Writing About Your Life: A Journey into the Past

In Writing About Your Life: A Journey into the Past, William Zinsser uses the main technique of the master teacher: he demonstrates what he is trying to teach. In the first of a series of mini-memoirs about his life,​ Zinsser tells the story of a phone message left on his answering machine from a woman who has a question about a paint primer that Zinsser's father had manufactured years before. In referring to an article he wrote about the message and the phone call that followed, the author shows how the work dealt with a number of themes: fathers and sons, family expectations, and filial duty, among others. He tells us that he did not start out to write about these themes, but that they naturally evolved from the message and the phone conversation that followed. He then connects this to the two main premises of the book: 1. "Beware of deciding in advance how your memoir or family history will be organized and what it will say." 2. "Write about small self-contained incidents that are still vivid in your memory." Zinsser uses this technique throughout the book; he shares an incident from his past, and then emphasizes a particular point about memoir writing. Besides the teaching aspects of the book, another strength is the writing maxims sprinkled throughout. Some examples: "Go with what interests and amuses you. Trust the process, and the product will take care of itself." "Too short is always better than too long." "All writers are embarked on a quest of some kind, and you're entitled to go on yours." "Look for the human connection as you make your journey. Connect us to the people who connected with you." "All writing is talking to someone else on paper. Talk like yourself." In addition to helpful maxims, Writing About Your Life: A Journey into the Past reflects Zinsser's articles of faith (as stated in his signature work, On Writing Well) about what good nonfiction writing exhibits: humanity, clarity, simplicity, and vitality. With so many books available on this topic why choose Writing About Your Life? Because William Zinsser is a master teacher. Reading Writing About Your Life (and On Writing Well) would be an excellent preparation for anyone thinking about writing a memoir.

What I thought would be an instruction manual on how to write memoirs turned out to be a moving memoir about the author’s life. Embedded in a series of short narratives, many of them excerpts from previously published articles, are William Zinsser’s comments that illustrate how and why his approach to writing one's story is positive and effective. I discovered through reading this book about writing about your life, that I was increasingly immersed in the author’s life experiences. One of my favorite quotes toward the end of the book is, “Most people are some kind of pilgrimage, whether or not they recognize it as such. If you put your writing in the form of a quest you will make a connection with your readers that will surprise you with its power.” I came away wishing I could have met Mr. Zinsser, who led such a rich life, or sat in any of his inspiring class lectures to hear his stories in person. Short of that, I will refer back to this book to revisit its many lessons.

Zinsser's stories are interesting, indeed, and because I'm working on my memoirs, I found it quite helpful. The reason I didn't give it five stars is because the title is a bit misleading. The book probably isn't as dry as some "instructional" books, but I had to wonder if Zinsser used this book as a pretext for his real aim -- writing about his own life.If you enjoy reading the interesting personal recollections of a highly respected writer who has led a fascinating life, I recommend this book highly. You'll pick up some writing tips along the way.But if you want a point by point instructional book about memoir writing, there must be something out there that would be more immediately helpful by giving examples: "This is the wrong way to do it; this is the right way to do it."Writing well is a skill that must be practiced, and I can't think of a better way to improve your writing than by reading Zinsser's book "On Writing Well." That I would give five stars.

William Zinsser is a true master of the craft. This book had so many helpful tips and tricks to writing a great memoir. Not only was it full of practical advice, but it was also full of delightful stories and world travels and most of all, interesting people. The story about the Vietnam artist who left a poem here for us in the States will forever stay with me. So good!

William Zinsser’s charming “Writing about Your Life” is less a how-to book in writing creative autobiography than it is well-told stories of fascinating moments in the author’s life. Early on in the book, these remembrances serve as illustrations for Zinsser’s points about memoir writing. As the book continues, there is less instruction and more storytelling.Zinsser notes at the start of Chapter 3, “The problem is that an interesting life doesn’t make an interesting memoir. Only small pieces of a life make an interesting memoir. The rest is just getting through the day....” This book is chockablock with engaging and amusing “pieces of a life.” To be sure, Zinsser offers solid, useful advice on writing, e.g., that “ultimately it’s people--memorable people--who make certain places stick in our minds forever. Look for those people, wherever you go, and tell us how their story intersected with your life” (p. 79). But it’s really the author’s anecdotes about meeting memorable people in fascinating places that captivated this reader. A writer would do well to absorb the advice, and mostly, just imitate the master.

Zinsser, William. Writing About Your LifeIn this book Zinsser provides the reader with advice on writing a memoir, using his own life and writing as the ‘story’ behind the writing self. In other words he’s doing while teaching. This is a most interesting and stimulating approach to the impossible problem of ‘how to.’ The answer is simply, write on what interests you and it will interest others. Well, yes, maybe and maybe not. I am no lover of baseball or computer games and found the chapters dealing with home runs and boyhood pursuits of fantasy games played enthusiastically by old men less than enthralling. The book also has an evangelical, accentuate-the-positive strain that becomes more and more pronounced as the book moves to its conclusion. The book is what I would term typically American, employing beneath its seductive charm a Christian ethic that ultimately tends to pall. But then I’ve just come from reading that very British writer, George Orwell who illustrates more obliquely his notion of human brotherhood.Nevertheless I confess to becoming infected by the Zinsser spirit, enjoying his introductions to musicians, writers, dancers, professors and other sages, following his journey through life and literature. It’s really 99% about Zinsser’s life and opinions, and only 1% advice on writing about your life, the title of the book. Having said that I can’t envisage a more useful way of giving practical advice

Excellent definitive life writing manual recommended by tutors.

Initially, I didn't understand why people panned this book. I enjoyed the learning moments in the first half but then it slid into meaningless reminiscing. This is writing that comes across as dated and tedious, not dated but current. It could have been titled "Writing About Zinsser's Life."There are many helpful books on memoir technique that are brief, sparkling and entertaining (The Memoir Project - Marion Roach Smith). There are many books that provide perfect examples of memoir (Angela's Ashes,; On Writing). This book is neither.

This book makes you think about your memoir from a different angle. It encourages you to develop a theme and avoid creating a list of “facts” about what you did and instead, explore the world of how you felt and thought about your experiences. It encourages you to test the rules and accept challenges and change.

I was expecting this book to be dry and technical. Perhaps that's because most how-to books are written that way. I bought it and then put it on a shelf for a while with other books on writing I had not read. Then one day I picked it up thinking that when I spend money on a book I should at least open it. I read most of the sections except on writing sports and a couple of other specialized sections that didn't interest me. However, even thought I didn't particularly want to read about travel writing I perused that section and found it extremely interesting and entertaining. This is because Zinsser puts sparkle and humour in his writing. I enjoyed the examples he used of cliché and dry, sterile writing. As well, in some cases I was happy to find out that some things I'm doing are good, so the focus wasn't entirely on what I was doing wrong. In that sense, the book encouraged me a great deal. I especially enjoyed the section on memoir writing as this is a project of mine. He was able to make it seem less daunting of a project, giving licence to leave stuff out and present only the memories that are significant, vivid, and further the main point in writing the piece. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to improve his/her writing.