I was born in 1973 and began writing my life stories after my dear paternal grandma, Elizabeth BURNEY-MURPHY died in 1997. Both of my grandfathers (George William MURPHY Sr. and John Edward WRIGHT) were gone already by that time, and my grandma’s death really shocked me. I realized that without the help of my uncles’ memories of her, her essence and the essence of that side of my family history would be completely lost. I decided right then that it was critical that I write down as much as I could remember of my own life and the lives of my ancestors. Even as a relatively young person I easily forget details including many from my childhood, and I knew that at 75 the number of details I would remember would be dramatically reduced.
I also began scrapbooking at that time, simultaneously fullfilling my enjoyment of photography and my need to record family and experiences. Shortly after that, with the help and encouragement of my great aunt Ethel, I also began learning and researching my family tree, aka. genealogy. I have since continually rotated my focus from scrapbooking to writing my life stories to researching my genealogy on a regular basis.
I owe my original success in writing my life stories to the book “Memories to Memoirs” by Denis Ledoux. His book focused on first jogging your memory with a list of all your life events, then concentrating on writing small stories about your most important “turning points”. I created a lifelist, a core list, and then successfully wrote short (2-5 pages each) stories about each of my 10 core events- those events and choices in my life that had I not chosen them or had they not happened, I would be a very different person today.
My biggest motivation for my entire “Life Story Project” is the self-satisfaction I get from writing my thoughts and my life onto paper and illustrating and expanding them with photos, memorabilia, poems and other enhancements. I love words, I love to “wordsmith” and I admit I do enjoy the mostly positive comments that I get from my readers, both family and friends.
My husband (since 2003) and I do not have children at this point (September 2008), but we have not ruled it out, so leaving a legacy to a direct descendant might become more of a priority at some point. I have and am involved with writing groups both on-line and in-person and I do enjoy the interaction I have with fellow writers (professionals, “would-be” professionals and amateurs), so having my writing to submit and getting a new perspective on my writing is a great exercise.
In the end my reasoning is my own and I am passionate about those reasons. That’s what keeps me working on writing my “Life Stories”.
You have good thoughts and ideas… some of which parallel mine. I started family history (genealogy) in 1967, and have written several books. In 1985, I began to write stories about my own life and my childhood upwards. I do have a goodly amount of stories now, which I am in the process of putting into a book form for my family. In 1999, I began to lovingly “harass” my 9 children to send me a synopsis of their lives during that year. I put them together into “The Sigler Family Chronicles” and of course, I added a few words of wisdom, pictures, etc. Each year since then, We have done the same thing, and the booklet has gown. As the grandchildren reach the age of 21, or get married, they, too, get their own “section” to write what ever they want. This year was my 10th compilation – consisting of 107 pages. Each person who contributes their thoughts and memories of the year, gets a copy of the book… 17 this year!
I really enjoy doing these kinds of things, and hopefully one or several of my children will carry on when I an gone. (not for a while yet, though!)
Mary
By: Mary on December 22, 2008
at 6:20 pm