Product Description

Appeals to a large audience of Baby Boomers and Pre-Baby Boomers. People in their 50s, 60s, and 70s are healthier and more vigorous and creative than ever before.

Writer's Digest Book's How to Write the Story of Your Life (first published in 1984) has sold nearly 60,000 copies over its lifetime.

Writing your life story is a valuable and worthy thing to do, regardless of whether the author's goal is publication or simply recording memories for her family. You Don't Have to Be Famous gives readers the tools they need to give their work a degree of quality and discipline. Accessible, friendly, and reader-focused, this book isn't about writing Literature. It's focused on helping anyone record their life story using a step-by-step program. So many hobbies and self-improvement programs can fall by the wayside in just a few weeks. With You Don't Have to Be Famous, anyone who is serious about capturing their memoires--even those who have never attempted a writing project before--can complete a manuscript they can be proud of.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #79592 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
"Everybody has a story to tell and every voice deserves to be heard. Zousmer offers tips: motivation, organization, using your imagination. Get in on the action instead of spsyching yourself out of the game." -- Meridith Viera-The Today Show

About the Author
Steve Zousmer is a freelance corporate speechwriter, whose clients include current and former CEOs from Amdahl, American Express, Forbes, McGraw-Hill, News Corporation, Pepsi, Philip Morris, Shell Oil Company, Starwood Hotels, and Walt Disney—among many others. Aside from writing speeches for CEOs, he also has written op-eds for them, which have appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal.

Customer Reviews

Made Me Start My Own Life Story
By the time I neared finishing "You Don't Have to be Famous" I couldn't wait to start writing my own life story. Zousmer warns the reader of the pitfalls autobiographers face, yet his enthusiasm for autobiography for the average person is contagious. This book is to amateur autobiography what Strunk & White's "Elements of Style" is to clear writing. It's beautifully written, too.

words of wisdom for aspiring writers
Zousmer makes many realistic statements about what is needed, or not needed, in order to write your own personal history. I found that his advice allowed me to foget about being worried because I was not famous, or a professional writer, or had any idea of how to proceed with telling my story. I'm working on putting my life down on paper right now, (so my family will have a permanent record of me) and find myself continuously referring to Zousmer's book for guidance.

Very motivational
As mentioned by another reviewer, this book is highly motivating and after reading it cover to cover, I am now RE-writing my exisiting stories.
If you are looking for a question format (where where you born?) this is NOT the book for you. It does NOT give you the questions which upon answering will give you your "story". This book is also not focused specifically on the many literary structures, styles and such that a professional writer worries about (although there are some suggestions)

It IS structured like a Q&A session about the OVERALL process of creating your life story. Sections include Preparation, Structure, and "
Writing is Hard", and chapters include information on length, audience, and solitary vs. group writing.
I think the most enjoyable aspect of the book is Steve's style, which he also talks about in detail. While I was reading I felt like I was hearing him in a conversation between us. I am the kind of person who doesn't hesitate to skip pages in a book, but this one I read cover to cover, even the topics that I had no personal interest in.
I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for motivation and a right attitude about life story writing (most of us are not famous, and most of us will not get to publish our book to the mainstream public).

Also highly recommended (though for different reasons) are Bernard Selling's "Writing from Within"(uses a "first person" perspective with your stories), Denis Ledoux's "From Memory to Memoir" (love the concept of a "Lifelist"), and Frank P. Thomas's "How to Write Your Life Story" (which does have some questions but much other good info. as well)