Warm vintage scene evoking memoir and family stories

What Goes in a Memoir

Three real people. Three different books. See what each one chose to tell — chapter by chapter — and what it sounds like when Frank writes it down.

Three memoirs, three shapes

A memoir can be three chapters or thirty. What matters is that the right stories are in it. Here's how three people built theirs — and what they chose to put inside.

Vintage color photograph of a young traveler standing on a hilltop viewpoint looking over Lisbon
Plan: Chapter

Sarah, 52

Marketing director, took a sabbatical year

Sarah planned to spend five days in Lisbon. She stayed thirty-seven. When she came home, she had a story she couldn't stop telling — but no way to write it down. She wanted something her daughter could read in twenty years and understand what that trip had really been about.

1
The Year I Said Yes

Deciding to take the sabbatical. Booking the ticket on a Tuesday afternoon. What she told herself it was about — and what it was actually about.

Excerpt coming soon — this chapter will feature a prose sample from Sarah's memoir.

2
Thirty-Seven Days in Lisbon

The stay that stretched from five days to thirty-seven. The room above the fado bar. The man who sold oranges on the corner. The exact time the light hit the Tagus.

Excerpt coming soon — this chapter will feature a prose sample from Sarah's memoir.

3
The Flight Home

The last morning in Alfama. The taxi to the airport. What she understood at 35,000 feet that she hadn't been able to see on the ground.

Excerpt coming soon — this chapter will feature a prose sample from Sarah's memoir.

~90 pages · 3.5 hours with Frank · "I thought it was a travel story. Frank helped me see it was a story about learning to stop."

Black and white photo of a person gently holding a baby's hand — evoking Dorothy's years as a NICU nurse
Plan: Memoir

Dorothy, 71

Retired nurse, Milwaukee

Dorothy thought her life was ordinary. She raised three kids in Milwaukee, worked the night shift at St. Luke's for 28 years, and made the best pot roast in her church group. What surprised her was how much the book ended up being about hands — her mother's hands kneading dough, her own hands holding a newborn in the NICU, her husband's hands on the steering wheel of his old Chevy.

1
The house on Elm Street

Growing up on the South Side of Milwaukee. The screen door that never closed right. The sound of the Brewers game on the radio next door.

Excerpt coming soon — this chapter will feature a prose sample from Dorothy's memoir.

2
My mother's hands

What she cooked, what she fixed, the way she held a cigarette while she told you exactly what she thought.

Excerpt coming soon — this chapter will feature a prose sample from Dorothy's memoir.

3
The night shift

28 years at St. Luke's. The babies she saved. The one she didn't. The 3 a.m. coffee that kept her standing.

Excerpt coming soon — this chapter will feature a prose sample from Dorothy's memoir.

4
Ray

How they met at a dance in Waukesha. The Impala he drove too fast. The years that were good and the year that almost ended everything.

Excerpt coming soon — this chapter will feature a prose sample from Dorothy's memoir.

5
Three kids, one bathroom

Raising a family in 1,100 square feet. The fights over the phone. The Sunday drives to nowhere.

Excerpt coming soon — this chapter will feature a prose sample from Dorothy's memoir.

6
The lake house

The cabin on Lake Winnebago they saved ten years to buy. The summers that mattered most.

Excerpt coming soon — this chapter will feature a prose sample from Dorothy's memoir.

7
What I'd tell them now

The things she wants her grandchildren to know about hard work, kindness, and not waiting to say the important things.

Excerpt coming soon — this chapter will feature a prose sample from Dorothy's memoir.

~250 pages · 11 hours with Frank · "I told Frank about the night we almost lost the Henderson baby, and I hadn't spoken about that in 30 years. It needed to be in the book."

Warm sepia portrait — Iowa farmer and hardware store owner, evoking Korea, the store counter, and a workshop full of birdhouses
Plan: Heirloom

Linda's father, 83

Gift from his daughter — retired farmer and hardware store owner, Iowa

Linda bought Heirloom for her father's 80th birthday. He grew up on a farm in central Iowa, served in Korea, came home and built a hardware store that ran for 40 years. He didn't think he had enough stories. Ten chapters and 24 hours later, he had a book he reads to his great-grandchildren.

1
The farm

160 acres outside Marshalltown. The corn, the chores, the silence at dawn. His mother calling them in for supper.

Excerpt coming soon — this chapter will feature a prose sample from Linda's father's memoir.

2
Leaving

Enlisting at 18. The bus to Fort Riley. The last time he saw the farm the way he remembered it.

Excerpt coming soon — this chapter will feature a prose sample from Linda's father's memoir.

3
Korea

What he saw, what he carried, and what he's never said out loud until now.

Excerpt coming soon — this chapter will feature a prose sample from Linda's father's memoir.

4
Coming home

The bus station in Des Moines. The girl who was waiting. The world that had moved on without him.

Excerpt coming soon — this chapter will feature a prose sample from Linda's father's memoir.

5
Margaret

The courtship. The letters. The wedding in her parents' backyard with 14 people and a thunderstorm.

Excerpt coming soon — this chapter will feature a prose sample from Linda's father's memoir.

6
The store

Opening Henderson Hardware in 1962. The counter, the regulars, the kid who stole a wrench and came back 20 years later to pay for it.

Excerpt coming soon — this chapter will feature a prose sample from Linda's father's memoir.

7
The kids

Four children, four temperaments. The soccer games, the arguments, the night his oldest called from college crying.

Excerpt coming soon — this chapter will feature a prose sample from Linda's father's memoir.

8
Losing Margaret

The diagnosis. The last good year. Learning to make coffee for one.

Excerpt coming soon — this chapter will feature a prose sample from Linda's father's memoir.

9
The workshop

What he builds now that he's alone. The birdhouses. The rocking chair for his granddaughter's baby. What his hands know that his words don't.

Excerpt coming soon — this chapter will feature a prose sample from Linda's father's memoir.

10
What I believe

Faith, doubt, hard work, and what gets you through when nothing else does.

Excerpt coming soon — this chapter will feature a prose sample from Linda's father's memoir.

~430 pages · 24 hours with Frank · "He told me he didn't have stories. By chapter five, he was calling Frank every morning before breakfast."

Common chapter themes

You don't need to use any of these. But most memoirs include at least a few:

Places — the house you grew up in, the neighborhood, the town, the state you moved to, the country your parents came from
People — parents, grandparents, siblings, partners, children, friends, the stranger who changed everything
Work — the first job, the career, the calling, the boss, the day you quit or the day you were let go
Love — meeting them, losing them, the years between, what you learned
Turning points — the year everything changed, the decision that shaped everything after
Loss — the people who are gone, the things that disappeared, the grief that changed you
Joy — the summers, the holidays, the ordinary days that turned out to be the happiest
Beliefs — what you believe now, what you used to believe, what you want your grandchildren to know
Rituals — Sunday mornings, the drive to work, the walk after dinner, the recipe you never wrote down
The world you grew up in — what things cost, what people wore, what the town looked like before it changed

How it works

From the first idea to a finished book.

Three steps. No writing required.

Person using smartphone while sitting near a white chair, relaxed and thoughtful
Step 1

Plan with Kelly

Your first call is with Kelly, a planning interviewer who helps map out the shape of your memoir. Together, you decide where to begin, which moments matter most, and how many chapters the book should have.

Woman talking on the phone, relaxed and engaged in conversation
Step 2

Tell your stories with Frank

Frank is your interviewer — trained to listen, follow the thread, and ask the questions that draw out the details a list of prompts never could. Call whenever you're ready, chapter by chapter, at your own pace.

Bokeh photography of an open book with warm soft light
Step 3

Receive your memoir

Your chapters appear in your portal as you go. Review them, add photos, fine-tune a name or a date. When the story is complete, your memoir is yours digitally — and, if you'd like, as a beautifully printed book.

See plans and pricing
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Ready to begin?

No preparation required. Kelly and Frank take it from there.

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