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Dan Curtis - Professional Personal Historian
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The source for the latest news, how-tos and tips about the recording and preserving of your life story or the stories of your family.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'memoir'
Monday’s Link Roundup.
As usual, this Monday’s link roundup is pretty eclectic. For music buffs, check out MIT’s Oral History Project which looks at 100 years of music at MIT. For fans of singer, songwriter Kathy Mattea, don’t miss her interview w...
The Year of Magical Thinking.
This past Saturday I attended the Canadian premiere of Joan Didion’s play The Year of Magical Thinking, based on her book by the same name. Both her book and play are extraordinary. The Chicago Sun-Times has said: Unforgettable…Both perso...
Monday’s Link Roundup.
Lots of good stuff in this Monday’s Link Roundup. For Anne Murry fans, there’s a glowing review of her recently published memoir We needed her. Don’t think you can tell a riveting story in a little over a minute? Check out The C...
Our Favorite Things Have Stories to Tell.
This past week I’ve been reminded how much our treasured possessions are a window into the stories of our life. My frail, ninety-one year old, mother has started to go through her modest collection of jewelry. She’s carefully trying to ...
The Life Story Quote of The Week.
Memoir writing, gathering words onto pieces of paper, helps me shape my life to a manageable size. By discovering plot, arc, theme, and metaphor, I offer my life an organization, a frame, which would be otherwise unseen, unknown. Memoir creates a...
What’s The Difference Between Memoirs, Autobiographies and Life Stories?
I must admit that I haven’t given much thought to the finer distinctions between life stories, memoirs, autobiographies, and personal essays until I came across Sharon Lippincott’s fine blog The Heart and Craft of Life Writing . In a Ja...
How to Write a Life Story People Will Really Want to Read.
If you want people to enjoy reading your life story then consider these 6 tips to better writing. I guarantee it’ll put a little “zest” into your prose. Keep your audience in mind. Don’t think you have to write a best seller. You...
Get Started on Your Memoir by Taking an Online Course.
Enthusiasm for writing your memoir may soon be replaced by a sinking feeling when you realize that you don’t know where to start and how to proceed. By-the-way memoirs are considered to be somewhat different from autobiographies. Brian A. Kle...
My 50 Second Rant!
I seldom rant. I don’t like ranting. It seems somehow boorish and annoying. When I do rant it has to be for a good cause. So forewarned here’s my 50 second rant! I’ve recently encountered some people who feel that when it comes to...
Are Those Memories of Yours Really Accurate?
It seems that the way our brains store and recollect memories is kind of quirky. Our brains frequently convert rumors, falsities and opinions into perceived, recollected fact says Scott LaFee in an article in The San Diego Union-Tribune. Everybody do...
Powerful Ways to Recall Forgotten Memories.
I’ve been reading a remarkable book by Ojibway storyteller, Richard Wagamese. Recently published, One Native Life, is a memoir about roots and the power of recollection to heal. For anyone contemplating the writing of their own story or the s...
The Life Story Quote of The Week
Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand - and melting like a snowflake. - Marie Beyon Ray This quote is a powerful reminder that we need to act now to record an...
