7 Easy Steps to Memoir Writing, by Mary Anne Benedetto, is a book about – what else? – writing your memoirs. The brief, no-nonsense book provides a concrete, easy-to-follow plan for actually getting your stories down on paper. There’s nothing mystical or earth-shattering about it; it’s just a solid plan for doing the thing you keep talking about but not actually doing.

After providing the seven steps, there’s a section of sample stories, written by students in the author’s memoir-writing workshops. These will give you an idea of what a story might look like once it’s completed.

There are two appendices. The first is a resource list. The second is a long list of questions to help get your memories flowing. These questions are useful for those writing their own life stories, of course. (That’s what they’re there for!) They’re also useful, though, for those seeking to draw out the stories of others.

As we’ve studied family history, my daughters have really not written their own stories. They’re a little young for that, yet. (Ariel can write a little, but she hasn’t had but so much life yet to write about.) For teens, this would be a fantastic addition to a family history unit. My girls can use the memory-prompting questions in the appendix, though, as they seek to discover my stories, their daddy’s stories, and their grandparents’ stories.

If you’ve ever thought about writing your life story (and if “memoirs” sounds too formal, just don’t think of it that way; think of it as your history) you might want to take a peek at this one.

Disclosure: The author provided a copy of the ebook to facilitate this post. As always, all opinions are entirely my own.