Writing Your Memoir

When Emmy Gelb grew up in Germany in the 1930s and '40s, she lived through pivotal events of the 20th century. But it wasn't memories of war or even the bombing of her childhood home that prompted her to start writing. It was a child's question.

"I do a lot of babysitting for my grandchildren," says Emmy, now a U.S. citizen living in Victor, New York. "One of my grandsons asked, 'Grandma, when you were my age, what was your favorite TV program?' Of course, we didn't have TV at the time. I realized these kids have no clue about what it was like then. I thought I should write something, so they could know about their grandmother before it's too late."

Emmy was unsure how to start. Then she saw that a local community college offered a course in memoir writing. On impulse, she registered for the course. There's been no stopping her since; she's hard at work on a collection of essays about her childhood. The great surprise, she says, is how easy the process has been. "When I sit down to write, as long as I get a start -- maybe the first sentence -- the memory clicks in, and it just flows out."

Emmy Gelb's experience is not unusual. With the U.S. population aging and the first wave of baby boomers turning 60, more Americans are considering the legacies they want to leave to their descendents, including their personal histories. Courses in memoir-writing are springing up at colleges and universities, adult-education programs, and senior centers across the country.

While there is no hard data on the number of memoir courses being offered, instructors who teach them say the interest is overwhelming. Pittsburgh-based speaker and educator Jay Speyerer, who outlines his techniques of creative nonfiction in his book, The Stories of Our Days, now holds group seminars to packed houses.