If all goes according to plan, the book will hit the shelves on the eve of next year's presidential elections in the United States. Working title? "Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story." Ex-bodybuilder, actor and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is working on his memoirs.

"I am reading a lot about what has been written about me in the last decades," Schwarzenegger told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "It helps me to connect the dots of my life."

The book, he says, will look back at his childhood in the Austrian city of Graz, his career as a bodybuilder, his time as an action-movie hero and, ultimately, his stint as California governor. It is to be published worldwide in October 2012.

A member of the Republican Party, Schwarzenegger enjoys good relations with the administration of President Barack Obama and has often been critical of his own party. As governor of California, he was opposed to then-President George W. Bush on climate issues and he has also repeatedly criticized the right wing of his party for its dogmatism and unwillingness to compromise. He is also skeptical of the right-wing Tea Party movement.

Requisite Patience

Schwarzenegger, who became famous for his roles in the "Conan" and "Terminator" movies, has already been working on his autobiography for a year. Last December, he reached a contractual agreement with Simon & Schuster for the book. The same publishing house brought out his first autobiography in 1977, "The Education of a Bodybuilder," a book primarily about his rise to the top of the bodybuilding world. In Germany, the book will be published by Hoffmann und Campe.

Schwarzenegger is said to have received an advance of "several million" for "Total Recall," though the exact sum is unknown. Publishers, he said, "have been after me" for years to write a second biography. But, he said, he hasn't yet had the requisite patience.

He is not writing his memoirs alone. In March, Schwarzenegger hired journalist Peter Petre as a collaborator and has been meeting with him regularly in his offices in Santa Monica to talk about his life. Petre is the former executive editor of Fortune magazine and also co-authored the memoirs of former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and of General Norman Schwarzkopf, former head of coalition troops in the Gulf War in the early 1990s.

Show Must Go On

The book is also to briefly address unpleasant chapters of his life, including the recent split from his wife Maria Shriver. The couple parted ways in May after it was revealed that Schwarzenegger had kept quiet for years about a child he had with their housekeeper. At the time, Schwarzenegger ceased work on several film projects and a planned comic book.

In addition to his memoirs, Schwarzenegger intends to continue working on film projects and on climate change issues. In October, filming is set to begin for Sylvester Stallone's action film "The Expendables 2," in which Schwarzenegger will appear. Filming will also begin this autumn on the movie "Last Stand," in which Schwarzenegger is set to play a sheriff.