I would be very interested.

It is something I've always wanted to do but need a push in the right direction.

TIA
Mammie

I also would be interested. Thanx!

Good! I'm going shopping, but I'll be back......

I've never thought about doing that. Hummm.

I've always wanted to write I love you letters for my kids. Maybe some something along the lines of I loved you best.

I have been "halfheartedly" going to do that for several years. In 2009, my son gave me a book "The Story of a Lifetime"; lots of pages with questions that are meant to get you thinking and writing on the blank spaces. It is a starting place, but I would like to follow you, Alisande...and be inspired to "get it done" or started once again. Thanks, Nanny

BTW...Once upon a time...when I had my first and my second computer, I had written many many "stories" on different subjects that occurred during my growing up years. Didn't know about "backing-up" or putting stuff on a disk, and they have been lost. Do remember to "save" any computer writings that you do. One never knows when/where/how these things will just get lost in cyber-space.

Maybe my travel journals, otherwise my life has been very boring, not interesting at all.

Hi alisande,

Good message.

I just copied it and showed it to the librarian here, asking whether they might like to promote such an project here.

She says that they have that book here.

Quite possibly others of you may be able to borrow it from your libraries, to help develop some enthusiasm for it, if you may feel a bit squeamish ... it may be like going swimming: the water feels cold at the start, but one gets used to it and only notices it for a couple of minutes. Then it gets enjoyable.

Then again ... when it comes to grandkids ... I don't have any. So it looks as though I'm near the end of the line, on this railroad.

ole joyful

Good idea. I have the book "The Story of a Lifetime." My DD gave it to me several years ago. It is a beautiful book, but I have to admit to not using it. I mean I haven't written in it.

Let me explain. When I got my first computer, I was captivated by the idea of having a web site, and learning that strange "language without a name" which was how HTML was referred to by a KT member who was expert at it and shared her knowledge with anyone who was interested. I definitely was, so I started a web site for my Senior Reminisce and Creative Writing class. It was for stories they, and I, wrote.

That inspired me to do the same for just my own stories. This was before my DD gave me the book. The book has many ideas and suggestions that will jog your memories, and I think you will enjoy the results.

Nanny98, sorry you lost your stories. Try again, you will probably remember most of them. When i did mine we only had the "floppies, so I have them all saved on them. Not much good now. CDs are though.

Thanks, Susan, for suggesting this, and I hope many KTers will take advantage of it.

(My sites were started when we only had 2 browsers, and so some of the pages look different now. If you are interested, the web address is on My Page.)

Sue

I think this is such a good idea. A few years ago I started some geneaology work to track back on my mother's side of the family. Finally it hit me that it really wasn't very interesting--just dates, names, places. So??? The real story is how they lived their lives, and that's more difficult to come up with--unless someone does as you have suggested, Susan. Good idea.

I wanted my mother to sit with me and tell me her story, but she never would. I think there were things she did not want to remember.

Thanks Sue and Alisande. I am really excited (again) and have the book here by my computer. I just need another shove to start this again as I honestly believe that I have lived in the "best of times" (as so many 60 and 70+ year old folks have) with our lives spanning such a diverse and unique time-line. At least my children believe that we have had an interesting and exciting (and really just normal) life, but still somewhat unique...and they want their own nudges to remember where we have been and how we got there.

BTW...I don't see your web addy on your My Page. I always read blogs and stories about how people live and pursue their dreams.

Nanny

OJ....Even though you may not have "family" to pass your life story to, I believe that you, too, have lived a unique life with your living in Korea and being a "man of the cloth". Who would not be interested in your take on our history of that time. The ideas I want to share are those things that sit on the edges of history that I have witnessed: like what it was like to be a young American living 50 km away from the Soviet Union when the Berlin wall went up. Or the 7-8 year old following the soldiers as they marched to the trains in SF, where they left for the war in the Pacific. It is ok, if others have written about those things, but my impressions add another color to the rainbow of history.

Here's the sad part: I am part of a family of professional writers, and no one in the family has ever wanted to read what Grandma, Papa, Aunt Betty, Dad or I have written. Not our kids, parents, nieces, nephews, siblings. We've written family histories, travelogues, accounts of exciting events, short stories, poetry, a novel or two. We're good writers, and I admit that even I have not read everything my family has written.

I'll bet most of us have many, many unread diaries, letters, etc., from our ancestors. I know I do. One of my favorites is a hand-written letter from 1867, when a great-great-uncle wrote to his daughter, who lived only three miles away from him, asking her if she could spare one dollar, "as the potatoes rotted over the winter and the black horse died in the last snowstorm. I understand the distance is great over the muddy, rutted roads at this time, but perhaps we could meet half-way, if you can spare the dollar."

My advice is to write for yourself. There is great satisfaction in it, even if no one else reads it.

I started a letter for Chloe when she was young. It's not The Story of my life, but it contains lots of stories of my life. That's not the main focus - I'm writing to her, and much of what I write is about her - but it comes up often enough that I think she'll have a good sense of what came before.

When I started the letter, I thought I would give it to her when she turned 16. Now, though, I'm thinking that I'll wait a little longer. Some of what I've written about is a bit more adult. We'll see.

I've had a yen to do this, but I don't know if I have the focus to stick with it. How do you plan to share the info, Alisande? I read your post here about the "writing forum" that you used to frequent.... that sounded soooo interesting to me. Certainly too bad that it went by the wayside.

Nanny98. I agree that those of us, meaning me in the 70+ group, have lived in the "best of times," so consider this the shove you need to restart your writing engine.

Apparently iVillage has worked some kind of magic on My Page. I had no idea it had been ravaged. My comments are gone as well as the URL for my website. I went to Member Services, filled out the form to replace the info, hit save and got a message about an error.

Then I sent iVillage a message asking for help in restoring My Page to what it had been. We'll see how that goes.

Anyway, here is the URL for my web site. I have more to add to it, some day.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: web site

Vala55: I donâÂÂt think interesting lives are the point. To me, this is all about your personal experiences, ordinary though they might be. How others influenced you . . . how you influenced others . . . the world around you and your place in it . . . what you thought . . . what you felt. That sort of thing. Of course, such a project is highly individual, and some might approach it differently. Travel journals would be great! Not for me, though, because IâÂÂve hardly been anywhere. :-)

Joyfulguy: Excellent idea about finding the book at the library--thanks!
What you write would undoubtedly be interesting and useful to some of those people who come after you, even if theyâÂÂre not related to you.

Sherrmann: A fear of mine is that I will have written so much in my lifetime that my children will never want to read it. ItâÂÂs a valid fear!

IâÂÂve kept journals for years and written lots of personal essays and letters to my children. IâÂÂm motivated by two things. One is an inborn desire to communicate, to tell. As for the other, when I was seven years old my mother started a diary with the intention of giving me the gift of knowing her as a woman, not just my mother (her own mother had died young, and she never had this experience herself), and also to show me that I had a happy childhood. Like most diaries, the entries were sparse. Two years later, she died. This left me with a compulsion to give my own children what she tried to give me. I think IâÂÂve more than succeeded already, but IâÂÂm not done. :-)

That is quite a remarkable quote from your great-great uncleâÂÂs letter. So hard for us to imagine living like that today.

Beeohio: Yes, the writing forum was wonderful. ItâÂÂs been years, but I still miss it. Lois DanielâÂÂs book is based on a course she taught. In that class, she assigned a topic, and the following week her students shared what theyâÂÂd written. The book is full of examples from her students. On the KT, I would say sharing is not required. (Actually, nothing is âÂÂrequired.âÂÂ) IâÂÂll probably share parts of what IâÂÂm writing if I think an example would be useful, but IâÂÂm talking short passages, not lengthy chapters.

I figure IâÂÂll post an assignment thread every week, and members can post responses (questions and/or excerpts from their own writings) in the thread. WeâÂÂll see if once a week works for most people as a good time frame.

IâÂÂll post in a separate thread today.

That sounds great Alisande! Thank you.

It's great idea - I wish I had one from my parents. All I have is a very well written eulogy of my Mom by my sisters. I don't even have the family photos and there is no hope of getting access to those at all.

I encourage those with family who are afraid of their writing style to try it. It's a lasting gift that would be dearly loved.

Great idea! When I retired in 2005, I vowed two things: 1. i would clean and organize everything in my house. Still working on that one. And 2. write my autobiography. Not to publish, just for myself and my children. I think I've led an interesrting life. Maybe not Jackie Kennedy calibre, but someone may want to know about me. For example, I grwe up in a boarding house.I have lots of stories about our boarders. One died in our house. But I would like to write my story. I'll see if I can find that book in my library. Or check Amazon.

Its a good idea. I have started something similar by writing about my life in one room rural grade school and a little description of social conditions of the time. My memmories begin in 1942 during WW2. i included items unique to the war effort and how those affected our everyday lives. I saw the demise of the one room school and described the change in the local culture.

It is not a great piece, but was written for my children to read. I wrote it because I realized that I had lived through a piece of history that is largely unknown to today's generation. The piece is about change and the differences in living styles it brings. Today's generation has no appreciation of what life was like a short 60 years ago. The story needs to be told.

Changes:
1. The demise of the country churches. These were the culture and social centers.

2. Demise of rural one room schools.

3. The last of the draft horses.

4. REA - bringing electrical power to rural areas.
- end of kerosene lamps
- end of ice boxes and ice delivery

5. Rationing during WW2.

6. Low speed limits on national highways during WW2.

7. The advent of TV.

8. The transistor, solid state circuits, and circuit boards and how these eliminated the radio/tv repair shops.

I started by writing a few paragraphs and from time to time, I would add a little more and revise the text. It was written as text to accompany genealogy research of my family history, but stands on its own for anyone wishing to read about that era.

I'm glad that I started this piece a few years ago because several landmarks I wrote about are now gone forever without a trace.

This is going to be soooo interesting. Thank you! Nanny