: Re: How do I approach writing an autobiography? I have never kept a diary, and some time back I thought it would be fun to work on some sort of autobiography to note down any memorable events

@Turnbaugh521

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Unless you are near (what you think is) the end of your life, you don't have enough data yet to know what will ultimately be the best organization. So don't try to create an outline; just start writing pieces.

Chronological seems logical but might not be very engaging. Is reading a day-by-day (or week-by-week) diary where not a lot happens at once interesting? Not usually. But the slices of life that you get through journaling can add up to interesting collections, re-arranged.

I think you will get the best results by doing this digitally. Specifically, use a blog so you can cross-link and tag entries. This does not mean you have to publish your blog to the world; blogging sites like Dreamwidth, Livejournal, and others allow you to set access control for individual entries or entire journals. I started an online journal more than ten years ago and it's still surprising what entries I return to -- ones I didn't know at the time would be significant -- and which ones that I thought important turned out not to be.

Tagging allows you to index on the fly. Over time you can organize existing entries into groups, via linking, based on whatever criteria make sense -- time, broad themes, ties to specific people, or whatever.

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