Whether in the form of photographs, scrapbooking, or miscellaneous keepsakes collected in a box to serve as reminders, many people tend to record and save their memories to look back on later. Some indicate happy memories, and others are reminders of sad but meaningful experiences. One popular way of recording and remembering the past is writing a memoir.

When writing a piece of non-fiction literature, it is important to report things as they happened. Some quotes are not going to be remembered word for word, but the general meaning behind them must be the same as what actually happened. Some memoir writers have gotten into trouble for misrepresenting actions and events. As long as the intent and actions are correct, quotes can be worded slightly differently than they happened.

In order to protect privacy and guarantee anonymity to characters in a real-life story, names are often changed in the published book. Often it is a legal requirement unless people sign a release. Sometimes when a book is successful, it will be published again at a later date with the real names of the characters inserted.

Since memoirs can often be about difficult situations or things that happened, it is important that the author has come to term with the events on their own before bringing it to a wider audience. Sometimes recalling and recording the story itself serves as a good additional form of therapy.

Sometimes it is difficult to find time to write as a part of a busy day. For this reason, it is a good idea to plan out a time every day to write. Other writers find that they work best in large blocks. Setting aside a day on the weekend to write all day is a good way to ensure things stay on track.

There are many elements to writing a memoir, but being mindful of all of them will ensure successful completion.