How many times do you sit with a friend or family member and say “do you remember when —?” Remembering what has occurred in your life is an important thing to do. When you write or verbally recall the past, it preserve a foundation for the future. Memoirs are important to build a legacy, pass wisdom to others, and let others know you as a person.
As a writer, which you are, you have to find that memory that matters to you. Writing about your life helps to form the habit of writing more. You learn to write deeper when you remember the past in detailed ways. Writing a memoir gives you great flexibility. A memoir can be short. A phrase can comprise the memoir piece. Write the phrase and the thought can be over. You may not have anything else to say about that memory.
On the other hand, you might write a lengthy multiple page essay. A memory might come up that keeps you writing on and on. Words just keep flowing out of your mind, through your hand, and onto the paper or keyboard.
As with every memoir, some pieces of writing are so personal that you have to decide if they will go further than your personal journal. Writing is therapeutic. Some of what you write in an autobiography or memoir will never see the light of day. Will you want your favorite aunt to know that you hated her perfume that seemed to cling to you when she gave you a hug? Do you want to put in writing the actions you did when you were a teenager that until now, no one else knew about but you?
Take the responsibility of putting those memoirs in sections of your journal or computer file that are for you alone. When you do this, you can let the wings of your mind take off.