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Most of the women who attend my Writing and Walking the Camino de Santiago retreats are writing a memoir. I’ve been wondering why? No mind-numbing crime stories? No tales of passionate love? No bone-chilling horror stories?
Nope. 90% are in the 55-75 age group and are writing their memoirs.
Maybe it’s because by this age, we’ve lived through entire novels—epic love stories, cliffhanger career chapters, plot twists no one saw coming. We’ve weathered heartbreaks, raised families, buried dreams (and revived a few), and learned the hard way that what doesn’t kill you usually makes a great chapter title.
During the retreat, my guests often make significant progress but they are only here for 5 or at most 7 days, and then they leave again.
It is difficult to continue on your own, no matter how motivated you are.
Especially as there’s more to memoir writing than might immediately meet the eye. It
- Helps us process major life shifts: The 50s, 60s and 70s often bring significant transitions like becoming empty nesters, caring for ageing parents, retirement or confronting mortality. Writing can be a way to process these changes and find meaning in them.
- Offers freedom from earlier constraints: In this age range, we find ourselves with more freedom to speak our truth. Our children may be grown, careers established or winding down, and we’re less concerned about potential professional or social repercussions from sharing candid stories.
- Helps us to reclaim our narrative: After decades of often putting others first – families, careers, communities – we finally feel free to tell our story our way, unfiltered and unabridged. This can be particularly powerful for those of us whose voices were historically marginalised or overlooked.
- Facilitates personal growth and transformation: Writing about difficult experiences – trauma, abuse, addiction, mental illness, or loss – can be deeply therapeutic. The act of putting painful memories into words, examining them, and contextualising them within a larger life story often helps us process unresolved emotions and find closure or acceptance.
- Empower us to help other women: A memoir isn’t just about looking back; it’s about leaving behind a compass for others. A quiet “Here’s what I’ve learned—take what you need.” We write with the explicit hope that our struggles, mistakes, and hard-won wisdom might help other women navigate similar challenges or feel less alone in their experiences.
- Makes us more creative: Some discover or rediscover writing as a form of creative expression later in life, when we finally have the time and mental space to pursue it seriously
- Contributes to the historical record: Many of us recognise that our experiences – whether ordinary or extraordinary – deserve to be documented, especially given how women’s stories have often been excluded from official histories.
Writing a memoir is a challenge at any age, but in your 50s, 60s, it’s an act of enormous courage. It says, I’ve been through the fire, and here’s how I turned the ashes into art.
Maybe that’s why so many women pick up the pen at this age. We finally realise that our voice—this wise, witty, scared and scarred voice—deserves to be heard.
So I had an idea.
What if we could all write according to a predetermined structure and get together once a month to support each other and hold each other accountable, chapter by chapter?
With 8 books under my belt, I would love to share what I know, and I am sure that there are many of you who could make substantial contributions given the chance.
For more than three years, I have been playing with the idea of starting a walking, reading and writing community, without ever really finding a suitable structure. I’ve looked at memberships, masterclasses, masterminds, mentorships and digital subscription boxes, but so far nothing fit.
I also firmly believe in the power of storytelling as a vehicle for self-discovery, self-expression, and self-care, in addition to the points above, and what I’d like to do by helping women who have lived rich lives and are ready to make sense of their experiences, step into their authentic voices, as they write their memoirs:
- helping women excavate their stories – not just the “highlight reel” but the turning points, challenges overcome, lessons learned, and moments that shaped them – helping them see patterns and meaning they might have missed.
- helping women find their unique storytelling voice through different mediums – written memoir pieces, oral storytelling, visual narratives, or even digital formats. Many women this age were taught to minimise their experiences or put others first, so claiming their voice is both healing and empowering.
- helping women create tangible story legacies – family histories, recorded stories for grandchildren, or even community oral history projects. This gives their storytelling work a concrete purpose and impact.
- helping women process unresolved experiences, claim their resilience, forgive themselves and others, and integrate all parts of their journey into a coherent, empowering narrative.
- helping women identify stories (imposed narratives) others have told about them – “you’re too sensitive,” “you’re not creative,” “your dreams aren’t practical”, and rewrite their stories from their own perspective.
My aim is that by year’s end, you will have 12 powerful stories – creating a meaningful collection you can share with family, publish or keep as personal treasure.
And, why not, if we have enough members, publish an anthology with your contributions each month? This means you could be a published author within a month of joining our writing community.
What do you think?