Treasure Chest of Memories
Helping You Tell the Stories of the Past
RootsTech 2023 Free Pass Giveaway
It's beginning to look a lot like Rootstech and you can be a part of the in-person experience with the RootsTech 2023 Free Pass Giveaway. With Christmas—my favorite time of year—coming to a screeching halt, I’m so happy that we have this fabulous family history...
Why It’s a Mistake to Only Tell Happy Stories
We want our legacies to be positive. However, it's a mistake to only tell happy stories. We miss out on opportunities to cement connections. Recently I wrote the following on social media. As I studied countless images of myself in various historical and cultural...
Photo Reminiscence Therapy Leads to Family Stories and Better Health
Looking at photos and sharing a walk down Memory Lane bears a strong resemblance to photo reminiscence therapy (pRT). This therapy can lead to discovery and preservation of family stories as well as better health outcomes. Most of us have looked through photo albums...
Writing Family Wedding Stories
Family wedding stories aren’t just stories of the big day. It’s a culmination of a romance story, often with a fair dose of drama thrown in. As my oldest and his bride-to-be plan their big day, I realize there are tons of little backstories that lead up to family...
Family History, Secrets and Lies
Our family histories have secrets and lies lurking under the rugs. Many of us relate to Disney’s Encanto’s song “We don’t Talk About Bruno”: Admittedly, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s song is an absolute ear worm. It would stick with you even if you didn’t understand a single...
How to get the most out of RootsTech Connect 2022
With 700 new classes, 360 speakers, 60 live workshops, 30 languages, not-to miss keynotes, most of us need a plan to get the most out of RootsTech Connect 2022. If you're not registered, it's not too late. (See also 5 Reasons to attend RootsTech Connect 2022.)...
5 Reasons to attend RootsTech Connect 2022
Why attend RootsTech Connect 2022? Here’s some great reasons not to miss RootsTech's 2022 free and virtual experience, whether you’re a newcomer to family history or an experienced genealogist. Last night, the FamilySearch, the organizers of RootsTech Connect, gave...
Should We Include DNA Results in Family Stories?
Should family historians and memory collectors include DNA results in family stories? Back in 2019 I published Do DNA results Help You Discover Family Stories?, opining that DNA stories are not the same as family stories but they can augment them. That’s still true....
How to Help When Someone Loses a Spouse
What can you do when someone loses a spouse? Cheryl Conklin of wellnesscentral.info has some practical advice, some of which involves preserving memories and treasures. The death of a spouse is perhaps the most agonizing loss anyone can face. The hurt goes beyond the...
Does my family story need a narrative arc?
A narrative arc or story arc can help family historians write riveting stories. To decide whether your family’s stories could benefit, let’s talk about what a narrative arc is. What’s a Narrative Arc aka Story Arc? A narrative arc is the bare bones of the path a story...
Writing Ancestor Stories without Judgment
Not only do family historians and memoir writers want to convey compelling stories untinged by mistruths and embellishments, they also want to tell those family and ancestor stories without judgment. How do we do that? It’s not easy to approach difficult chapters of...
Writing about Difficult Chapters in your Family History: A Guide
Writing about difficult chapters in your family history is hard. Exposed family secrets and stories about sensitive topics can cause an uproar in the family if they aren’t handled correctly. They seem to prefer to lurk in the closets of our memories or our research...
12 Tips on Finding and Using Templates for Family Stories
Whether you’re working on adding stories to your scrapbooking layouts or wanting to dress up your narratives, finding templates for family stories or family histories can be a chore. This came to mind as a fellow blogger, Carol Kostakos Petranek of Spartan Roots,...
Scrivener 3: A Review
As a beta user of Scrivener 3 by Literature and Latte for the last two years, I was excited to see Literature and Latte announce its release. Before we go into the improvements Scrivener 3 brings to Windows users (the Mac version has been out for a while), let’s step...
How to Choose which Family Stories to Write
With all our collected memories and family stories, most of us aren’t sure how to choose which family stories to write. The abundance of material presents a problem common to family history storytellers and memoirists. Often, it’s paralyzing. How can we write all...
RootsTech Connect 2021 Afterthoughts
With the excitement and selection of educational opportunities, it’s taken some time for me to collect my RootsTech Connect 2021 afterthoughts. Let’s look at all four aspects of the conference and the experiences of both long-time RootsTechers and newbies. (Read...
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Don’t Wait.
Put the episodes of the past to paper.
We all have stories to share with our children and grandchildren. Whether it’s a proud moment, memories of grandparents, or a lesson you’ve learned, Memories of Me: A Complete Guide to Telling and Sharing the Stories of Your Life helps you put the episodes of your past onto paper and share them with loved ones.
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