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The
"Your Life is Your Story" Blog Archives
© Tom
Gilbert
Read
about
quality family history and life story news, views, methods, products,
links, services
...and whatever else catches our fancy of personal
historian
October, 2019
current
blog entries
blog
archive
index
Prince of a Deal for Writer of Prince's Memoir
October 29, 2019
I was really surprised, and delighted, to learn how Dan Piepenbring, an
unknown writer in New York, ended up being hired by Prince to write his
memoir. Yes, that Prince, the amazing musician and songwriter who passed away in 2016.
Prince would handwrite memories and Dan worked them into a book. He had
to piece most of it together after Prince died suddenly, but it must
have been quite an experience. The story was featured on CBS News and
you can read it here.
30 Minutes a Day for Soul Work Writing
October 23, 2019
Any of you who have been regular readers of my blog and content on this
website are aware that I admire others who engage in life story work
and memoir writing. One of those people is Denis LeDoux of The Memoir Network.
Denis has been at it for many years, helping others craft memoirs and
life stories and also supporting others who believe in and promote this
type of work. I've taken classes from him and bought some of his
programs and they've helped me grow as a professional and a writer.
Doing this work as a business can be rewarding and important. But
writing about your life, or the lives of others, has an even deeper
purpose that is a reward in its own right (maybe I shoud say, "write").
In one of his blog posts this month LeDoux discusses how his own writing is a type of soul work.
He's had to go through some tough times in recent years including
losing his longtime life partner to cancer. It took a while for him to
process it and to then fulfill some personal writing goals. Part of how
he's accomplished this is by committing to a certain amount of writing
each day. A modest 30 minutes a day goal has really paid off for him in
writing and completing a few different memoirs and projects.
It's hard to accomplish a big writing project when you view it as one
giant thing to finish. But working on it a bit at a time can bring a
finished product. It might even be better written when you don't try to
do too much at one time. Writing is hard creative work. Savoring it and
crafting your language is important. You do need to get after it and
not procrastinate, but you also need to give it time.
There are many good articles, posts and programs available through The Memoir Network. I encourage you to explore them, particularly with the November Memoir Writing focus coming up soon.
Grandparenting
October 11, 2019
I am excited today to be seeing my grandchildren. I have two and they've been quite a joy the past nine years.
Jacob, the elder, is a nine-year old boy full of silliness and energy.
But he can be profound, too. Sophia is the younger sister, about to
turn seven, and she's a delight as well. She likes to sing and dance
(just like her momma) and as a first grader is full of wonder,
curiosity and opinions.
Being a parent is a wonderful yet very challenging thing. Many parents
would agree it is both the hardest and best experience in all of life.
Seeing your kids grow up and eventually become parents themselves
brings about another special thing: grandchildren!
When families have multiple generations involved in the raising of
children it brings great perspectives to life. Life story experiences, support and
additional helping hands are just a few of the benefits.
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