Writing about yourself is often difficult, threatening, and confusing. The following items will give you suggestions to draw from, think about, and expand. Hopefully, one idea will lead to another and another. Do not limit yourself to these. The items are listed in no particular order.

General Identities

• intellect
• emotions
• gender

Relationship Identities /Job and Doing Identities

• profession
• leisure time
• hobbies
• specialty

Belonging Identities

• politics
• religion
• organizations

Ethnic Identity

• heritage
• environment dwelling
• toys
• accessories
• collections

Personal Identities

• favorites
• pet peeves
• appearance

Experience Identities

• successes
• events (births/deaths)
• tragedies
• windfalls

Here are some more tips for you to use when writing your autobiography. As you begin to knead your memory for content for your autobiography, using "I remember" seems a logical place to start.

In this essay, you want to do more than just simply list and talk about events in your life. You want to take the reader on a sensory journey. You want them to experience EXACTLY what you experienced. Show them; don't tell them. Take them with you; don't leave them behind . . . wondering.

When beginning your essay, try using the following to help you generate ideas about what you want to say:

• Write five to ten sentences, each beginning with "I remember. ."
• For these first five or ten, use only 1, 2, or 3 words.
• After completing those ten, ask yourself, "Which sense did I rely on the most?" "Did I use all of the senses?"
• Now write five or ten more sentences beginning with "I remember. . ." but this time use 4 - 8 words. Read them aloud and decide whether the reader will be able to smell the exact fragrance, taste the bitterness or dryness, see the breathless beauty, hear the merciless din or harmonious tune, and feel the same velvety surface. OR -- will the reader interpret differently because the experience is not conveyed in its purest form?

Use the following questions to help you determine if your word choices should be revised:

• Did you say "red" when it should have been "maroon"?
• Did you write "rough" when "scratchy" might have been more exact?
• Would "clanging" have been more appropriate than "noisy?"
• Could the "unpleasant smell" have been more specific as the "pungent odor"?
• Would "suicide-hot" be closer to the taste than "spicy"?

Use these "I remember" sentences for practice, for vocabulary, and for eventual content for your autobiography. Do you choose memories randomly from all time periods of your life, or does one repeatedly arise? What does that mean?

Good luck with your Autobiography!