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I love bridge images; they remind me that we connect with others through sharing our stories. This simple activity of talking about our memories has the potential for far reaching impact. It can deepen relationships, help us experience life through others’ eyes and grow our empathy and listening skills.

Taking action to save your family’s story may be part of your “for such a time as this” motivation. I’ll be trotting out a fun family photo challenge in the next few days via social media and want to make sure you’re given a heads up. This will be a short activity with lots of positives:

* It’s free

* Did I mention it’s short?

* You’ll have quick content for your family history

* You’ll create good ideas you can follow up on later

You’ll be able to find the challenge in the next few days on our page at https://www.facebook.com/RememberingtheTime

When you think about writing your memoir or family history, do any of these defeating thoughts ever raise their ugly little heads?

• I don’t know how to write a book
• How do I share it with my family?
• My story isn’t important

Remember, if you’re stuck, let’s talk! I understand the feeling and would love to brainstorm a few ideas with you to help you cross the bridge and make that priceless connection with your family by sharing your story. Helping people is what I do! I even have a few free links to my Quick Start a Memoir class for a limited number of people if you contact me in June. Now is an opportune time.

Today’s short tip sheet is fresh in my mind! I’ve been working with my daughter, who has good videography skills, to create an intro video for the Remembering the Time FaceBook page. I’m usually on the other side of a microphone when doing interviews so this was a fun experience. Got it done in an hour and a few giggly retakes. She’s making it all look pretty and taking out my um’s, ah’s, and mis-speaks.

So…when you’re interviewing a family member or friend for their memoir or another family history project, here’s a few things I’ve learned through years of interviewing people in a wide variety of situations (note: these work great whether it’s a short storytelling session or a longer oral history):

# 1 – Before you set up your recorder – take time to talk story and common ground to build rapport.

# 2 – Don’t stick a microphone in someone’s face if you can avoid it. Set up in a quiet room with few distractions and place the recorder/phone in an unobtrusive position on a table or chair in front of your storyteller. Or make sure their collar microphone is secure. Then engage again in a little small talk to ease nervousness before you begin.

# 3 – Don’t be afraid of silences, they’re thinking. You can gently prompt as needed, “Can you tell me more about…”

# 4 – Don’t turn off the recorder too early! Many of the best side-stories happen when you thought you were done.

# 5 – Have fun, encourage your storyteller, and listen quietly but engaged, making eye contact while they talk.

If you have further questions about interviewing please feel free to get in touch, I’d love to hear from you!

Karen

In Part 1 we talked about unique ways you can honor the graduates in your life. Specifically, creating a lifestory photo book of their life highlights. If you’ve been busy gathering material like photos, drawings, and keepsakes you’re well on your way to making this memoir gift a reality.

Now, here’s the rest of the story:

11 Interview Questions to Help You Add Interesting Details to Your Graduate’s Story:

What do you think are the 3 most important things in life?

Who was/is your best friend in school and why?

What are 10 things that make you laugh?

What do you imagine the world will look like 100 years from now?

What is your favorite childhood memory?

Who was your favorite teacher and why?

Describe your pet(s) and why you enjoy them.

Describe your siblings and what you enjoy doing together.

What things do you enjoy for fun?

Who has been the kindest to you?

Describe a happy moment in your life.

And lastly, 3 creative ways to bring this gift to life:

Step 3 – Publish Your Story — Print It

Create a tangible book that your graduate can hold and page through, sharing with others. There are several different ways you can do this. While you can craft a beautiful digital book, I highly recommend creating a physical one for this purpose. Here are 3 ideas:

*Scrapbook–A few years ago this was all the rage and can still be a popular tool to creatively share your story. If you enjoy this dig out your supplies, pick up a new album and then give yourself some time to create a beautiful work of art with these saved memories.

*Shutterfly or Similar Photo Book—photo books that can be created online give you quite a bit of creative flexibility and will turn out a nicely bound high quality book. Coupons abound for these types of gifts and the digital creation process is designed to be pretty simple. And yes, you can have both text and photos in the book. Make sure to use both as years from now they’ll want the story behind the photos. Frequent sales with these companies can often bring the price down to not much more than producing it at the local print shop.

*Copy Shop Coil Bound Book—if dollars are tight, never fear, your young person will appreciate and cherish this book format just as much. Here’s a couple ways to do this—first–computer set up– take the photos and text you’ve collected and arrange them in a document on your computer. You can get creative with color, text styles and photo placement. When you like the way it looks create a PDF file to lock everything in place. Then, put it on a jump drive, take it to your local copy shop and have them print up several copies with a coil binding and nice quality paper. Use a heavier glossy cardstock for the cover and glossy finish paper inside to really make those photos pop. A book like this will usually run less than $20 to print.

For each of these options I encourage you to include at least a couple photos that are black and white. You can easily convert your color images to this classic style. They have a timeless quality that somehow shows the subject in a different way that really draws out their personality and character.

Now print or order several copies of your gift book. I guarantee it will stand out and it will be cherished, there is nothing more unique and precious than someone’s life story. Your graduate will treasure this always. And of course, you’ll want one for yourself and other family members as well. 

Got questions about how to do this? Feel free to contact me! Have fun and happy graduation to all those students.

Students all around the country are working hard and preparing to wrap up their education. The internet is exploding with pet videos to distract and soothe their weary minds and familys everywhere are making plans to celebrate. In this 2-part article I’ll share ideas for saving your favorite graduate’s life memories and adventures to date. Student memoirs rock!

Sharing about what life was like back in the day when our parents and grandparents were in school is a much-loved holiday dinner tradition. Their stories of adventures, struggles and the chore of walking uphill both ways to school always make us groan and laugh. We learn much from their experiences. It sure does me good to hear about not only their grit and determination, but their shenanigans too.

That said, years from now your young person’s family will want to see photos and hear the stories of events that helped shape them into who they are. This will become part of their family history.

You can help with a gift you can make yourself! Here are the first 2 of 3 steps you can take to focus your ideas, gather material, and then share this wonderful story. The key to creating this in a short amount of time is to narrow the scope of your project, gather all your material in one place and then use easy online or physical tools to make it a creative reality.

Step 1
Pick Your Graduate and Your Theme
Let’s use the example of a high school or college age student about to graduate. Decide whether you want to run through quick highlights of their life or focus on a theme of sports, music, hobbies or other interests.

For young folks I highly recommend doing an overview of their life as it shows so many different sides of who they are as a person. This will delight and honor them! Even big “kids” love seeing photos of themselves and hearing stories about growing up. Yes, even though they’ve heard them before. In fact, especially because they’ve heard them before! Include things that show them how valued and loved they are.

We all know the importance of having physical copies of photographs around. In fact, a gifted wedding photographer friend said she could not emphasize this enough. A photo storybook carries the same weight of importance and will be loved and treasured by your graduate.  

Besides, when that solar flare or some other catastrophe finally hits, don’t you want your family to have keepsakes they can enjoy without electricity? Oh yes you do! And we all know those convenient cell phones that hold most of your photos sometimes meet an untimely end in laundry or toilet. Don’t make them the sole repository of your life’s memories.

Step 2
Gather Your Material
Pull together photos, artwork, notes, and stories from your graduate’s growing up years. If you decided to work with a theme keep this in mind as you make your choices. I like to take material and photos from about every 2-3 years during a young person’s life. This  usually captures major changes and life events and illustrates their progression of growth and interests.

A fun idea is to interview your subject about some of their key memories of growing up. Don’t tell them what it’s for! Even an hour or two of visiting can give you a wealth of stories to transcribe and include in your book. Best of all, you’ll both enjoy the process and you’ll also have their voice telling the stories. How awesome is that?

Best tip ever:
Do include a few school photos … BUT … Include primarily candid photos, not those posed school photos; casual shots truly capture personality.

(Next week, the rest of the story, stay tuned!)
Thanks for sharing your time with me!
Karen