An autobiography is an account of  person’s life written by that person.  That means that if a person plans to write an account of their life, they had better make sure to pay attention to what is going on around them, and then transform those observances into notes.

From the list of autobiographies I have read, I have noticed that when a writer uses succinct material to deliver the main point of the story in minimal words, is much more memorable than when the writer takes pages to describe one small point.  In order to have the ability to deliver a short message in minimal writing, the writer must have a good summary of what happened, which means they need to have taken effective notes.  If the writer is going to write in more detail, and include more material, their job will be much easier if they take effective notes.

A good way to take accurate notes is to keep a daily journal.  By writing the highlight events, speeches, or even personal feelings, will provide a large advantage when it comes time to write my autobiography.  This only takes at the most about 10-20 minutes of the day, and eventually it will be well worth it.  This is not an effective strategy if you write like the following on a daily basis: “I woke up this morning, I went to work, I had a rough day and I came home.”  One must be creative, and write about the things that have a larger impact on their life, the things that make them better off, or worse off tomorrow.  I keep a journal, and sometimes I have to ask myself “so what?”  Why is this relevant?  When and if I can answer both of those questions, I write down the answers to both.

A good autobiography, along with many other things, must have the ability to create verbal images for the reader.  To achieve this, the writer must be observant of their surroundings.  It is important to provide the reader with enough information of the scene, so that they can verbally see what is going on.  This does not mean overwhelming amounts of detail about every object that surrounds the scene.  Detail is important, but it must also keep the reader engaged.  This means that one must take the time to identify the important points of the scene, and include those.

Another important point of an autobiography is the ability to generate the sympathy of the reader.  Recently, I started thinking about my notes, then putting myself in the position of the reader, and thinking of whether or not it is relevant.  Why would someone care? It makes me think deeper when I take notes, and since doing this, my skills have developed substantially.  I am confident that I am doing a good job of consolidating the high points.

With today’s technology, there are so many ways to take daily notes digitally that can help tremendously with organization.  It is a matter of finding what is right for you, and what is most effective.  If one plans to write an autobiography, they need to plan in advance, daily notes are essential to relevance accuracy, it is important to develop good note-taking strategies.