Daniel’s Comments (group member since Mar 07, 2013)

Daniel’s comments from the Ask Daniel Boerman group.

I first thought about writing a memoir simply to reflect on how much life had changed since I was a boy. I remember my Mom washing clothes in her wringer washer and hanging them outside on the clothesline to dry. When we got cold in the house during the winter we had to go downstairs to shovel another shovelful of coal into the furnace. Now we use automatic washers and dryers and simply turn up a thermostat to stay warm.
But once I started working on the memoir it became more of a personal discovery. The quest for significance I experienced as a small boy is the same quest I have pursued my whole life. The tension I experienced then between feeling secure in a comfortable, conservative environment and wishing I could do bigger and better things is a tension I still struggle with today. Thus writing about my boyhood helped me to better understand who I am today.
If you have written a memoir, what motivated you? If you enjoy reading memoir, what do you learn from doing so?