When thinking of your father, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Hard work providing for you when you were young? Tough love to make sure you did well in school? Or what about his old stories – past adventures that taught you so much about life? Every dad is different, but we can all agree that fathers can be true heroes: protectors, advisers, and even friends.

It’s Father’s Day this month, so today we’re looking at all things dad related:

• The Mysterious History of Father’s Day
• How Rutger Bruining’s grandfather inspired him to start Story Terrace
• How you can get your dad the ultimate gift in time for father’s day: a book capturing his stories forever

The Mysterious History of Father’s Day

The first Father’s Day was celebrated in the state of Washington on June 19, 1910. Interestingly, there are two rival theories about the holiday’s origin.

The first story begins with a tragic mining disaster in West Virginia in 1907, considered the worst in American history, killing 362 mine workers. The story goes that in 1908, Grace Golden Clayton (one of the orphans affected) had the idea to honour all the fathers that had perished in this tragic accident. She persuaded local Methodist ministers to organise a church service, the nation’s first event to commemorate and honour those 362 men.

The other Father’s Day theory tells the story of Sonora Smart Dodd, the daughter of a civil war veteran from Arkansas, who wanted to honour her father. Her mother had died in childbirth when she was only 16, leaving her father to raise her and her five siblings by himself. In 1909, while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon, Dodd felt the urgent need for a special service celebrating fathers as well. Like Clayton, Dodd managed to convince Methodist leaders to dedicate a day in homage to fathers.

An Inspirational Grandfather

The idea of paying tribute to fathers is deep in Story Terrace’s DNA. Our founder, Rutger Bruining, had a very important person in mind when he started the company: his grandfather.

When Rutger was a boy, he loved listening to his grandpa’s stories. He would sit in a room filled with cigar smoke and listen to tale after tale while they played backgammon.

It was only years later that Rutger realised he had lost so much of those precious stories. The strong emotional impression remained, but try as he might he couldn’t recall the details.

Rutger was determined not to let this happen to his stories – or to anyone else – so he founded Story Terrace. You can read more about Rutger’s story here

Truly the ultimate gift – in time for Father’s Day

There is an old Yiddish proverb that goes, “When a father gives to his son, both laugh; when a son gives to his father, both cry.
So how about crying tears of joy with your dad? Story Terrace gives you the ultimate Father’s Day idea: immortalising the most important man in your life in his own autobiography, to share with family.

Here is a simple three-point plan to follow (tears of joy guaranteed):

1. Purchase a Story Terrace package today, and receive our beautiful Gift Package in time for father’s day – complete with a luxury pen and notebook, and a wax-sealed welcome letter!
2. Present the gift to your dad as a surprise on Father’s Day. What better way to show your dad his story matters to your family?
3. Your dad will enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reflect on his life with an attentive professional writer. As soon as 8-12 weeks later, you can present him with his very own ghostwritten autobiography, to share with family, friends and future generations.

Make this Father’s Day truly special with a gift that will last a lifetime! Now is the time to show love, especially on a day that has been celebrated for so long, and rightly so! This Father’s Day, don’t just write him a card, write him a book with Story Terrace.

Congratulations! You’ve decided you want your very own beautifully bound Story Terrace book. Our professional ghostwriters will help you to make your life story the best it can be.

The next step is to find your writer. With the largest pool of specialist ghostwriters in the world, part of what makes Story Terrace unique is our ability to pair you with your perfect biographer.

As our Managing Editor Alice Nightingale says, “we pride ourselves on matching our clients with their ghostwriters carefully.”  That means you can rest assured that you will work with a writer who can capture your story, find your voice, and make the process relaxed and enjoyable.

This happens through Story Terrace’s tried and tested method of ghostwriter selection. So, how does it work?

Step 1. Getting to know you

After you’ve decided to write your life story with Story Terrace, you’ll have a brief consultation with your editor. We try to gather as much information as possible to ensure the perfect fit.

“Everyone I spoke with at Story Terrace were absolutely lovely and listened to all I had to say,” Isabella Matthews, Story Terrace customer.

We want to know about your personality!  For instance, matching you with someone who shares your sense of humour can help to build a rapport between you and your ghostwriter, making the writing process much more enjoyable.

At this stage, learning about your background is also extremely useful. It’s important that your writer understands you. When it comes to forging a mutual bond and finding your voice, a shared background or a common experience can make all the difference.

We also use this stage to ask about your preferences. We can accommodate most requests – whether it’s something small – ‘I don’t want to work with someone that supports my rival football team’, or something more personal: ‘I would feel more comfortable sharing my experiences with someone of my own age’. Our goal is for customers and writers to feel comfortable, and create an atmosphere conducive to writing.

Step 2. Writer Search

Story Terrace works with hundreds of professional journalists and authors – the largest pool of specialist ghostwriters in the world. That said – we know our writers like the back of our hands. Using the information from your consultation, your editor will propose ghostwriters who are a good fit for the project. Click here to have a look at some of our writers’ online profiles.

Alongside your background, personality and preferences, we also consider your location. Interviews with your writer form the backbone of your story. We are almost always able to match customers with writers who are close enough to conduct the interviews in person, face-to-face. We think this makes the process more enjoyable, helping to develop a relationship between customer and ghostwriter, and making the end result more personal.

Step 3. Consult the ghostwriter                            

Next, we contact the top candidates for the job, and tell them about you and your project! It’s important for you to like your ghostwriter, and also for them to like you. If a mutual relationship flows, the final outcome becomes of a labour of love.

It sounds obvious, but we also make sure that the writer is available for the duration of the project! You can read about the packages Story Terrace offers here. For example, if you’ve purchased a Compact book package, your ghostwriter must be available for 2-3 hours of interviews and able to produce 5,500 words of your story. If you’ve paid for a Novella, the ghostwriter must carry out 8-10 hours of interviews and produce 20,000 words.

Whichever package you choose, the writer will be committed to the project from beginning to end, ensuring you have the time together to tease out your life story!

“Sara really took the time to help me find the structure in the story of my life!” Teresa Samuels, Story Terrace customer.

Step 4. Getting in contact

Hurrah, we’ve found your match! Now it’s time to put the two of you in contact.

You will have an initial phone call with your writer, and make sure you’re happy with each other. This is an important opportunity to really discuss what you want to the book to be about. Even at this stage, if you aren’t happy – you can choose a different writer. Writing your life story is with Story Terrace is, from beginning to end a collaborative effort.

“Initially, we chatted on the phone and Lisa made it clear from the outset that if we didn’t ‘hit it off’ she would bow out gracefully and I could choose another writer”. David Taylor, Story Terrace customer

So there it is, how we find your perfect ghostwriter! Still want some more information? You might find the following articles helpful:

• Recipe for a good ghostwriter
• How to find the best ghostwriter for you.

If you’re ready to get started, contact us to begin your Story Terrace experience today!

With mother’s day approaching fast, we’re thinking about gifts to give our parents.

Every year a plethora of occasions – birthdays, Christmases, anniversaries – call for a new and different gift.

Just buying something expensive isn’t enough to show you care – it’s the thought behind the present that counts. So here is a unique idea – what gift could be more loving than capturing your parents’ life stories in a memoir or biography?

At Story Terrace, we bring together family stories to create beautiful books. Our specialist writers can tease out your parents’ memories, and carefully craft a coherent and lasting record of their experiences.

Read how we do this here.

Here are three great reasons to gift your parents a book about their lives.

1. Give your parents the opportunity to reminisce and reflect

The older we get, the more we have to be nostalgic about. Cries of “I remember when”, “back in my day” and the ever-familiar “the good old days” reverberate through conversations with Grandma and Grandpa.

A Story Terrace biography is as much an experience for your parents as it is a beautiful product. Many of our customers tell us their favourite part was the process of making the book.

“Making this book has given me the time to reflect on what I chose to do with my life and the people who have helped me along the way” Teresa Samuels, Story Terrace customer.

They get the opportunity to regale a keenly interested ghostwriter with their experiences, and document their stories. Here, they get to reflect on the adventures they have had and the decisions they made. They are able to propel themselves backwards and delve into their past, in what can be an equally therapeutic and entertaining experience.

“I found the whole process to be relaxed and enjoyable” David Taylor, Story Terrace customer.

After the book is finished, it can be shared with beloved family members and friends – to be taken out at family gatherings time and time again. It truly is the gift that keeps on giving!

2. Recognise your parents’ achievements and accomplishments

As young children, we tend to think of ourselves as the prime accomplishment of our parents lives. Often, we take for granted the hard work and struggle that supported us in our early years.

By helping your parents to write their memoirs, you are showing them that their story matters to you, and that (finally) you recognise the value of everything they’ve done for you.

They can open their book and think “Yes, I did that”. More than that, they can say their daughter or son sees what they have done. Giving your parents the gift of their life story is like giving them a trophy at the end of a marathon.

The Damianos children had this in mind. As a tribute to their father for his 70th Birthday, they collected stories and photographs from those that knew him. Together with Story Terrace, they created Damian’s 70 year Odyssey, a book that celebrated his many accomplishments as a businessman and a father.

3. Discover a deeper connection with your parents

For most of us, our parents lived their lives for 20+ years before we entered the scene. We only see them as the figure they represent: they are simply ‘Mum’, ‘Dad’, ‘Grandma’ and ‘Grandpa’.

How Well Do You Know Your Parents?

Your parents are individuals in their own right – but it’s likely you don’t know much about their formative years. Even after you were born, there will be much you weren’t aware of, or didn’t fully understand.

From time to time, you may hear the odd story – but these little snippets don’t give you the full picture. Taking the time to record your parents’ life story can be a unique bonding experience. They can share a part of themselves with you, and you may be surprised by what you learn.

The Damianos children saw their book as reviving the ancient role of ‘the storyteller’:

“The role of the storyteller was to connect the past and the future and carry lessons across generational lines, and it formed the ties and held families together through time’.

Giving your parents the gift of a Story Terrace biography can make them ‘the storyteller’ for your family. Their stories can be passed down through generations and become their legacy. What present could better?

How much do you really know about your parents’ lives? So many stories took place before you were born, or were old enough to understand. Your parents know your whole history – but chances are you only know a fraction of theirs.

As our parents get older, these stories start to become more important to us. A lot of us turn our minds to making a record – we don’t want these irreplaceable memories to be lost. A Story Terrace biography is a great way to ensure your parents stories will last the generations.

However you want to record your parents’ life stories, the first step is to start talking. So today, we’re sharing four top tips.

Picture this…

A lot of our customers find that old photo albums are a great place to start with their parents. Take a day to bring out the old family albums with mum or dad. You will find that it jogs the memory, brings up stories you never even knew about, and it’s also a fantastic way to begin assembling material for a memoir or biography.

It’s also an opportunity to digitise old pictures, which we strongly recommend. Nowadays, we are overwhelmed with photos. But older photos, from our parents’ childhood days, are often few and far between. It’s very likely you have no ‘back up’ of these pictures – old film and prints are liable to get damaged and lost forever! For this very reason, these older photos are infinitely more precious.

Luckily, with advances in technology, it has become easier to preserve old photos. Pictures can be scanned and stored safely online so that precious memories are not lost. As an added bonus, they are then easy to reproduce in a memoir or photo book. You can do it yourself by downloading an app, using a nearby print shop, or purchasing your own scanner.

Read our quick tips on how to digitise old photos for more information!

 Be your own family’s archaeologist

If you’re really serious, it’s time to have a root around the attic. Think of the film Titanic. A search for a precious necklace, missing in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean lead to the discovery of something priceless: a timeless love story. It’s not just Hollywood fiction – objects can tell stories!

There’s a reason historians spend time digging up old Roman pots – it says a lot about how people lived their lives.  Material culture can be just as important for you as your family’s historian. Your mum or dad’s memory won’t be infallible – mementos from the past can be important in bringing those truly old tales back to the present.

‘Why do you always wear that necklace mum?’

‘Well, I was 13 and I was walking to school one day….’

By examining your parents’ old possessions, you may not only be able to jog their memory, but to make the story come alive for yourself!

Take note!

Now you’ve got your parents talking, you’ll want to keep a pen and paper handy.

The stories that parents and grandparents share can be important insights into the past. Stories dating to a time before you were born: ‘I had to be evacuated during WW2, I can still remember the sounds of the air raid sirens’. Realities that seem so contrary from modern life:  ‘I got my first job at 11 and have worked ever since’.

Make sure to jot down these tidbits of information. And don’t forget to ask questions! It is through these that life stories can truly come together.

Get professional help from Story Terrace!

We would all love to personally record our parents’ life stories. But it often isn’t that easy. It can be difficult to find the time to finish a project. It’s also hard to be an expert interviewer and writer on the first attempt. And then you will want to transform all of that work into a format you can share with your family – which involves editing the text, and designing and printing everything yourself.

Story Terrace is here to help you capture your parents life stories. Our professional ghostwriters have extensive experience interviewing our customers parents’ and structuring their memoirs and biographies. We have in-house editors who manage the process end-to-end, and we know how to beautifully present precious memories in a way that will last. If you’d like to inquire about our services, feel free to contact us.

In this blog article, we’re interviewing Story Terrace customer David Taylor to find out how he found the process of writing his life story, ‘A legitimate life’ and how he found working with ghostwriter Lisa Chilvers!

Confused about what a ghostwriter is? Click here for more information.

Why did you decide to write your life story?

Having been born in 1939, as my life has progressed into my late 70s, along the way, I’d often thought about writing my life story down. This was spurred on by the fact that my forbears have left no ‘footprints’ of their lives, so all that I have to go on is their birth, marriage and death certificates – little about their lives, their trials and tribulations, their achievements, setbacks and relationships. For example, my mother died when I was aged just five, and as I was illegitimate, I know nothing of my father’s background and little about my mother.

Had it not been for my elder son & his wife, who were keen that our three teenage granddaughters should learn a little more about my journey through life, the book would never have been written. It was they who commissioned the book as a very thoughtful surprise present on my 77th Birthday.

Did you have any concerns or reservations about writing it?

I had an unpromising start in life at the onset of WW2 – my mother was unmarried, became pregnant at age 36 and was turned out by her family as was the norm back then. There was no sympathy for those in that predicament from family or from society in general. It’s a matter of great comfort to me that she chose to keep me, though she died of T.B. just after my fifth birthday.

Given this bleak start in life and with WW2 raging, my overriding concern was that I didn’t want my story to come across as a ‘misery memoir’ or to have an air of ‘ain’t it awful?’ about it. I had a carefree childhood and have had a wonderful and eventful life. My other concern was that I didn’t want my achievements in life to seem boastful, immodest or conceited, nor for it to sound as though I had any ‘chips on my shoulders’ or had had a raw deal in the lottery of life.

I knew right away that her writing style had a close fit to my own take on things

How did you deal with these reservations? 

It was important to me that the chosen ghost-writer would be sensitive to these concerns, and that as closely as possible would reflect my own personality. I hoped the end result would be a book which others would find interesting to read and which would be a ‘page-turner’.

Why did you choose your ghostwriter?

I chose Lisa Chilvers to be my ghost-writer as someone who I felt could best ‘empathise’ with me and who would have a writing style which would have a close fit with my outlook on life. Initially, we chatted on the phone and Lisa made it clear from the outset that if we didn’t ‘hit it off’ she would bow out gracefully and I could choose another writer.

Describe the process of working with Lisa

Lisa visited me for a three-hour discussion as a starting point.

Though structured, the discussion was free-ranging and I was able to recount early events in my life which I’d long since forgotten. From those initial discussions, Lisa prepared a draft of the first chapter or so, and I knew right away that her writing style had a close fit to my own take on things. I couldn’t think of a title for the book, and given that I’d been born illegitimate, Lisa suggested why not ‘A Legitimate Life’? In all the circumstances, that seemed an apt and creative title, and so it was.

Lisa interviewed me a second time for several hours and we had a good rapport.  As the interviews were conducted in my own home I felt more at ease than would have been the case had we met at some other venue. As the book progressed, Lisa was in touch by telephone and e-mail to receive feedback and amendments to the draft texts. The end result was a joint effort.

I found the whole process to be relaxed and enjoyable

Were you pleased with the final product?

As to the book itself, I was impressed with the quality of the binding, the choice of chapter titles, the layout of the text and photographs and the front cover. I’m pleased to say that my son and his wife, and our three grandchildren – to whom the book is dedicated – have read it from cover to cover. They have been able to contrast my early years three-quarters of a century ago, with theirs today – a contrast which couldn’t be more different.

How did you find the overall process of writing your life story?

All in all, I found the whole process to be relaxed and enjoyable and the finished book – both in terms of content and overall quality – has been excellent. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Story Terrace and the use of a ghost-writer. What a thoughtful birthday present from my son and his wife this has turned out to be!

Want to write your life story? Contact us here

People write their memoirs for many reasons: some want to record family stories for future generations; some want to reflect on their experiences; and some people – like Row Smith –  decide to share their story to make a difference in the world.

As a survivor of the 2015 Nepal Earthquake, she has used her story to raise thousands of pounds for victims of the disaster. Read on to discover Row’s incredible story, and her experience of creating her charity memoir, ‘The Earth Moved’.

In April 2015, Row and her husband Tom embarked on the adventure of a life time: trekking through Nepal’s beautiful Langtang Valley.

On the 25th April, just as they began their descent from the highest peak Tsergo Ri, disaster struck.

“The earth was literally moving beneath me, dropping away and then coming back in waves, tossing me into the air. My mind couldn’t process it – the ground was supposed to be an ever-present solid entity beneath your feet and the end of that could only mean that the world was literally falling apart”.

Nepal had been hit by a devastating earthquake, measuring a crippling 7.8 on the Richter scale. The final death toll reached over 8,000. 22,000 were injured and 3.5 million people became homeless.

When they returned home, though Row and Tom both suffered from PTSD, they were determined to help the Nepalese people they’d left behind. They set up a Just Giving page, raising £7000 for the charity Community Action Nepal (CAN).

Then Row had the idea of using her story to raise awareness and funds. With the help of Story Terrace and ghostwriter Emma Donnan, she wrote The Earth moved. Her book alone has raised hundreds for CAN and amazingly, one generous donor upped their donation to CAN by £1000 purely because of reading her story.

You can buy a copy and read her incredible story for yourself here.              

Recently, we caught up with Row to ask her about her experiences of creating the book.

How did you come up with the idea of writing The Earth moved?

When I returned from Nepal I decided to write down all of my experiences as a way of trying to offload what had happened. I was so traumatised and I felt it was a way of trying to get it out of my head so I could make sense of it all. Soon, I realised it didn’t help as I was suffering from PTSD. Then I came up with the idea of using what I had written to turn it into a book to raise money.                                

Why did you decide to write this book?

When I returned I helped a lot of people from Nepal financially, using most of our savings. I could no longer afford to do this out of my own pocket and wanted to find a sustainable way of helping the Nepalese people. Also, I wanted to raise awareness for Nepal and what it is like to suffer from PTSD after such trauma.

How did you find the process of writing the book?

Working with Story Terrace and Emma (my ghostwriter) was amazing. Emma turned my traumatic (very long story) into a good read for people to get my point across in a shorter version.

To Story Terrace:

All of you were and have been brilliant and made this project possible. Knowing you all did it to help such a great cause without making any profit was amazing. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I couldn’t have done it without you.

After writing the book I felt so proud of my achievements. I felt a lot of my guilt had gone, as I could say to the Nepalese people I can now help through sales of my book (rather than not being able to help them personally).

Were you happy with the final product?                                               

I would have liked the book to be longer as there was a lot more that happened whilst experiencing the trauma, however we couldn’t raise enough funding to do this. However I was so happy with the content that we did cover and the finished book.

After writing the book I felt so proud of my achievements. I felt a lot of my guilt had gone, as I could say to the Nepalese people I can now help through sales of my book (rather than not being able to help them personally).

What impact did the book have on a larger scale?  

Row and Tom in front of Langtang before the Earthquake

It’s raised awareness for some of the awful events that we experienced but more importantly raised awareness for the Nepalese people. Many people have since been able to approach me to ask further questions.

I think it’s so important to talk about PTSD as it raises awareness. I’ve also helped many people to consider therapy. I desperately wanted people to relate to us so they could see how much worse it was for the local people. It would then encourage people to donate money or tell people to buy the book.

What impact did the book have on you personally?

The biggest thing for me has been the amount of people that have contacted me privately about the book. Many survivors from Langtang have come forward to tell me their stories relating to what happened and how they also suffered from PTSD. My book made them feel normal as they realised someone else had also suffered from it.

I also found I had some pieces of the jigsaw answered. For instance, survivors contacted me telling me the about the deceased woman I climbed over on the avalanche. One man helped rescue her husband and child, and they have remained friends since. They also told me that the two women with broken backs had been rescued and were taken to hospital. There were many parts of my survival story about certain individuals that were left unanswered, so it was nice to have some clarity.

I desperately wanted people to relate to us so they could see how much worse it was for the local people.

Why do you think it was so important to tell your story?

I wanted to tell people about our experience, not out of sympathy for us but to make people aware of the sufferings in Nepal.

So many people lost EVERYTHING — their entire families, limbs, friends (anyone they ever knew), their homes, and their jobs. Simply everything. It is so hard to imagine but everything was completely wiped out and we saw it with our own eyes. The government did not help them and still hasn’t, they are solely relying on charities or individuals to help. I’m hoping my book will continue to be a huge success and will slowly start to rebuild Nepal. The devastation was so huge I don’t think in my lifetime it will ever return to the way it was but knowing I’m trying my best to help people is good enough.

‘Biographies are for celebrities’.

Bookshop shelves heave under the weight of the latest celebrity autobiographies. In 2016, the stories of Bruce Springsteen, Phil Collins, Alan Bennett and many more made the best-seller lists.

Celebrity stories are a global obsession – but here’s something different: Story Terrace aims to be everyone’s personal biographer.  It’s a somewhat novel concept: we really believe everyone’s stories matter.

So in this post, we’re giving you three reasons to write your memoirs.

1. You should share your experiences with your family

‘I wanted to give my grandchildren an insight into my life’- Isabella Matthews, Story Terrace customer

Our life stories are important to our loved ones.

Everyone leaves a legacy of some kind to their children. Some leave behind money, possessions, recipes, or even morals.

What better gift to give than your memories?

Story Terrace was founded on the belief that parents and grandparents should record their stories. You can share so much insight into your life, and the era you grew up in, if you take the time. In return, you will add a whole new dimension to your relationship with your children or grandchildren.

Read this article on how well do you really know your grandparents for more information.

Your story is also your children’s story. It is the story of where they come from, it is their heritage. It’s so important that this rich family history is passed down and not forgotten.

2. Your stories can inspire your loved ones and your community

‘I am hoping that my life story will inspire young people to achieve their dreams’- Yash Gupta, Story Terrace customer

You don’t have to be on the Hollywood walk of fame and have a million followers on twitter to make a difference. In fact, your biography may be much more relatable. Sharing how you have overcome obstacles in your life could have a huge influence on someone you know. Celebrity stories may entertain the masses – but your story has huge power to inspire your friends, family and community. It’s just as important.

Don’t believe us? Read Three women, Three powerful stories  

3. It’s important to reflect on your experiences

‘From my adventures I have learnt a lot about myself, my heritage and the wider world we live in. All these formed and shaped me’– Icko Gombodorj, Story Terrace customer.

Life is full of adventures and struggles. We’re all busy, but it’s worth taking some time to reflect. We all deserve the opportunity to appreciate our personal history — and writing your memoirs is the ultimate way to do that.

It’s a chance to answer the big questions for yourself. What were the major periods in your life so far? What lessons have you learned? Who really influenced the person you are today?

If you’ve been through difficult times, writing down your memories can also help to overcome past traumas, or rethink choices you have made. Examining the past can be important for the future.

We’re all trying to live a life worth writing about, so why not write about it and see what you find?

No one says it better than Doctor Who:

‘We’re all stories in the end’.

What is ghostwriting?

The term ‘ghostwriting’ might conjure imagery of some dark ethereal being haunting the living by wielding a pen. But in reality, a text is ‘ghostwritten’ when someone besides the named author wrote it. It could be a novel, an autobiography, lyrics, a script or just about anything else you can put down on paper or in pixels. Simple!

Read What is Ghostwriting? for more information.

As a process, it can be more complicated. At Story Terrace, ghostwriters are meticulously matched with customers to create life stories. Story Terrace Managing Editor Alice Nightingale says, ‘We pride ourselves on creating a great fit between ghostwriter and storyteller, so a rapport is forged and the writer can produce the life story the storyteller has always wanted.’

Why use a ghostwriter to write a life story?

Having someone else write your life story might seem an alien concept. If the story is yours, why not write it down yourself? Put simply, this kind of collaboration can help you to get the most out of your memories, and make writing your own life story easier than you think:

First, ghostwriters help to organise thoughts. Attempting to collate your life into one comprehensive book can be a tricky task. Life is full of stories and moments, and working with a ghostwriter can help to sift through them all so that the finished product is the story you want to tell.

Teresa Samuels, a Story Terrace customer, said of her ghostwriter:

‘Sara really took the time to help me find the structure in the story of my life’.

Moreover, having an outsider’s perspective can help you to gain new insight into your life, and tease out the themes underlying your experiences. It is always much harder to create a good end product if you are too close to the story. As the American philosopher and poet Henry David Thoreau once remarked, “It takes two to speak the truth – one to speak and another to hear”.

Most importantly, even if you are a good writer, writing a book is a huge challenge, writing a biography even more so. From putting together all the facts, to knowing how to edit, design and get a book printed, you may want to avoid struggling through the task of attempting to write your own life story if you lack the right experience. There is the risk that beginners’ mistakes will hamper a project of great personal importance. Leaving it to the professionals can result in a more enjoyable process as well as the best possible product.

Successful ghostwriting in popular culture

Ghostwriting is much more common than people think and is used frequently by both those in and out of the public domain to achieve the best result possible. Here are some examples of best-selling works by ghost-writers:

• Crime novelist James Patterson has put his name to well over 100 books. This is seemingly far more than it is humanly possible to write each year. His secret? He employs a team of 23 ‘co-authors’, who are generally responsible for the word-by-word writing of his novels. Patterson considers himself a ‘big picture man’. He creates the main plot and makes the major decisions but leaves the rest to his ‘best-seller factory’ – his ghostwriters.
• When Enid Blyton passed away, some of her series were still unfinished. It fell to Pamela Cox to continue her Malory Towers and St Clare’s series, resulting in success for the ghostwriter herself.
• Katie Price, AKA Jordan, has accumulated quite a fortune from her collection of 14 novels and her autobiographies. To achieve these successes, she (and her publisher) employed ghostwriter Rebecca Farnworth, to write them.
• The Autobiography of Malcolm X, a seminal book in regards to the American Civil Rights movements, was in fact written by Alex Haley. This book is still considered important to date.

Everyone is the author of their own unique life story. Therefore, it is not surprising that at some point in our lives most of us ask the question: am I living my life to the fullest?

It’s easy to get stuck in a routine where you continuously repeat the same day over and over again, and yet expect something amazing to occur. Albert Einstein famously defined insanity as the process of “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

It falls to you to take your destiny into our own hands. If you want a beautiful story, pick up a pen and start writing.

Robert, what do you consider to be a life worth writing about?

The answer to what is considered a well-lived life differs between different people. However, most people would agree that great life experiences add to your life story. In line with this, we asked Story Terrace CTO, Robert Desmond, who has a vast pool of life experiences, to explain to us what he considers to be a life worth writing about.

This was Robert’s answer.

“‘Life is short’ is a massive cliché, but talk to the older members of your family and they will all confirm that time does indeed go faster when you’re older.

There are so many opportunities in life that come our way. No matter who you are, your age or what you have, there are always things to do that are exciting and life defining.

Life is about experiences, and if you don’t take on new experiences then you aren’t living. It could be meeting a new group of people, travelling to a new place, backpacking across a country or returning to somewhere you already know to experience it again with fresh eyes.

It’s difficult to feel as though we’re ever doing something new; we often live vicariously through other people’s social media updates. Real life adventures are captured on Snapchat to share with our close – and not-so-close – friends, but we need to break free from this to see how the world really is. It isn’t perfect the whole time; people make mistakes, things don’t go to plan and we sometimes get lost in life – and that’s alright. If anything, that is what life is about and we seem to have forgotten this.

We need to try new things, make mistakes, learn and experience in order to really grow as people. The only real mistake we can make is not actually making a decision to try something new.

My life has been turned upside down through far too many coincidences and chance encounters. I’ve moved countries, climbed mountains, started relationships – all because I was lucky enough to be open to the new idea at the time. It’s a lesson I need to remind myself of, especially as we get further into this dark and cold winter.

So the next time you get a call from a friend inviting you to go somewhere new or exciting – for a weekend break, a party or even to meet for a coffee somewhere local – say yes.”

As Robert said, “Life is about experiences”. People often make the mistake of thinking that to have an amazing life story, they must have grand experiences. However, this is not the case; even small events, such as watching a sunset, are great experiences that can be looked back on with joy. So take the time and the opportunity to grasp the experiences that life brings your way, and as you do so you will continue – or begin – to live a life worth writing about.

Thinking about writing your life story? Have a look at this insightful article on ‘How to write my life story’