Writing Your Life Story
	Our lives are filled with extraordinarily ordinary moments.  Our souls are illuminated by them.  Sharing them around the hearths of our hearts, we become tellers of sacred tales, artists of our lives.  --Dr. Susan Wittig Albert, Writing from Life

It's a Gift

QUESTION:  What is the most precious gift you can give to your children?  ANSWER:  The stories about your family and your life.    Whether you decide to write them in a notebook or computer or record them on video or tape recorder, it makes no difference.  The important thing is that you preserve these stories for future generations.    Future readers will wonder as they peruse the stories how you ever lived without a TV, computer, or microwave (or what else they may be using in the future?).  But the story of your life, the struggles, the joys, the accomplishments, will be what they understand.  Your account will be a guide to help them through their own lives.

Decide to Do It Now

Don't put it off anymore.  Begin today.  Pick one story out of all the family stories and write it down.  Perhaps you remember a funny experience when you were in school.  How about that disastrous Christmas dinner you prepared for your in-laws?  What was your favorite toy when you were growing up and why?  Is there a family recipe that has been passed down from one generation to the next?  Share it and tell about the Grandma or Aunt or the person who used to prepare it for you.                                       See?  Just pick out one story and develop it.  Scribble it down quickly without regard to your Sixth Grade teacher who would definitely mark it up with her red pen. You get the basics of the story (what I call the bones) down on paper and then you can always go back and flesh out the details.  Don't worry about grammar and punctuation until you have the story down.  Then you can revise and edit or have some fresh eyes read the story to find errors.   Once you start and share your stories, the joy and warmth from family members will amaze you.  Have fun with it.    Please Note: I am presenting How to Begin Writing Your Life Stories workshop in February for the Hernando County Public Schools Continuing Education Program, Brooksville, FL.  Join us. Call 352-797-7291 for information.

ORDER THESE HELPFUL BOOKS ON LIFE STORY WRITING   The following books are ones that we use in the Life Story Writing Workshop.

Email Me
	I am available to present a three session, six hour workshop on How to Begin Writing Your Life Story. Contact me for more information by clicking on the e-mail page. Please email me if you have questions about writing your life story or would like to share your up to 500 word story with me. Send your story in the body of the email, no attachments please.