How I became a professional life story and memoir writer
How does a person become a professional life story and memoir writer? I’m sure the answers are as varied as the stories I’ve written, but here’s mine.
I think I’ve been old since I was born. I’ve always liked hanging out with people older than me. Like, a LOT older than me.
In high school I volunteered in hospice, and it was one of the defining experiences of my growing up years.
In college I studied gerontology and volunteered at a senior care center, where the residents were eager to tell me about their lives. It was at this time that the idea to record elder’s stories and turn them into books first bloomed.
Then I met Rachel. She was living at the care center where I volunteered and was looking for a young, tech-savvy assistant to type up old letters she’d written to and received from loved ones through the years. These letters contained the story of her life.
Two evenings a week I spent two hours in her very warm, very small apartment at the care center, straining to read decades-old sprawling cursive and transcribe it onto her computer.
As I typed, she talked, giving me context and further details about what I was reading in her letters. Her life had, in many ways, been fraught with tragedy. But I’d never met anyone so full of love and optimism.
We finished the project, and she died a few months later.
After my experience with Rachel, I was hooked on the idea of writing peoples’ stories. It combined two of my natural skills and passions—listening and writing.
A few years later, after graduating from college and quitting my day job to become a mom, I officially started my memoir and life story business. I called it Life Stories by Liv.
Since then I have written over a dozen books for people ranging in age from 43 to 93. I’ve written full life stories, mission stories, travel stories, love stories, faith stories, and even an heirloom recipe book.
To sit across from someone and listen to them tell about the most treasured and meaningful moments of their lives is a thrill I don’t think will ever grow old.
In 2023 I began a major rebranding process and commissioned a new gorgeous website (the one where you’re currently reading this post!). The name of my business now is Olive Lowe Memoir Ghostwriting and Publishing.
This work has been such an important part of my life and a source of true joy. I can’t wait to see where this journey takes me in the future. Someday I suppose I’ll write all about it in my own life story!
