Dear LPG,

Now that I am past the age when I have to get up each morning and get ready to board the crowded train and fight my way to work, I have found that, while it is good to have lots of time to do not a lot, sometimes not a lot is not enough.  I now go shopping at my leisure, do my housework, go off on trips from time to time, spend a lot of time on the phone to friends, watch a lot of telly and that’s about it really.

It is good in some ways but, as more than one of the articles I have read on your site reminds me, there is something important about being involved in a project.   When I started to think of something to do it suddenly came to me that I should write my autobiography.  This seemed like a good idea to start with but, when I really thought about it, I decided that such a project could be much too big for me, wondered who would want to read it and realised that my biggest problem was where would I start? 

It is really easy to talk yourself out of things that you have talked yourself into before you even get started, but I like a challenge and after all, ‘big’ is just another word for ‘ongoing’ in this context.  There is no point in a project that would not take a little time to complete.  I decided that I was not planning a best seller and if nothing else, it would be something to leave the younger generations of my family and when I get to the stage when I forget, it will be good to have memories recorded. 

It is true that the life you have lived is the subject that you arguably know most about, but where to start?  Having given my personal history some thought, I think that my life could be summed up in a couple of chapters; I grew up, went to work, got married, parented children, bought a house and then retired. But there is so much more to everyone’s life than that.   Let all those old pictures that nearly everyone has hidden in the back of a cupboard somewhere act as your inspiration and, possibly, the illustrations.

Undeterred, I got started, and getting started has reminded me of just how much I have achieved during the past seventy odd years.  I have not got that far, and don’t spend every day working on it.   After all there is no hurry and I am not even worried about finishing it and it is good to have a real excuse to relive all your memories.

Finally I want to say that while I wrote some notes when I started, I am not even writing it down.  I have a very helpful granddaughter who has taught me how to use a Dictaphone to record the details, and the best part is listening to me telling myself my stories from time to time.

It is not for everyone but I would recommend it as a very therapeutic exercise.

WB, Lewisham.

LPG has found some information about where to start if this is a project that interests you..

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