I have been entering footnotes for David’s book for the past several days. I hope I never have to do this again! It is a most impossible task. Enough to drive anyone crazy.

Actually, these are endnotes (note: it’s one word, not two), not footnotes. I have learned the difference, adding to my writing knowledge. Footnotes are found at the bottom of a page. Endnotes are found in the back of the book. Most of these endnotes contain information that was obtained through the internet. Therefore, I have to reference these, which is nothing less than a nightmare.

I knew I needed to check each internet reference to make sure the endnotes were accurate. Many were not, even though my husband labored to copy them down carefully. Just leave out a period or put a capital letter instead of a small one and you never find the site. His book contains about two hundred endnotes, each one to be researched and carefully copied onto the page. Every of the thirty-five chapters of his book has an average of six endnotes. This can cause a sane woman to tear her hair out!

After entering the endnotes for a chapter, I would be in such a state that only madly devouring some chocolate could cure me!

I have a copy of the Chicago Manual of Style next to the computer. I learned that for a citation from a book, the endnote is written one way. For a citation from a newspaper, it’s another way. This gets italicized. That is in quotes. But not always. A citation from a website is written still another way. Definitely a cause for desperately seeking chocolate.

I learned that Op-Ed, means it’s an article from the editorial page of a newspaper.Of course I had to look up how to write Op-Ed. Naturally I wrote it the wrong way and had to scroll back through the text changing all the op. ed.s  and op-ed’s to Op-Ed. Then there’s the Ed Page. To Capitalize or Not to Capitalize, That is the Question. I’m still researching that one. No luck so far. However, whatever I put down, you can bet the editor will tell me I have to write it a different way.

Even though I have a Masters Degree in Counseling, even though I graduated in the year 2000, even though I wrote gazillions of papers in graduate school, almost all of them with footnotes, I still had to research how to write an endnote. Footnotes or endnotes for a book differ from those for a research paper.

The world of footnotes and endnotes is one I do not ever wish to enter again! Now where did I put that chocolate bar?

Everyone has a book inside waiting to be released. Authors are people who are brave enough to put their words on paper. Writing a book isn’t easy but it’s not impossible, either. An easy way to begin is to write about a subject you know. Write about yourself! Tell about the funny, sad, amazing, or touching incidents in your life. Just write. Don’t worry about spelling, grammar or how it will sound to others. Just do it. Then you can go back and correct the errors. After that, once a week or more often, add another page or two. Slowly build your memoir. The more you write, the easier it gets.

Now think of a title for your memoir. It could be as simple as “My Memoir.” At some point you will realize it’s becoming easier to think of what to write. You could start with the day you were born, or just write about an incident in your life and later organize the incidents into chapters. You can create categories such as Early Childhood, High School Days, Marriage, and so on. Find a few pictures to include, like the one when you were four years old. Learn how to download them into the memoir. The more pictures, the better, but be sure to include captions for them.

When you are finished, reread what you wrote looking for errors. Then add more pictures with captions, and titles for chapters. You did group your stories into chapters, didn’t you?

Now design a cover and go to Kinkos, print and bind your book, and make several copies. The book will be an excellent gift for a family member or friend. Above all, have fun with this project.