This is part of a series of articles about writing your life story to see past installments check out our blog or past newsletters on our website www.LeaveALegacyToday.com. Last month we talked about why it’s a great idea to write your life story. This month we will start getting organized. Make separated pages in a word document or in a spiral notebook with a different category listed at the top.
These titled pages are for you to write down ideas and thoughts that you need to cover. It’s a book to jog your memories. If you think of something that you should tell about just write a little note about it. For example: on the Grandparents page I wrote “tell about when Grandpa lived with us”.
So have some fun getting organized and jogging your memory!
Categories to Write About:
Birth
Toys & First Memories
Parents, Grandparents and Great Grandparents
Brothers and Sisters
Other Relatives (aunts, nieces, cousins, etc)
Schools Attended
Holidays; Birthdays
Failure & Hope
Illnesses & Remedies
Religion
Property
Hardship & Survival
Your Children
Jobs
Politics
Influence of War
Influence of Art (books, music, movies, etc.)
Turning Points Inventions
Hobbies; Marriage
Pets
Important Dates in History
Accomplishments
Fashions
Games & Sports
Talents
Famous People
Relationships (romantic, family, friends)
Faith & Spirit
Influential People
Family Traditions
Gifts
Special Moments
Your Special Page
Food
Your Life Today
Your Plans for the Future
Death
Courtship
Brief Encounters
Lessons Learned
Vacations
Greek Heritage Book
One of the favorite types of projects that we get in is creating a family history book. We work with your style and make the book just how you imagine it. You may bring in a stack of old photos like this client. Bob’s photos were of his father and his aunt. Some photos had Greek writing on the back. We scanned in both the fronts and the backs to make them digital. We laid out the pages for him on our Aspen Kiosks; one photo per 12″ x 12″ page with a charcoal background. He came in and added text to most of the pages. The photos and text (from 1956-1970) tell of their brave move from Greece to Canada to start a new life. What a wonderful way to preserve your heritage for later generations. His book was bound in a bright, Greek blue buckram hardcover.
Other clients have a lot more text that tells the story and photos are used to give a visual. Another client Doris emails us the text she has written as she composes it and then brings in a few photos to add to it. Her’s will be laid out on white pages with the images inserted at the end of a section of text. Her book is laid out as a portrait 8.5″ x 11″ hardcover book. The Fausts brought in a lot of material. They brought all the text already typed up and market for where the photos should be inserted. Their book was about 650 pages of 8.5″ x 11″. We also created a DVD version of their entire book so that they can watch it on their television.
Lyle is a current client who is finishing up his work on his book. His pages are landscape 17″ x 11″. He has chosen to have it spiral bound so that later generations can continue adding information to the book. He brought in his photos, document and text on the installment plan as he came across it in his collection. So most of the organization of his book occurred in our studio and with several rough draft prints that he took home and reorganized. His is now about 340 pages. He has included everything from his family’s history (notes, letters, poems, songs, photos old and new, health records, autobiographies, awards, certificates, old cards, newspaper clippings, and much much more!
The bottom line is that at Leave A Legacy we work with you and your materials in the way you want it done and make it professional whether it is one copy or thirty.
Traditionally most of our family photos are taken during Easter, Christmas and on Birthdays. So here are some tips for you as you….get your cameras ready.
- Synchronize your cameras
- If you have multiple photo shooters in your family, make sure that the time is set the same on all cameras. This will definitely help you keep your photos organized when you get around to downloading them on your computer.
- Document tradition
candy christmas tree
- what special traditions do you have in your family? decorating candy trees, lighting an advent wreath, frosting and decorating cookies, singing carols, lighting the menorah, performing in school musicals, you name it. Frequently, these special moments are left out of our collection of photos. Make a point of documenting all of your family’s traditions.
- Generation photos
- Whether it’s the taking of a 3 or 4 generation photo or taking individual profile photos of each generation or getting a group photo of the whole gang gathered together….document this moment in time.
Discount for You
print this out for a discount
a coupon for you
Our client Laurie gave us some wonderful ideas to help other clients get organized. See the forms we created to:
Keep track of your child’s age, grade, and year in school.
How to organize your prints, slides, negatives and even your digital photo files
We all have them. We have them hidden – out of sight – out of mind – but they still exist – our photos, and boy are they a mess!
When you are ready – Leave A Legacy is ready to help you get started. Below are steps to follow to get them organized?
read more
Recent Post
