Publication of Bob Allen’s book, 300 MemoryMinders™ to Help You Tell Your Story, scheduled for release in late 2009, introduces a MemoryMinder™ system. Memory ticklers help writers document their life experiences as a legacy for their family and friends by recalling precious memories, organizing vital documents, identifying family photos, and posting letters from family and friends into a personal journal or a published book.

Story telling is an age-old method of communications – to each other and from one generation to another. Our families and friends truly enjoy listening to our stories and will most probably modify, elaborate, and embellish what we tell them before passing our stories on to others.

Your first consideration is how do you want your story told? Autobiographies and family histories can be presented in many styles. The best method for the writer is primarily dependent on the sources of information that one has available – memories detailed in a journal or diary, remembrances of special times, photographs, newspaper articles, old letters, family recipes, our parents’ or grandparents’ diaries, vital documents, genealogy research, and family interviews.

How Do I Get Started?

“How Do I Get Started?” is the single most common question a writer has regarding their autobiography and family history. Like writing any article or story, the writer needs to organize their information into a journal and make an outline. The outline will probably change many times as information is gathered and sources of high concentration and voids of documents or memories are realized.

Several first steps include:

• Write down your most vivid memories on a notepad. The Memory-Minders™ are detailed in eight different chapters (pre-school, elementary and middle school, high school, college, dating and starting your family, raising your children, your adult children and your grandchildren, and vacations and special events).
• Gather your vital documents – birth and baptism certificates, family bibles, marriage licenses, death certificates, diplomas and school records, awards and achievements, military papers, etc.
• Organize and label your family photos (extremely important). Observe the background of photos to identify the time period and any special places or items.
• Collect your most interesting and precious letters and cards from family and friends.
• Consider family recipes, vacations, major events, and memorabilia.
• Set up a filing system – separate file folders or 3-ring binders. Organize your system by family member or chronologically.

• Where were you born? What was your weight and length? Were you born in at home or in a hospital?
• What do you remember hearing about your name and your birth?
• Where did your mother and father grow up and what did they tell you about their lives before you were born?
• What early memories do you have with your father and mother? What do you remember most about being with your grandparents?
• Did you have brothers and sisters? What were your most precious moments with them? Do you remember ever squabbling with them?

• Where did you start school? Is this in a different city from where you were born? Do you remember your moving experiences and did you maintain contact with your old friends?
• Do you remember your first day of school? How did you get there? Did you walk, ride a bicycle, or have your parents drive you.
• What were your school’s colors, nickname, and mascot? Did you have a special rivalry with another school?
• Do you remember your teachers? Were they strict, did they focus on particular likes and dislikes, and did they have any peculiar characteristics?
• Did you play sports? What were your team nicknames and who were your coaches? Did you win any contests or championships?
• Did you take music or dance lessons? Did you have any recitals? Did these go well or were there a few bloopers?

• What was your High School’s nickname or mascot and what were their school colors?
• Who were your favorite teachers? Who were your meanest teachers?
• What cars did you drive and what do you remember most about them (color, special features, problems, etc.)?
• What clubs or organizations did you belong to – scouts, YMCA, science, math, yearbook, Latin, debate team, etc.
• What funny things did you or a group of you do to get noticed by boys or girls?

• Did you stay at home to go to college or did you go out of town? If you went out of town, how did you get back and forth?
• What were your most memorable classes and who were your favorite professors?
• Did you take advantage of the new-found freedom?
• What were the “in” crazes or fads when you were in college? What was the funniest or dumbest thing you did in college?
• Did you belong to a sorority, fraternity, sports team, or other organization when you were in college?

• Who were you first seriously in love with and did this love last?
• What was your most memorable date?
• How did you meet your spouse and did you chase your spouse or did your spouse chase you?
• Were there any funny or unusual moments planning your wedding? What do you remember most about your wedding day and did your wedding come off as planned or were there some bloopers or miscues?
• What was your first apartment or home like? Do you remember any special moments fixing up or decorating your first home?

• How did you feel when you realized you were going to have your first child?
• How did your subsequent children accept and get along with their other siblings?
• Do you remember your children’s first birthday, first haircut, first steps, first holidays, etc.?
• What books did you read to your children?
• Were your children’s first days in kindergarten or school eventful?

• When did you first get the sense that your children were young adults with the ability to carry on your personal and family values?
• How did you feel and how did you adjust when your children left home?
• What were your grandchildren’s funniest and most memorable moments?
• How do your grandchildren make you proud?
• Do you have Sunday dinners and holiday meals together?

Vacations and Special Events

• What are your most memorable vacations? If these were in other parts of the country or overseas, were the cultures different and how did you adapt?
• Did you visit your grandparents, aunts, or uncles and what are your most memorable moments when you were there?
• Did you attend any concerts, ball games, or major sporting events with your parents or grandparents, and do you still root for these teams?