“A memoir is how one remembers one’s own life.”

Gore Vidal, Palimpest

“A good memoir is a work of history, catching a distinctive moment in the life of both a person and a society.”

William Zinsser, Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir

Why “Memoir Crafter”?

Memoir Crafter is my ghostwriting/co-authoring service specializing in memoir, autobiography, and life stories. I settled on that name because memoir is a genre of books, and books by their nature are not simply written but crafted. Craft implies skill, care, and an attention to detail and structure that lends the final product beauty, cohesion, and relevance.

Sadly, while all of us have stories and many of us feel, as a client of mine expressed it, that these stories just “have to be told,” the telling is frequently a long and arduous process. Anyone who has tried their hand at it knows that writing about a life is fraught with decisions about voice, person, style, scope, and overall structure. Suddenly this almost primal urge to pin down a life’s experience is a quagmire impossible to navigate.

That’s where a memoir ghostwriter comes in. A published writer, former teacher, and devotee of literature, since 2007 I have devoted myself to the study and writing of memoir. I am the credited ghostwriter on the medical memoir, Backbone: The Life and Game-changing Career of a Spinal Neurosurgeon by Volker K. H. Sonntag, MD (Lisa Hagan Books, 2017) and co-author with my husband of his philosophical memoir Mind Flight: A Journey into the Future (2011)

 

Why Write a Memoir?

Writers are the custodians of memory, and memories have a way of dying with their owners. One of the saddest sentences I know is, “I wish I had asked my mother about that.”

William Zinsser, Writing about Your Life

If you feel a desire to put your story down in print either as a legacy for your children and grandchildren, or as a way to make sense of pivotal events in your own past, or even as a project you wish to see through to publication, I invite you to read more on the benefits and process of working with me as your memoir ghostwriter. I take the responsibility of writing my clients’ stories very seriously, and rely on a deeply collaborative process to capture your unique voice.

For more information please read my Arizona Ghostwriter page.

Or CONTACT me. I would love to hear about the book inside you.