Monday, August 17, 2009

Book Review: Writing About Your Life by William Zinsser

William Zinsser's Writing About Your Life: A Journey into the Past gives us permission to write about ourselves without limiting us to our memoirs or what we might stereotypcally think of as memoirs. He does devote one chapter to memoirs as a genre, but essentially takes that genre apart, focusing on the different aspects and experiences of life--people, school, travel, work, etc.--on which we can draw for material in a way that makes those experiences not just material but a way to connect to our readers on a basic level of common humanity, a basic level of friendship. The tone of the book reinforces that as he writes with characteristic comforting, reassurance, and encouragement.

Note

Zinsser, William. Writing About Your Life: A Journey into the Past. New York: Marlowe & Company, 2004.

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