Case studies Archives - Forever Young Autobiographies

The Iron Broom: A multigenerational memoir on surviving Stalin’s oppression by David Sawatzki

The Iron Broom: Turning Oppression into Opportunity, A True Story by David Sawatzki, AuthorHouse. Cover of The Iron Broom, a portrait of Sawatzki, and younger Sawatzki as a soldier. Photos: AuthorHouse and David Sawatzki — *The Iron Broom: Turning Oppression into Opportunity, A True Story* (left) by David Sawatzki (right) and as a young soldier in Siberia (inset). Photos: AuthorHouse and David Sawatzki

Case study: How a Siberian conscript came to preserve family stories

The Iron Broom: Turning Oppression into Opportunity, A True Story by David Sawatzki draws on family accounts and his own experiences.

The newly released AuthorHouse publication follows Sawatzki’s family through prison camps and relocation before turning to his service as a young Soviet conscript in a remote Siberian labor camp.

Here Sawatzki is forced to consider how far obedience should extend when conscience is at stake.

So keep reading to hear directly from men’s coach Sawatzki, how he wrote the book plus his suggestions for your own creating…

Shooting Up: A childhood memoir of love, loss and addiction by Jonathan Tepper

Case study: How an American missionary kid’s family helps found Betel drug rehab in Spain during the AIDS crisis

Shooting Up: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Addiction by Jonathan Tepper is the searing memoir of a missionary childhood spent in San Blas, Madrid, where syringes littered playgrounds and his closest friends were recovering junkies twice his age.

What begins in the 1980s as eight men in an apartment becomes Betel, now one of the world’s largest drug rehabilitation networks.

In this Infinite Books life story, Tepper, now an investment manager, shows us how to see beauty in ruins, find family among outcasts and learn that the answer to suffering is always more love.

So keep reading to discover more about Tepper, what inspired his writing and his top tips for your own creating…

Generation Jumping: A legacy memoir of hope by Steve Beal Snr

Case study: Capturing a family’s generation of stories

Generation Jumping: Losing Those Who Are Not Lost by Steve Beal Senior urges us all to tell our family stories today.

In this WestBow Press memoir, the American honours ordinary heroes such as his grandmother, uncle and father.

And by sharing their stories plus some of his own, he uncovers timeless lessons about love, hope, grief and faith.

So keep reading to find out more about Beal, what prompted his writing and his top tips for your own creating…

Once A King, Now A Prince: Wild rock and roll music memoir by New York agent Ira Blacker

Case study: Music agency founder on surviving the mob to representing Rod Stewart, ZZ Top and The Eagles

Once A King, Now A Prince: The true tale of family dysfunction, the mob, sex, drugs & Rock N Roll by Ira Blacker is a unique, startling and sometimes heartbreaking story.

This newly released memoir tells how Blacker grew up in New York and went on to start his own music agency that represented Rod Stewart, ZZ Top, The Eagles and many more.

Although Blacker is referenced in books by or about Kiss, Rush, Kraftwerk and others, he hadn’t intended to write his own.

So keep reading to find out more about how he began his life-story project and tips for your own creating…

Atomic Pilgrim: A nuclear peace memoir by James Patrick Thomas

Case study: Cold War pilgrimage leads to Washington’s toxic Hanford site

Atomic Pilgrim: How Walking Thousands of Miles for Peace Led to Uncovering Some of America’s Darkest Nuclear Secrets by James Patrick Thomas is a story of holding powers to account.

This Latah Books memoir recounts Thomas’s two-year pilgrimage during the Cold War and then his two-decade focus on the Hanford plutonium factory.

But it wasn’t until planning retirement that he considered writing down his experiences.

So keep reading to find out more about Thomas, how he began his life-story project and tips for your own creating…

Small-Town Chaos: A country-life memoir by teacher Lenore Focht

Case study: New rancher and mother finds home in rural Canada

Small-Town Chaos: Lessons on Country Life by Lenore Focht is a tender reminder of what transforms a place into a home.

This soon-to-be released memoir recounts Focht’s experience moving to a remote community of 450 people in rural Canada.

At first this teacher doesn’t know what to make of this quirky prairie town but discovers that to thrive she needs to put down roots.

So keep reading to find out more about Focht, how she began her life-story project and tips for your own creating…

No Woman Left Behind: A childbirth advocacy memoir by charity entrepreneur Kate Grant

Case study: Fistula Foundation CEO’s tale of compassion from Madison Avenue to Africa and Asia

No Woman Left Behind: A Journey of Hope to Heal Every Woman Injured in Childbirth by Kate Grant is a compelling personal journey of compassion.

This soon-to-be-released memoir recounts Grant walking away from a promising New York advertising career to begin a modest start-up that becomes the global leader in fistula treatment.

She shares vivid firsthand accounts of surgeons toiling in remote corners of Africa and Asia to fix this childbirth injury that leaves women incontinent and often shunned by their communities.

So keep reading to find out more about Grant, how she started the book plus suggestions for your own creating…

I Was A Teenage Know Nothing: A 1990s coming-of-age memoir by Ryon Ownbey

Case study: Amazing tales of a motorcycle-loving teen from Washington

I Was A Teenage Know Nothing by Ryon Ownbey is a youthful life story full of turbulence and confusion.

This memoir is set in the 1990s “before Amazon, smartphones and streaming media dared exist”.

In sum it tells how Ownbey navigated new experiences and learnt to use his instinct.

So keep reading to find out more about Ownbey, how he started the book plus suggestions for your own creating…

Sit, Cinderella, Sit: A puppy love memoir by Lisa Cheek

Sit, Cinderella, Sit by Lisa Cheek. Cover of Sit, Cinderella, Sit, Cheek in China with Cinderella the dog in a basket, and a portrait of Cheek. Photos by She Writes Press, Lisa Cheek, Kathy Schuh Photography — *Sit, Cinderella, Sit* (left) by Lisa Cheek (right) and in China with Cinderella (inset). Photos by She Writes Press, Lisa Cheek, Kathy Schuh Photography

Case study: How a LA ad editor ended up on the set of a Chinese fairy tale

Sit, Cinderella, Sit by Lisa Cheek is a unique life story blending fairy tale elements with true-life experience.

This unusual and charming memoir tells how former TV commercial editor Cheek got a call (at 2.45am!) from a Hollywood director asking for her help to make the original Cinderella story.

So keep reading to find out if she granted this wish, how the She Writes Press publication got started plus tips for your own creating…

Nobody’s Daughter: A memoir of healing the mother wound by Rica Ramos

Case study: How a Florida journalist wrote this She Writes Press life story

Nobody’s Daughter: A memoir of healing the mother wound by Rica Ramos is a family story about old trauma and new life.

The memoir tells how American journalist Ramos was about to remarry in her early forties but questioned inviting her mum to the wedding.

In short this was because her mother refused to acknowledge the sexual abuse a young Ramos had suffered at the hands of her stepfather.

So keep reading to find out what happened, how the She Writes Press publication got started plus essential tips for your own creating…