We’re living in chaotic, unpredictable and frustrating times. Major change is happening and no-one knows quite what lies on the other side of the extraordinary political upheaval going on around us.

Most of us don’t find uncertainty – whether personal or social – easy to live with. We want to know what’s happening and where we stand. We want to be able to plan with a sense of predictability, to map out our lives for the future. But at the moment many of us are feeling increasingly at sea. We’re living through a period of huge political and social confusion, with no idea where we stand and plans, if any are possible at all, having to be fluid.

The tendency when unpredictability is all around, is to go back to what we know and trust. We find reassurance in reflecting on the past which, by its nature, is stable and relatively clear to map out.

Which is why a period of upheaval and uncertainty like the one we’re going through now can be a good time to write a book.

If you have a business, recording the story of how you started it, built it up and made it what it is today is a good way of consolidating your effort and achievements while at the same time pointing the way forward. What did you do in the past when things were confusing and unclear? What worked?  Looking back can be the best possible guide to looking forward. Writing a book is a way of taking stock while at the same time believing in the future.

It may be that you look back to a personal history to see how things mapped out, where lessons were learned and joys and triumphs shared. Writing a memoir of a life lived, a family or a relationship can be deeply satisfying as patterns emerge and truths, both wonderful and painful, are revealed.

What has gone before makes us who we are. And it gives us the momentum to go forward, no matter how much uncertainty surrounds us. History – ours, our family’s, our firm’s – is the rock that keeps us steady, the anchor that holds us and our guide to how best to weather whatever the future holds.

And, of course, one thing you can trust with absolute certainty at any time is a united ghostwriter, who will bring insight, momentum and depth to your book.

Caro Handley has ghostwritten and edited 65 books