Dear LPG, 

I recently read what PD had to say about her experiences of coming to live in England which I found interesting (►►►), but her thoughts of writing an autobiography were what interested me most.

It is something I have always thought it would be a good idea to do in my later years, not because I think that my life story is particularly remarkable or a potential best-seller in the making. 

I have never been in a Hollywood film or invented something that is now a household commodity that everybody uses, and I don’t think that I have done anything else particularly momentous, but I have always thought that there are a few good reasons that anyone thinking of doing this should have a go.

Perhaps it is a way of leaving a bit of me behind and, even if the only people that ever read any of it will be my children, if they find the time when sifting through my things once dementia sets in, I think that it would be a way of leaving a little about me behind so that my grandchildren of future generations will not have to spend loads of time and money looking me up on some website dedicated to helping people explore their family history while charging them sizable fees.  

It occurs to me that no census record is going to be able to tell the people of the future what I was really like, or how I lived, as well as me.  The only problem is that English was never a subject that I excelled at when at school and while I now know how to use the English language, I have no idea where to start with writing a book.  

I think that aiming for a book might be very daunting, so perhaps the memoir is the way to go.  If you work on producing your take on some of the most worrying, funny, poignant, happy, momentous, personally satisfying, frightening, and even the little anecdotal episodes of your life as short stories, that might be a good starting point.  

It is now common for famous people to write three or four autobiographies during their lifetimes and students are often encouraged to have a go when they have lived a very small proportion of their lives (hopefully).  

I have found a few suggestions as to how to get started and would remind that there are more ways of leaving a record these days than putting pen to paper.  I have kept a diary, and, over the years, I swapped pen and paper for using a Dictaphone which I leave an update on a couple of days each week and going through your box, or drawer of old pictures, really brings things back too.  Just think… when you finally publish, they will provide the illustrations (OK that is a bit of a pipe dream, but you never know).

I got started recently and, if nothing else, just thinking about these events that have made up your life so far can be a really positive way of remembering just how much you have achieved over the years. 

RK, New Cross

RK, offers a few links to some information which might be helpful… 

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.. and LPG finds a little information on today’s celebration…