Writing Your Personal History
by Aubrey Trivett
As your family history research takes you further and further back in time, each step uncovering
bits and pieces of your ancestry, it is natural to begin wondering what your descendants will
have to say about you. What sort of legacy will you leave behind? What humorous anecdotes,
clever parables, or family legends will your great-grandchildren attribute to your name?
Like the old adage, "If you want something done right, do it yourself," if you want your story told
well, write it yourself.
Before You Start: Collecting and Organizing Information
So, you're ready to start writing your life story. Feeling a little overwhelmed? As is often
the case when embarking on a large project, the best way to start is by collecting and organizing
your materials.
Basically, the "materials" for this project are going to be things that help you to remember
specials events in your life. Photographs, journals, and letters are a few good ideas. As you leaf
through a photo album or an old journal, chances are that you'll find yourself thinking, "Now
that's a story I've got to put in!"
Once you've collected your materials, it's time to start thinking about organization. The most
obvious organization for a personal history is to start with your birth and move forward to the
present day. You might start by drawing a timeline and noting important life events along it. For
example, you might want to mark the days you graduated from school, got your first job, got
married, and the birth of your children. Be sure to include any event that you feel is important.
Of course, you don't have to stick to a straight past to present organization when you're
writing. Sometimes telling one story will naturally lead to another that might have happened
years before or years later. That's fine, but a timeline is a good tool for helping you to start and
for keeping you on track throughout the project.
Getting Started: Where to Begin
Sometimes the hardest part about writing can be just getting started. If you've ever
stared at a blank page or an empty computer screen and felt your mind go blank, you know what
I'm talking about. To help you get over that first horrible case of writer's block, here are some
places you might start:
- What is the story of your birth? Remember how your mother used to tell you about the
seventy-two hours she spent in labor to bring you into the world? Or maybe your father once told
you what he thought the first time he saw you. These can turn into attention-grabbing
beginnings.
- What is your earliest memory? Rather than starting with your birth, you might want to start
with the first face, house, toy, or song that you remember.
- Why did you decide to write your personal history? Maybe you decided to start this project
after reading your grandmother's journal or after spending an exhausting decade trying to find
out exactly who your great-great grandfather was. That story could make an interesting
introduction.
- What was the most important, happiest, or best day of your life? Think over your life and pick
one particular day that stands out to you.
Writing Your First Draft: Writing Your Story
Once you've overcome that first blank page, you just need to keep three words in mind:
write, write, write! Whatever you do, just keep writing. At this stage, you're working on a first
draft, so don't worry about making it perfect. That will come later. For now, you just want to get it
down on paper.
This is where all that organizing we talked about earlier will come in handy. If you made
a timeline, pull it out. It will help guide your writing. When you get stuck, just look at the next
event on your timeline for ideas about what to write next. If you're still stuck, pull out a photo
album or a box of letters from that period of your life. Hopefully that will spark some interesting
memories that you'd like to share.
You might also consider having family members or friends contribute some memories of
their own. For example, when writing about your childhood, you might want to ask your siblings
to write down what they remember about growing up in your home. Maybe they remember
things you've forgotten-like that unfortunate incident with the grape juice and Mom's favorite
shirt-or simply remember things differently. While this is first and foremost your history, it can be
interesting to share a story from someone else's viewpoint. When talking about your wedding
day, it would be fun to have your spouse's version of the story as well as your own.
Revising: Polishing Up
In the first draft, we wanted to write just to get it all out. Now it's time to go back and
smooth everything out. Read over what you've written and make sure that it all makes sense.
Does one story flow neatly into another? Did you leave out anything important? Are there any
spelling or grammar mistakes to correct?
One of the most helpful revision tactics is to have someone else read over your first
draft. Sometimes what makes perfect sense to us will be confusing to another person. Maybe
you included a really funny story about Fred, but failed to mention that Fred was your best friend
in college. It's easy to overlook things like that in your own writing because, of course, you know
who Fred is. Give your first draft to a family member or friend and let them tell you what they
think.
Publishing: The Finished Project
There are several things you could do with your personal history once you've finished.
You might want to just print out a few copies for your family or maybe you'd like to have it
professionally bound. Do make several copies, though, because after all that work, you wouldn't
want to lose it if your computer crashes or if something happens to the original.
Have you thought of storing your personal history or other biographies with your pedigree at Mytrees.com? It's free and is an excellent way to be sure your efforts are archived securely and available for family members to view from anyplace in the world.
The feature you will be using is called "Upload Biographies" After registering on the site and entering at least one family in your Mytrees.com pedigree click "Upload Biographies" and follow the directions.
More than just a site for storing your family history stories and pedigree, MyTrees.com provides a place to store and view your photos and scanned documents as well.
If you're thinking that you would like to have your finished personal history bound
professionally, here is a website address for a company that specialize in self-
publishing:
http://www2.xlibris.com
But whatever you do, be sure to share your personal history with others. Yours is a
unique story and your family will be eager to read it.
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