Last week I was doing some spring cleaning and came across a collection of letters I had written to my parents some forty-five years ago. At the time, I was a young man teaching in Ghana. After University I’d joined CUSO, a Canadian voluntary organization similar to the Peace Corps, and had been assigned to the West African country for two years. I’d asked my mother to keep these letters as a partial record of my experience…Read more.
Posted in Inspiration, Life stories, memoir, Personal historian, Writing
Tagged aerogram, Canada, CUSO, Ghana, How to, Inspiration, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, letters, life story, memories, memory triggers, third chapter, Tips, West Africa, Writing
Ethical Wills aren’t new. In fact they go back to Biblical times. But it’s within the last few decades that they’ve grown in popularity. People feel the need to leave something more than their worldly possessions. They want to convey to loved ones what they value, what has made their life meaningful, the hopes they have for their family and friends, lessons learned, and their regrets and achievements.
An excellent place to start composing your own Ethical Will is with Susan Turnbull’s The Wealth of Your Life: A Step-by-Step Guide for Creating Your Ethical Will. This is the third edition of her popular book first published in 2005.
Having designed and run numerous workshops on Ethical Wills myself, I was eager to work through Susan’s guide. To begin with it looks gorgeous. In fact it looks so good I was hesitant to begin writing in it! The 40 page guide is divided into 5 steps: imagining your audience, opening lines, reflecting and making notes, integrating your thoughts, and composing your Ethical Will.
A number of the changes in the Third Edition are cosmetic – changing fonts, redesigning the layout, and adding new visual elements. The core content, however, remains basically unchanged.
What’s new is that some of the steps have been expanded and are easier to follow. This is particularly true in Step Three: Creating Your Ethical Will which is the core of the guide. It’s divided into five themes: your feelings, your values, your perspective, your history, and your will or estate plan.
I know from experience how difficult it is to identify core values. It’s not something we’re asked to do every day. Step Three’s Your Values theme has been improved by the addition of a referral list of 82 values. To further aid readers to discover their values they’re asked to write down An activity or role that gives my life meaning and purpose. Then they’re prompted to identify The personal values that are reflected. And finally, readers are asked to consider The biggest reward of that activity/role. These prompts helped me see more clearly why some activities had meaning and purpose in my life.
I worked my way through all the sections of the guide and found that the prompts really helped me extract the juice from my life. All that remains now is to take all my notes and complete writing my Ethical Will.
It would have been helpful to include in the guide a few tips on the process of preparing an Ethical Will. We’re all different in how we like to do things but these few suggestions would give readers some guidance.
If you’re curious about Ethical Wills and looking for guidance in composing one, I highly recommend you pick up a copy of The Wealth of Your Life. Remember the words of Bertrand Russell, “One must care about a world one will not see.”
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Posted in Ethical will, How to, Tips, Writing
Tagged Ethical will, Philosophy, Religion and Spirituality, study guide, Susan Turnbull, Wills, Writers Resources, Writing
In 2008 I wrote and posted this seven-part, self-directed Ethical Will Course. I felt it was time to bring it back and make it available to those of you who may have missed it the first time…Read more.
Posted in Courses, Ethical will, How to, Writing
Tagged creating, Ethical will, Ethical will course, How to, Religion and Spirituality, step-by-step guide, values, Writing
Still putting off writing your life story? Well here’s something you might want to try. Write down a list of twenty statements about yourself that would give someone in the future an idea of who you are… Read more.
Posted in How to, Personal historian, Tips, Writing
Tagged How to, Life stories, life story, lists, Personal historian, personal histories, personal history, Writers Resources, Writing
I’ve just finished Jennifer Campbell’s recent book Start and Run a Personal History Business published by Self-Counsel Press. If you’re thinking of making personal histories a business, you owe it to yourself to get this book. Jennifer knows her stuff. She’s been a professional personal historian since 2002 and prior to that had a 25 year career as an editor, writer, and interviewer… Read more.
Posted in Book reviews, Business, Home Office, How to, Life stories, Marketing, Memoirs, Personal historian, Promotion & Publicity, Resources, Self-employed, Tips, Writing
Tagged Business, Employment, family stories, free resources, Home Office, How to, Jennifer Campbell, memoir, Personal historian, personal histories, personal history, personal history business, self employed, small business, start and run, Tips, Writing
What makes a video biography memorable? Is it the person being interviewed? Or is it the inclusion of archival photos and movies? Or could it be the clever use of audio and visual effects? All of these are significant but the most important factor – the #1 secret to a first rate video biography is … Read more.
Posted in How to, Life stories, Personal historian, Questions, Tips, Video production, Writing
Tagged digital storytelling, engaging story, feature film lessons, Filmmaking, how ro, life story, Media Production, story, structure, technique, Tips, video, video biography, video life stories, visual effects, Writing
I must admit that I haven’t given much thought to the finer distinctions between life stories, memoirs, autobiographies, and personal essays until I came across Sharon Lippincott’s fine blog The Heart and Craft of Life Writing . In a January post she loosely defines an array of life writing approaches: … Read more.
Posted in Life stories, Memoirs, Personal historian, Tips, Writing
Tagged autobiography, life narratives, life story, life writing, memoir, What's the difference?
That’s the question some of my colleagues at the Association of Personal Historians have recently been examining.
Some feel that details count because they can enrich a life story by providing a social history context for it. They suggest that what might be tedious to the interviewer could in fact be fascinating to family members now and in the future.
Other personal historians see a need to be selective with details, choosing only those that enhance a story – sifting out the chaff and creating a more readable and entertaining narrative.
But the debate about how much detail to include is better settled after thinking through the following questions:
Is this a book or video life story?
In the previous article Book or Video? Which Makes a Better Personal History? I extolled the strengths and weaknesses of both print and video.
Books are more suited to detail than video. Video’s strength is in storytelling, broad strokes, and emotional content.
What’s the budget?
If you want detail, it’s going to take time and time costs money. Ten or more hours of interview isn’t uncommon for a full life story.
While your client might want their very own version of Gone with the Wind, their budget restrictions point to a more modest affair like Swayed by the Breeze. 
How open and revealing is your storyteller?
Some people need little prompting to unleash a wealth of detailed stories. Then there are those who are more reticent. No matter how sensitive and clever your questions, you’re lucky to get the bare bones of the person’s life.
What kind of questions are you asking?
The interview is at the core of a comprehensive and entertaining personal history. I’ve written extensively about the art of interviewing in 11 Articles on Interviewing .
If you want to get the stories behind a life, avoid questions that focus exclusively on names, dates, and places. Instead, use open-ended questions that begin with How, Where, When, What, and Why. And don’t read from a series of scripted questions. Make sure to go deeper with prompts like “And then what happened?”
Conclusion
I believe that details can enrich a life story. Ultimately though, we’re hired as professionals to edit and weave those details into a coherent and engaging story.
Photo by Chris Beckett
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Posted in How to, Interviewing, Life stories, Personal historian, Tips, Writing
Tagged details, Editing, How to, Interviewing, Life stories, Personal historian, Questions, Tips, Writing
We lay aside letters never to read them again, and at last we destroy them out of discretion, and so disappears the most beautiful, the most immediate breath of life, irrecoverable for ourselves and for others.
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Last week I was doing some spring cleaning and came across a collection of letters I had written to my parents some forty-five years ago. At the time, I was a young man teaching in Ghana. After University I’d joined CUSO, a Canadian voluntary organization similar to the Peace Corps, and had been assigned to the West African country for two years. I’d asked my mother to keep these letters as a partial record of my experience.
Dan and the staff at Sefwi Wiawso Secondary School, Ghana
Last week was the first time I’d looked at them in over four decades. As I read through these tissue thin blue aerograms, covered in tightly composed script, I was deeply affected. My younger self was speaking to me across the years not only about his wonder at this new place and culture but also about his hopes and dreams.
I feel that I want a role in life where I can work to benefit those among us who are not so privileged. I have long given up the idea that I alone can solve world problems. But I do feel that I have something and that I can contribute a little to working out some of our problems.
In a powerful way I came to see that the life I had hoped for has been lived. The values I held then are still close to my heart. It gives me encouragement as I look ahead to the “third chapter” of my life. I suspect it will be a time every bit as challenging and eye-opening as my days in Ghana. And I hope I’ll face the future with the same degree of passion, curiosity, dedication, and openness as that young man did all those years ago.
The letters also confirm how much detail and texture of our past is simply lost unless we have journals or letters to refresh our memory. I was surprised at the events, people, and places that had faded from my mind. In fact, it turns out that the Ghanaian secondary school compound where I lived and taught wasn’t exactly how I remembered it at all!
My letters home illustrate the great value that memorabilia play in unlocking the stories of our life. But not just the stories. Those letters also helped me understand something of the person I am today.
Here are a few random thoughts:
Photos from Dan Curtis collection
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Posted in Inspiration, Life stories, memoir, Personal historian, Writing
Tagged aerogram, CUSO, Ghana, How to, Inspiration, letters, life story, memories, memory triggers, third chapter, Tips, West Africa, Writing
Disclosure. I’ve contributed one small item to this book but I will not be receiving any renumeration from its sale.
I’ve just finished Jennifer Campbell’s recent book Start and Run a Personal History Business published by Self-Counsel Press. If you’re thinking of making personal histories a business, you owe it to yourself to get this book. Jennifer knows her stuff. She’s been a professional personal historian since 2002 and prior to that had a 25 year career as an editor, writer, and interviewer.
This 180 page book is packed with the kind of information I wish I had when I was starting out. The 16 Chapters cover:
In addition, the book comes with a CD-ROM which includes all of the sample templates used in the book as well as resources to help you in your business.
If you buy Personal History Business for nothing else than the chapter on pricing, it’s well worth the investment. For personal historians who are starting out, determining what to charge clients is a challenge. Jennifer’s detailed step-by-step approach will give you the help you need to ensure that you keep your business profitable.
What struck me about the book is that Jennifer makes it clear that running a personal history business takes more than just a love of people and their stories. Her book is like a splash of cold water. After reading it, if you’re still enthusiastic about establishing a personal history business, you’ll go into it with your eyes wide open. A word of caution. Don’t become overwhelmed by the content. There’s a lot to digest. Read it through once for an overview and then come back to chew on smaller portions.
I like Jennifer’s candor. For example, on business plans she says, “Like a lot of small business owners, I resisted doing a business plan for a long time. I think it was a psychological block…I finally got some serious business coaching…” In my eyes, her honesty makes her more credible because I know that she’s writing from personal experience.
The book is also sprinkled with useful tips. They’re terrific. And I wish she’d included more of them and highlighted them so they stood out from the surrounding copy. This brings me to my only real concern and that’s the overall layout and design of the book.
My personal preference is for some breathing space around blocks of text. I found the information on the pages visually congested. I longed for more white space, bolder titles, and little sidebars with tidbits of information, like her “tips”. I would have found it easier to absorb the wealth of material with more visual help. Having said this, I’m aware that there are production costs to consider when designing a book. And Self-Counsel Press, the publishers, probably have a standard layout from which there can be little deviation.
Layout and design aside, this is an excellent book. If you’re serious about establishing a personal history business, you need to do two things - buy a copy of Start & Run A Personal History Business and join the Association of Personal Historians.
Posted in Home Office, How to, Interviewing, Life stories, Marketing, Memoirs, Personal historian, Publishing, Resources, Self-employed, Tips, Writing
Tagged family stories, free resources, Home Office, How to, Personal historian, personal histories, personal history business, self employed, small business, start and run, Tips, Writing
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