January Blahs? Write your Memories!

We all have memories to share. Let's do this!

It happened again. There was an article in a local newspaper about sharing and preserving your story as well as your family's stories. And then a fabulous story on "60 Minutes" about StoryCorps which seeks to record videos of  people telling their stories in order to preserve this informal history. It put me in a mind to continue writing stories of my time on this earth.

You might be thinking--who wants to read my story? Plenty of people do! We need to do this for our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren, our nieces and nephews, and beyond. And everyone, EVERYONE, has a story to tell.

Three of my grandchildren looking through old scrapbooks. I'd say that's a pretty high interest level. Your family will want to read yours too.

A list of questions to answer seems a good way to begin. 

Several years ago, my son and daughter-in-law gave me a book to begin to write my story. It's entitled, Legacy, A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Personal History by Linda Spence. (I notice it's still available on Amazon.) Now you can find sites online with questions for you to answer, but they are often generic and don't go much further than, "Where were you born?" Or where did you go to high school." That's fine and that's a start, but this book and other online sites go a little deeper and ask questions that are much more fun to answer.

A sample list of questions that dig a little deeper~

• Where did you go to school?
• What classes interested you the most?
• Describe your school.....lockers, common areas, library, classrooms, cafeteria.
• What were you involved in at school other than classes?
• Tell about your closest friend. 
• Tell about what you did for fun.

I cannot stress this enough. Someone will want to read your stories. 

I was once at a dinner party in Round Rock, Texas, The hostess had just received an old letter from a relative that was quite a treasure, and she shared it with us. It was a letter from one of her ancestors who had fought at San Jacinto with Sam Houston! Now I realize most of us won't be sharing events like that in our memories, but I've loved my husband's family letters on life on the farm here in Texas in the early 1900's. I repeat.......someone will love reading your letters or memoirs. Take a look at this picture from a friend as her children and grandchildren read their great grandmother's letters. 

It's a fairly quiet January, and many of us have some time to spare. Write your memories, or add to your memories. It's good exercise for your brain! Let's do this:

O   Book described above, and it's a good one: Legacy~A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Personal History by Linda Spence.

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O    Article from the Houston Chronicle on preserving your stories:

​www.houstonchronicle.com/home/article/You-re-living-history-Preserve-it-Here-s-a-16757976.php

O    Online article with useful questions to answer in order to write your personal essays:

​authority.pub/memoir-writing-prompts/

O    One of my previous blogs about writing your story:

​www.gigisseasonings.com/blog/telling-your-stories-part-iii