How one old photo led me to write a memoir

Let me tell you how an old photo led me to transform a scrapbook into my soon-to-be-published memoir.

Like I was telling you Thursday in The power of pictures, years ago I put photos in three-ring binders—photos from three years our family spent in South America when the kids were just starting school.

I also typed stories from letters I’d sent my parents, adding them to the photos.

I thought the story was finished—until one day I noticed something in one picture, something I hadn’t noticed before.

It was a picture I took on day one at our new home in South America and it’s always been one of my favorites. I had made copies of that picture and passed them out during speaking engagements. And I had framed it and hung it on the wall. A magnet holds another copy on my refrigerator.

But one day, long after I’d assembled the scrapbook, I saw in that photo something deeper and broader. The earth lurched when I recognized it, and I asked myself, Why did you never notice this before?

After thinking it over, this became clear: In the letters to my parents, which I had based my stories on, I never told them about the scary stuff.  

That meant the narrative in the scrapbook was a list of selected facts, just the everyday surface stuff.

And with that realization, I knew my story was not yet finished.

That photo foreshadowed stories that made ongoing international news—events that touched our family and friends and changed many lives forever.

I had a bigger, deeper, richer story to write—a story about hostility from guerrilla groups—their bombings, ongoing threats of violence, kidnappings, and murders—and what God and courageous people did in the midst of it all.

And now those stories will soon be ready to publish as a memoir. (Its working title is Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go!)

Enough about my discovery and my story. What about you?

Did you examine one or more key photos related to your story?  

Reread our previous post, The Power of pictures, and peel back layers, asking yourself:

• What is the deeper story behind this photo?
• What is the bigger issue?
• Does the photo symbolize or capture a theme in my memoir?
• Does it contain a secret or solve a mystery? If so, do others now need to know about it? (If someone would benefit—if that would help heal an old wound, right a wrong, or bring forgiveness or hope—think and pray about revealing it.)

Maybe you still haven’t pinned down 

the real meaning, 

the central idea, or message of your memoir. 

Perhaps a photo will help you discover it.

For a few days, 

think about a key photo and what it represents. 

It might hold more significance than you now realize.