United Kingdom, July 1 -- Debbie Gibson has found it "terrifying" to write her memoir.

The 54-year-old singer has told her life story for the first time in her tome Eternally Electric: The Message in My Music - which is due for release on September 9 - and has found it all "cathartic and exhausting process" but ultimately hopes to "inspire" others.

She told PEOPLE: "I mean, listen, it's terrifying, the idea of putting out a book. Somebody said, 'Is it harder than writing a song?' "I'm like, a song is four minutes, and a book is 90,000 words.

"It has been such a cathartic and exhausting process. The motivation behind everything I do is to hopefully inspire people."

The Foolish Beat hitmaker thinks that readers may be surprised at what ...