For instance: Susan ran down the stairs, her heels slowing her only a little, but she knew she had to get there before he did. She stepped out onto the shiny rain-washed streets, the restaurant and bar windows flashing neon red and blue streaks lighting the way to her car.

Remember, your memoir should have a takeaway. It should have some bits that your reader could identify with.

Maybe the old man was crazy. Maybe he should call the police, or at least, check with the old guy’s wife, or maybe he should just go over there and see if he could help somehow.

“Li,” he said. “If you see a snake, just scream ‘Li’, and a Chadian will come and kill it.”

I can't tell you what a help it is to have a built-in editor who highlights spelling errors or punctuation errors and tells you how to fix them?

Before you get into the four types of editing, I cannot emphasize a couple of practices you should adopt.