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Just recently a young photographer sent me some of his work. He is both talented and enthusiastic (you will be seeing some of it in a future issue!) and in love with reportage, to the point that one of his submissions was simply entitled ‘Diary’ in which he described, in images, his daily life. As a journalist and editor I’ve long been fascinated by autobiography in word form, and am now increasingly intrigued by the idea of a wordless pictorial form. Interestingly, the same rules apply – you have to be selective and you have to edit your work right down to the essentials. Then you have a story. For quite a few years I taught Creative Writing in Adult Education and, again recently, a former student, now in her mid-70s contacted me. She wanted me to ‘direct’ her in some autobiographical writing to leave for her children, so I suggested that she start by writing ‘snapshots’ about her life with the idea that they can later be edited and developed into a coherent form – a kind of verbal photo album. I was suprised at how easily the genres interchanged. I think the key to good autobiography is making the ordinary extraordinary. If you can transform the simple things around you (people, objects, spaces) into something unique, it’s a very special talent. Like alchemy. I’ve been thinking hard about this, so when it came to talking about a new angle for Eamonn McCabe’s column (he’d written 100 and we thought he would like a fresh challenge) I suggested that he should start a series based on the idea – perhaps not quite of alchemy, but something close. You can see what he came up with on page 32. I hope it sets you off.