William Zinsser, author of Writing About Your Life, continues, “Only small pieces of a life make an interesting memoir.” Rather than attempting to write about important periods of history, “be content to tell your small portion of a larger story.” (16) Choose to write about “small, self contained incidents that are still vivid in your memory. If you remember them it’s because they contain a larger truth that your readers will recognized in their own lives.” (7) As a well-known advocate for clear, precise writing, Zinsser recommends that you “Tell your story plainly and its deeper truths will emerge.” (104).
William Zinsser, Writing About Your Life: A Journey into the Past (Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2004), 29.