In our house, just like in many across this great country, with very little effort, we could find a pile, some boxes, an overstuffed drawer or bags of photographs. At my parents' house one can even find a collection of photo albums with names and dates under lovingly organized and attached pictures. "August 1978 - Fishing off Kelley's" will say the caption. Another may say "Aug. 78 - Grandma's 6 pounder" - and so go the pages and captions.
While these are great to have, the problem is that this is where they end also.
They don't tell the story BEHIND the picture.
They dont tell how we forgot the bait, or how "someone" (was it really my job?) forgot to put the plug in the boat and we almost sank!
Sure, we fished, and we did catch some bounty. The problem is that A Picture ONLY Tells a Thousand words - not stories.
I met with an elderly couple yesterday and they could not stop telling me story after story from their lives. Prior to our meeting, they had organized all of their pictures (from their storage boxes) into groups by topic, by event, by group.
They thanked me over and over again for helping to free them from their certain doom.
Give it a try. It will be one of the most rewarding things you do this year - I guarantee!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Monday, August 17, 2009
Getting Started Writing Your Stories
I cannot tell you how many times I speak to people and the "just can't get started" writing or creating their stories.
Call it Writers Block or whatever you want. It can be a show stopper - even before the show gets started.
So, to address this problem we have some suggestions.
We cover these topics in our Writers' Guide (just e-mail me and I will send it to you) as well as in our workshops.
Please note that one solution may not work for everyone and we are happy to help out anyone who has this problem.
Anyway, my first (and most popular) suggestion is to get something to write on - it doesn't really matter what since we are going to use it as scrap - like a piece of paper, a used envelop, piece of wood, wall, garage floor - you get the picture.
Then, once you have your writing surface prepared and your writing instrument, ask youself a couple simple questions:
- What Life Experience comes to mind when you read the following groups of words. Don't "think" too much, just write what pops into your head. There is no right or wrong answer here, this is only an excercise:
1.) First Kiss
Okay, write what came into your mind
2.) Car
Write.
3.) Food
Go.
4.) Song
Keep Going!
5.) Inspiration
Try it.
6.) Color
Write.
Once you have all 6 of these done to some degree, go through them all and find the one that really grabs you and dive down into more and more details with each. Write short sentences.
Leave good spacing between the sentences you write (you will be going back and building on what you write - I assure you).
Keep the flow working this way. Jump from one to the next if you want.
Get lost in your thoughts and memories you are capturing.
And, look for more postings on this topic.
- DLA
Call it Writers Block or whatever you want. It can be a show stopper - even before the show gets started.
So, to address this problem we have some suggestions.
We cover these topics in our Writers' Guide (just e-mail me and I will send it to you) as well as in our workshops.
Please note that one solution may not work for everyone and we are happy to help out anyone who has this problem.
Anyway, my first (and most popular) suggestion is to get something to write on - it doesn't really matter what since we are going to use it as scrap - like a piece of paper, a used envelop, piece of wood, wall, garage floor - you get the picture.
Then, once you have your writing surface prepared and your writing instrument, ask youself a couple simple questions:
- What Life Experience comes to mind when you read the following groups of words. Don't "think" too much, just write what pops into your head. There is no right or wrong answer here, this is only an excercise:
1.) First Kiss
Okay, write what came into your mind
2.) Car
Write.
3.) Food
Go.
4.) Song
Keep Going!
5.) Inspiration
Try it.
6.) Color
Write.
Once you have all 6 of these done to some degree, go through them all and find the one that really grabs you and dive down into more and more details with each. Write short sentences.
Leave good spacing between the sentences you write (you will be going back and building on what you write - I assure you).
Keep the flow working this way. Jump from one to the next if you want.
Get lost in your thoughts and memories you are capturing.
And, look for more postings on this topic.
- DLA
Monday, September 1, 2008
How to preserve your life stories
If you are like most people, eventually you will become a silent photo in the family album in less than three generations. All of your life's accomplishments, at best, will eventually be wrapped up in one quick comment like "That's grandpa Joe, he was a businessman." or "That was Dad's grandpa, he was something important, but I can't recall".
Harsh but true.
"Not me", you may say - because you have taken the time and had the forethought to write these stories down in a 3-ringed binder or saved them on the hard drive of your PC - or even burned them on CD.
Nice try. That's still not going to work. No one is going to drag around your binder, and, eventually, it will find its way to a box in the attic. Your PC's hard drive will eventually be gone as will the CD's that you so diligently burned.
All that effort, love, and time - lost.
That is, until now.
Realizing the truth of the hard drive, the CD, and the binder I created a website for you to download your photo's, create your friends list, and create your stories - forever and have them accessible online and available to the people you want to reach them. On their terms, in their timeframe.
Here is the problem as I see it...
If you are 40 or over you have stories. You want to share your stories - mostly with your kids and grandkids - but they are not ready to "listen" and appreciate them. Someday they will be, but probably not in our lifetime. As such, your stories are told less and less until they are simply forgotten.
Now, however, you can go to this website, create your photo library, identify the people you want to share the stories with, and create all your stories. Then you simply attached the photos you want to each story, select the names you want to share it with, and Viola! your stories are shared as well as preserved.
This website is new. It's free for the first 90 days. Give it a try.
It's Told4Ever.com
Harsh but true.
"Not me", you may say - because you have taken the time and had the forethought to write these stories down in a 3-ringed binder or saved them on the hard drive of your PC - or even burned them on CD.
Nice try. That's still not going to work. No one is going to drag around your binder, and, eventually, it will find its way to a box in the attic. Your PC's hard drive will eventually be gone as will the CD's that you so diligently burned.
All that effort, love, and time - lost.
That is, until now.
Realizing the truth of the hard drive, the CD, and the binder I created a website for you to download your photo's, create your friends list, and create your stories - forever and have them accessible online and available to the people you want to reach them. On their terms, in their timeframe.
Here is the problem as I see it...
If you are 40 or over you have stories. You want to share your stories - mostly with your kids and grandkids - but they are not ready to "listen" and appreciate them. Someday they will be, but probably not in our lifetime. As such, your stories are told less and less until they are simply forgotten.
Now, however, you can go to this website, create your photo library, identify the people you want to share the stories with, and create all your stories. Then you simply attached the photos you want to each story, select the names you want to share it with, and Viola! your stories are shared as well as preserved.
This website is new. It's free for the first 90 days. Give it a try.
It's Told4Ever.com
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Creating your own stories keeps your mind fit
I found that I feel more energized and positive after I have written down a story from my life.
Originally I started recording these stories in Microsoft Word so I would be able to pass them on to my kids (and possibly my grand kids) before I had forgotten them all together. Whenever I found myself parked in front of the TV it was my personal queue to get onto the computer and get writing.
As I proceeded with my story collecting it was soon clear to me this undertaking would require more than just myself as some aspects of the day or days I was thinking about were forgotten.
For any of my stories I contacted (mostly by e-mail and phone) the people involved with the specific story. It amazed me how well they filled in the gaps - just as I was doing for them as we discussed each story or situation.
After creating these stories I have grouped some of them into a collection and have found a publisher to create my first book. The book is titled "Bat Mummies in the Furnace Flue" and will be available on shelves November 11, 2008. If you want a signed copy go out to Told4Ever.com and order yours.
Originally I started recording these stories in Microsoft Word so I would be able to pass them on to my kids (and possibly my grand kids) before I had forgotten them all together. Whenever I found myself parked in front of the TV it was my personal queue to get onto the computer and get writing.
As I proceeded with my story collecting it was soon clear to me this undertaking would require more than just myself as some aspects of the day or days I was thinking about were forgotten.
For any of my stories I contacted (mostly by e-mail and phone) the people involved with the specific story. It amazed me how well they filled in the gaps - just as I was doing for them as we discussed each story or situation.
After creating these stories I have grouped some of them into a collection and have found a publisher to create my first book. The book is titled "Bat Mummies in the Furnace Flue" and will be available on shelves November 11, 2008. If you want a signed copy go out to Told4Ever.com and order yours.
Military Stories
May dad is a Korean war veteran and has a group of his service buddies who all have stories to tell. The problem is, at least until now, there has been no common place to store and share them.
They now have found Told4Ever.com and are using it to store and share their stories among themselves.
They now have found Told4Ever.com and are using it to store and share their stories among themselves.
The importance of preserving stories from one's life
The other day I was having a conversation with my daughter in front of a group of shelves in our house containing a number of photographs. As I looked at the various photographs of my parents and grandparents, I decided to quiz her on who they were and what they did in their lives.
Sadly, while she was "pretty sure" of who the people were, she was not clear on what they had done in their lives.
It was clear to me that I had to do something about this. So I went out and did some searching on the web for some sites that would support what I wanted. Although there are some that do what I wanted, I did not find what I liked.
More searching brought me to a new website called Told4Ever.com. I have been trying it out and it seems to be exactly what I need.
I can download photographs, create a Friends List, and create stories - linking the desired people and photo's to each story.
I can share my stories on three levels:
1.) Private - which allows only me to see and edit it
2.) Shared - where I can select the friends I want to share each story with
3.) Public - which shares the story to the Told4Ever "public"
It is perfect for me and I am pointing all my friends to it.
When I setup my account I received a User Guide that really made it easy.
Sadly, while she was "pretty sure" of who the people were, she was not clear on what they had done in their lives.
It was clear to me that I had to do something about this. So I went out and did some searching on the web for some sites that would support what I wanted. Although there are some that do what I wanted, I did not find what I liked.
More searching brought me to a new website called Told4Ever.com. I have been trying it out and it seems to be exactly what I need.
I can download photographs, create a Friends List, and create stories - linking the desired people and photo's to each story.
I can share my stories on three levels:
1.) Private - which allows only me to see and edit it
2.) Shared - where I can select the friends I want to share each story with
3.) Public - which shares the story to the Told4Ever "public"
It is perfect for me and I am pointing all my friends to it.
When I setup my account I received a User Guide that really made it easy.
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