There is an enticing article discussing the writing and publication of Peninsular War Memoirs - and how the authors were not always quite the simple soldiers they pretended to be, writing simply for their own amusement.

'Accidental Authors? Soldiers' Tales of the Peninsular War and the Secrets of the Publishing Process' by Matilda Greig in History Workshop Journal no 86 August 2018 p 224-44

The author of the article is working on a doctoral thesis on the subject, and the article certainly whets my appetite.

Rory