Anyone ever write an Autobiography?

sleuth · Mar 22, 2005

Ok, this should open me up to some jokes at my expense, but...

I've been considering doing this for quite some time, not for publication but for passing down to next generations of my family.

I'm hoping to find some good examples as to how I should format and arrange the book. What I don't want is something dry and boring and chronological like "this happened and then this happened and this happened". I want to write it to share some of my thoughts and philosophies while referring back to my real-life experiences.

I know we have some good writers on this forum, and I'm just curious as to whether anyone here has ever done this and how they went about it.

Also, if anyone has read any really good autobiographies, please suggest them.

BuddyLee · Mar 22, 2005

Don't forget to add the spice rack chapter. :yay:

Stutters · Mar 22, 2005

I hhhave always ttthhought of ddddooo doing one too. I wwaassssss going tttoooo write of my hardships that IIiiiii have ddeaalt with frofrom my stutttering.

baileydog · Mar 22, 2005

The only books I read are autobiographies. Pick someone of interest and start reading. I recently read "The other man, JFK JR, Carolyn, and me". Now im reading Amber Frey "Witness for the prosecution". I think there are alot of great autobios at the library. If they dont have the one you want, just request it and theyll get it. PS, I always wanted to write one too.

Pete · Mar 22, 2005

sleuth said:
Ok, this should open me up to some jokes at my expense, but...

I've been considering doing this for quite some time, not for publication but for passing down to next generations of my family.

I'm hoping to find some good examples as to how I should format and arrange the book. What I don't want is something dry and boring and chronological like "this happened and then this happened and this happened". I want to write it to share some of my thoughts and philosophies while referring back to my real-life experiences.

I know we have some good writers on this forum, and I'm just curious as to whether anyone here has ever done this and how they went about it.

Also, if anyone has read any really good autobiographies, please suggest them.

I wrote one for somebody else once, it is in the fiction section of the better libraries everywhere. :lol:

RoseRed · Mar 22, 2005

Pete said:
I wrote one for somebody else once, it is in the fiction section of the better libraries everywhere.

Does it have anything to do with tasers?

Pete · Mar 22, 2005

RoseRed said:
Does it have anything to do with tasers?

There was one chapter on tasers now that you mention it.

somdcrab · Mar 22, 2005

sleuth said:
Ok, this should open me up to some jokes at my expense, but...

I've been considering doing this for quite some time, not for publication but for passing down to next generations of my family.

I'm hoping to find some good examples as to how I should format and arrange the book. What I don't want is something dry and boring and chronological like "this happened and then this happened and this happened". I want to write it to share some of my thoughts and philosophies while referring back to my real-life experiences.

I know we have some good writers on this forum, and I'm just curious as to whether anyone here has ever done this and how they went about it.

Also, if anyone has read any really good autobiographies, please suggest them.

My life by Bill Clinton :clap:

Ken King · Mar 22, 2005

sleuth said:
Ok, this should open me up to some jokes at my expense, but...

I've been considering doing this for quite some time, not for publication but for passing down to next generations of my family.

I'm hoping to find some good examples as to how I should format and arrange the book. What I don't want is something dry and boring and chronological like "this happened and then this happened and this happened". I want to write it to share some of my thoughts and philosophies while referring back to my real-life experiences.

I know we have some good writers on this forum, and I'm just curious as to whether anyone here has ever done this and how they went about it.

Also, if anyone has read any really good autobiographies, please suggest them.

How many ways can you spell :dur:? :biggrin:

AMP · Mar 22, 2005

sleuth said:
Ok, this should open me up to some jokes at my expense, but...

I've been considering doing this for quite some time, not for publication but for passing down to next generations of my family.

I'm hoping to find some good examples as to how I should format and arrange the book. What I don't want is something dry and boring and chronological like "this happened and then this happened and this happened". I want to write it to share some of my thoughts and philosophies while referring back to my real-life experiences.

I know we have some good writers on this forum, and I'm just curious as to whether anyone here has ever done this and how they went about it.

Also, if anyone has read any really good autobiographies, please suggest them.

Read "Cash" by Johnny Cash. I liked his informal style. Then again, he is probably my favorite singer/songwriter/musician, so I'm biased. :smile:

Good luck. It is hard to get started, so just plunk yourself down and start writing. Organize it later. You may want to make a little timeline and plot the important things in time that you want to write about, and fill in around it, write about them when you can, or when your memory is clear and you are in a storytelling mood.

I've always kept a journal, and I go backwards and forwards in my writing, the remember whens, and the yet to do's, and the I did this todays.

AMP · Mar 22, 2005

ANother good one is Agatha's Christie's autobiography, although I beleive it is out of print. A library may have it. Definitely not boring, but then she was a writer.

vraiblonde · Mar 22, 2005

No offense, Sleuth, but you're too young to have an interesting autobiography. Maybe you mean that you're going to start a journal so that you can write your life story when you actually GET a life.

At least I hope that's what you mean. :huggy:

sleuth · Mar 22, 2005

vraiblonde said:
No offense, Sleuth, but you're too young to have an interesting autobiography. Maybe you mean that you're going to start a journal so that you can write your life story when you actually GET a life.

At least I hope that's what you mean.

I have some interesting things to say, especially about my teen years, going through a parents divorce and a suicide attempt by each one.

And a lot of it I figure will be commentary on philosophy based on my prior experiences.

Besides, I said it wasn't for publishing. I figure it'll be something for passing down to my kids one day.

justin anemone · Mar 23, 2005

I wrote one...

Guinness now has it listed as "The World's Shortest Book"!

vraiblonde · Mar 23, 2005

sleuth said:
Besides, I said it wasn't for publishing. I figure it'll be something for passing down to my kids one day.

My great-aunt wrote her autobiography and spent a fortune having leather-bound copies made for her sisters and brothers. Once you got past the "all about me" crap that nobody cares about, it was pretty interesting from a family history aspect. In between talking about how beautiful she was and how upset she was that her sisters hated her because she was her parents' favorite, she talked about how my great-grandparents got to America, where they lived, what they did, what her school was like - stuff like that.

sleuth · Mar 23, 2005

vraiblonde said:
My great-aunt wrote her autobiography and spent a fortune having leather-bound copies made for her sisters and brothers. Once you got past the "all about me" crap that nobody cares about, it was pretty interesting from a family history aspect. In between talking about how beautiful she was and how upset she was that her sisters hated her because she was her parents' favorite, she talked about how my great-grandparents got to America, where they lived, what they did, what her school was like - stuff like that.

That's what I wanna do.

Plus, I thought it'd be an interesting project, and that if I were to write one by age 30, and another volume around age 50-60, it would be interesting to see how age changes me.

Ken King · Mar 23, 2005

vraiblonde said:
...autobiography... Once you got past the "all about me" crap that nobody cares about,

Isn't an autobiography suppossed to be nothing but the "all about me crap"?

Larry Gude · Mar 23, 2005

Yep...

Isn't an autobiography suppossed to be nothing but the "all about me crap

I write one or two everyday. Go ahead, ask me how I feel about anything. Algebra. Live undead people. Politics...

Anyone ever write an Autobiography?

sleuth

Livin' Like Thanksgivin'

BuddyLee

Football addict

Stutters

New Member

baileydog

I wanna be a SMIB

Pete

Repete

RoseRed

American Beauty

Pete

Repete

somdcrab

New Member

Ken King

A little rusty but not crusty

AMP

Jersey attitude.

AMP

Jersey attitude.

vraiblonde

Board Mommy

sleuth

Livin' Like Thanksgivin'

justin anemone

AKA BK

vraiblonde

Board Mommy

sleuth

Livin' Like Thanksgivin'

Ken King

A little rusty but not crusty

Larry Gude

Strung Out