Julia Gillard is glad her mum encouraged her to learn to touch-type.
Australia's first female prime minister is writing her memoir, to be published by Random House in October 2014.
The book deal announcement comes just as Ms Gillard plans to make her first high-profile public appearances since being ousted as prime minister by Kevin Rudd in June.
The former Labor leader, who has taken up an honorary professorship in history and politics with the University of Adelaide, said she enjoyed writing and wanted to write the book in her own words.
"It can be a struggle from time to time and I'm sure there will be moments when I am pacing around the block trying to get a new idea, but I do want to write it myself," she said in an interview conducted by Random House.
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"Fortunately, I am a very good typist.
"My mother made sure as a teenager that I learned to touch-type on the basis that a girl could always get a job if she knew how to type.
"But I don't think she foresaw me using the skills for this."
While the size of her book advance is unknown, former prime minister John Howard is believed to have received a $400,000 advance for his book, Lazarus Rising.The 2011 book became the biggest-selling Australian political memoir, eclipsing The Hawke Memoirs' 75,000 copies.
There is much interest in the thoughts of Ms Gillard, who controversially seized the top job in mid-2010 before Kevin Rudd seized it back in June this year.
The current top-selling non-fiction book in Australia is The Stalking of Julia Gillard by journalist Kerry-Anne Walsh.
Two interview forum events in Sydney and Melbourne sold out within hours of tickets going on sale.
Author Anne Summers will interview Ms Gillard at the Sydney Opera House on September 30 in front of a live audience and the event will be telecast live on ABC News 24 from 6.30pm-8pm.
A similar event will follow at the Melbourne Town Hall on October 1.
Ms Gillard said her book would describe her "political and personal journey".
"I want to distil for readers what I achieved, what drove me, where I erred, my personal resilience and how I coped," she said.
"I want to share my perspective on the issues of our times and how I strove to make a difference for the better every day I had the privilege of serving as prime minister."
