Why not write your own life story?
Indeed, why not! Your memories can be a unique contribution to the collected history of a time and place. What a gift for family and friends! Your recorded memories are a gift to the future.
How hard is it? Just take some writing paper, or start a new document in your computer, then click on the link to the lifestory questions at the end of this page. Take a deep breath. Feel the writer within you rise, and start anywhere.
Is this strange advice? Not really! We've seen more than one hundred people begin writing this way. Start with the memory that most inspires you. Write one page about it, describing it as if it just happened or is happening. Then put it in a file folder or a 3-hole binder, or a folder in your computer. Next day, write another episode and slip it away.
After a bit of time, guess what? You have 15 stories in the binder, or in your computer, and you can move them around to make them chronological, or set them up into different chapters. As you start down the path of memories, more and more stories will emerge. Keep a notebook in the kitchen or by your bed, and jot a note to yourself about the things you ought to write, so you can do it later.
Go anywhere in your story. After all it is yours. You are the expert as no one knows your life and times as you do. It’s a little like the pioneer farmer who was trying to get his ox moving, “Gee” and “Haw”...but the ox was going where he would. Finally, the farmer waved his hand and said, “Go anywhere! It all needs to be done!”
As you undertake writing your life story, tell us about it. We can give you tips and if you like, connect you to others who are also writing their stories. We know writing can be a private endeavor, too, so it is up to you! Others might prefer to record their stories with a tape-recorder, computer or other means.
Are you ready? Take a pen, or sit at your keyboard. Take a deep breath and click this link to questions that will trigger your precious memories. The very best with your project!
View the document: SR-LifeStory.pdf
(Opens with Adobe Acrobat Reader)