to write and build from your view point. " The act of writing can change who are." I completely agree with this statement. Everyone is busy but you can write your story from your perspective it will also help you gain a broader sense of yourself and open insights. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher

A research guide rather than a writing guide

There are two big questions that are not acknowledged in this useful guide book, both which may determine if it’s the right book for you. The first question is Why? Why do you want to write your story? The second, is for Who? Do you want to write your memoir for just yourself or for others?

Deb Graham’s short book provides some basic and practical tips on developing the habit of writing so you can get it done. She then breaks down our lives into easy chunks, and loads each section with an extraordinary number of questions for you to answer about yourself. They’re great prompts to get you thinking and researching, covering about everything from the obvious life events like education, relationships and family, to the less obvious, like motivations, fears and personality traits.

Particularly useful, are Graham’s thoughts on perspective and a reminder that, even as a first-person narrative, a variety of storytelling perspectives can be told – for example, “My mom told me…”. She also provides important food for thought regarding the perspective of age – will you tell your story as an adult looking back, or as the person you were at the time of the event so you grow older with your book? An example of this would be recalling a memory from the perspective of your five-year-old self then, later, your high school years from your perspective as a teenager.

Returning to the two questions I began with, this is where the book potentially fails. For the question of Why? Graham doesn’t ask her audience to question their motivation behind writing their story. Personally, I find myself to be an intricately fascinating person with an exciting history of travel, family secrets, broken relationships, varied work roles, and winning awards. That said, I also know that friends and strangers may be interested in some of my history in the context of a conversation or presentation, but would rather eat a raw bucket of Brussels Sprouts that have to read my entire life history. Hence my question. Why? Why do you feel the need to write my own story? Is it a cathartic, personal way for you to work through a grief, or are you hoping to make millions when your book is published worldwide? As the actor said to the director, “what’s my motivation?”

This then raises my second question of Who? If I’m writing my story to keep in a scrapbook for myself and, perhaps, my heirs, then this book may be exactly what you need to get going. An extended diary carrying more details and funny recollections can be cathartic and can leave a lasting gift to your family for generations to come. If, however, you are hoping to have your autobiography published, Deb Graham’s book doesn’t touch on this side of things at all. There’s no commentary on publishing, editing, formatting or any other vital knowledge that you would need to get your book on shop shelves. How to Write Your Story is strictly a beginner’s guide only, designed to get you planning so you can start your journey. It’s not about taking it or finishing it.

Narrator Meghan Crawford does a fine job but her voice sounds too young to be providing advice, particularly given the primary audience for this kind of book is probably older, with a life lived and worth telling. There’s no authority and no trust built from a voice that sounds younger than my own child. That, in no way, disses Crawford’s narrative abilities, but does question the choice of narrator for this particular book.

This review and others about fiction and non-fiction audiobook titles can be found on my site at SaidNotRead dot wordpress dot com. In this digital age of self-publishing, there’s a lot of variety in both audiobooks and quality. The quality of recording in How to Write Your Story is slightly muffled, although not enough to make anything unclear. At most, it provides a slight lisp to Crawford's voice, which is only distracting for the first few minutes until you get used to the sound quality.

So in summary, How to Write Your Story can be quite useful to get started but is more of an initial research guide than a guide on actually writing your story.

Writing Tips..

Any additional comments?

This was a short book with tips and questions about book writing.

I wish it were longer and had more tips.

Meghan Crawford did well with the narration.

Note:
"This audio book was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review."

How to Write an Autobiography

This was a short but useful audiobook with instruction on how to write an autobiography. The author helps the listener determine where to start, ideas for things to include, what to avoid, and how to bring everything together.

The author emphasizes that everyone has a story to tell and a story worth hearing. You have a unique perspective on the things that happened in history and the events you experienced in your lifetime.

The narrator was very good and perfect for this type of book.

Everyone who has thought about writing an autobiography, either for pleasure, for posterity, or to publish for the world should read this book.

I requested and received a free copy of this audiobook from the author, publisher, or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review. I was NOT required to write a positive review and this reflects my honest opinion of the work.

A Questionairre For Writing Your Auto Bio

How to Write Your Story is a good starter book only. It's short but it does have a few (one or two) notable reference points to keep in mind. This was filled with mostly questions to evoke memories of childhood and so on. Not really any insight in the "How To" department.
Writing one's memoir would suggest at least some knowledge by the author on the subject.

I have had and still have an interest in writing my own story and have listened to other audiobooks on this subject. From this book, I was kind of expecting something more concrete as far as building a memoir rather than a series of questions.

Meghan Crawford has a nice, soft voice for narrating. I'm just not sure this was a good format. I could hear her narrating some awesome YA stories. Her voice just didn't match this book. She has a beautiful voice.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review.