Why do people publish memoirs? The time commitment is daunting, and the work emotionally draining, so the passion to stick with it must derive from powerful sources. From what I’ve observed, authors have more than one of these five motives: to help or entertain others, to preserve unique knowledge, for therapy, or—the most popular reason—for profit.

Why more than one reason? Those who write for a living (and some who don’t) pen a memoir primarily for profit, though financially successful author Gore Vidal would protest—eloquently, of course—that he also wrote Palimpsest to preserve the truth of his life from his exclusive perspective. Ulysses S. Grant, not a professional author, wrote his war memoirs for the same two aims: profit and information preservation. He wanted to share his unique insights on the Civil War, but he also desperately needed money; he was dying penniless and wanted to have something to leave his family besides debt for treating his throat cancer.

Tara Westover started writing Educated primarily to cope with her family abandoning her, but she, too, had bills to pay, and the money she got from a book that perched on the The New York Times bestseller list for over two years must have helped.

Paul Kalanithi had the same two goals in mind for When Breath Becomes Air as Thomas Merton did for The Seven Storey Mountain. Each had a one-of-a-kind life story to document for posterity; each sought to inspire and uplift others.

Why did I create Strong Glass? In the Author’s Note, I admit that my motivation for sharing my story began as one motive then evolved into another, then another. My daughter provided the first incentive. I wanted to pass on valuable life lessons—knowledge nuggets I called them—that I’d acquired over the years. But then my brother, Bud, made me listen again and again to his two favorite topics: our dad’s bittersweet life and growing up in Cresaptown, Maryland. I knew I needed therapy; I just never thought it would begin with Bud’s stories.

The story of Strong Glass wanders through Western Maryland, the Great Depression, mirror resilvering, child abuse, generational trauma, Catholicism, and why you need a good education. I hope you want to learn more. Strong Glass (Apprentice House Press, 2026) is available on most bookselling sites, including Bookshop.org.