Personal History
A personal history is the story of an individual, a family or a business written as a legacy for family, friends and community.
How well I remember those special times with my grandmother. Sitting at the kitchen table in front of ginger cookies and a large glass of milk, I would listen to the stories of her youth. It was all about growing up in rural Ontario in the early 1900s. It was about her life as a teenager, her first job at the knitting factory and then at the tile works. She told me about grandfather: how they met, got married and started raising a family on the farm. The trouble is, granny died thirty years ago. The stories were never written down and I can't remember the details. I still have her photos but I have no idea who is in them or what they were doing. It's too late now. My mom and dad are both gone. We should have done something to capture her stories! We could have done it ourselves or paid a personal historian to do the work for us.
What I can do is capture my story, one chapter at a time.
Possible chapters:
The Problem is, whether I am writing about a family member or about myself, do I have time to write a personal history? What topics should I cover? How do I begin? What questions should I be asking? It's a big job. How can I be objective about something so personal to me? Once I get started will I ever finish? I may need some help. I may need a writing coach or someone do the job for me. That is where Forget-Me-Not can help.
Follow our blog. Contact us with any questions. If you like, we can set up a meeting for some coaching and the first hour is FREE. After that, reasonable rates apply. Actual costs will vary depending on how much you want Forget-Me-Not to do for you. Other on-line resources are available through the Association of Personal Historians.