Hi to all, Changed the subject line a tad to make this reply about writing our own life stories just as we write them for our current family and our ancestors. Have been greatly enjoying all the list messages about different ways to make that happen! :) Vee and Kim - re: using our e:mail messages. Kim - getting "copies" of our genealogy queries AND the responses Vee - your idea to use the "archiver" to go FIND THEM ALL! lol Loved your surprise and delight that you found MORE STORIES yet to add to your pile. :) Now you know why "we" enjoy the list. We listen to your stories! :) Charles - great idea to use a resume Kathy - another great idea to listen to music as a way to "bring our memories" into our mind's eye Lorraine - you copy your SNAIL MAIL letters/cards then add NOTES to them for yourself? Wow - great idea. So many of mine are just "out there" or "gone" over all these years. Well - that's an idea for the "go forward" times, yes? :) Bert - you outdid yourself! :) Community college "write your life" class - interviewing others for memories, then titling them - commercially available "memory books", "junk on your walls" as a jogger to write stories & memories, travel journals, Xmas letters, and just "digging around" your stuff! I especially liked your "Now I'm talking to myself" closing line! I've been doing quite a bit of journaling these past 3 months or so - spurred on by others all doing the same thing - for a "Book of Me" project. But - instead of "talking to myself" - as I write - I literally "pretend" I'm sitting at a kitchen table talking to someone else! I have a "conversation" with imaginary "somebody's"! LOL So - I'm winding up with sort of a "conversational stories" sort of style - as I collect up experiences, memories, etc. There are lots of places now on the web too with "prompt questions" that can get you going. Trivia and timeline sites can help too - if you choose "a decade" for example - then "remember" if that was in "your life" or not. I've been enjoying a lot of "50s and 60s" sites - then going from there. Having others to "bounce things around with" can help too, I think. On one list, we spent a bunch of time just talking about the TELEPHONES we remember! LOL Some folks seem to write based on a chronological TIMELINE - others go by TOPICS. I'm personally using more of a timeline for "the early years" - childhood, grammar school, teenage, etc --- then switch to topics for "adult life". I write about whatever I want - in no particular order. BUT, I file them away into "folders" that ARE by topics. I've got folders for things like "family & relationships" - but also things like "genealogy & heritage" and "collecting"! I had written several pages about memories of Memorial Day - from mid 1950s to mid 1960s - "in a village" setting of my growing up. Now, others have convinced me to "try" doing a scrapbook layout - and I've selected Memorial Day as a good way to get my feet wet. So - imagine a scrapbook - open it up - and you have a "double layout". I'm now doing a "personal page" on the left side - with photos, graphics and even my journal wriitng (folded & stuck into a "mini envelope" on the page. The "story" is personal and specific. On the right side page - I'm going to create my "may we always remember" Memorial Day page - that will be more "historical" in context. I've now collected my "elements" re: how to handle the flag, memorial poppies, taps, etc etc. (I have yet another soapbox re: a monday holiday for a long weekend vs remembering what the day is actually all about!) Anyway - have long been "into" genealogy - journaling - oral history interviews - photos - and now, am just investigating another "form" of heritage project - ie scrapbooking. So, we'll see. For this discussion - guess the important thing is that we can't CREATE SOMETHING to pass on - if we don't have the research - the photos - the written words - that all become the ELEMENTS of the SOMETHING we create to pass on! :) As Bert so rightly said? "just get busy & do it"! Hard to pull off in this busy world - but - talking with others of like mind "helps" with motivation - and deciding to "make an appointment with yourself" to work on it helps too. Better than a dental appointment too! LOL Deb