For nearly twenty years, I’ve had the privilege of helping others write their life stories by interviewing them and ghostwriting the stories they so freely shared. Many clients told family and friends they were writing their autobiographies; in other words their own life stories. Autobiographies
and biographies cover a person’s entire life. Biographies are often written by others, while autobiographies are written by the person whose life is revealed (or their ghostwriter). A biography gives outsiders a chance to look into someone else’s life.
A memoir gives the writer a chance to look into a portion of his or her own life. It covers one period in or aspect of a life. For example, my memoir What Lies Within recalls my youth until I reached age twenty-one. One of its sequels, What Took You So Long?, tells about finding my birth family more than thirty years later. Two different periods and series of events told from my point of view form the basis of these books. Each comes from an emotional perspective and contains my feelings and reflections.
Autobiographies, biographies, and memoirs offer individuals the opportunity to remember their lives, reflect on them, and often find peace and understanding by telling their stories.