Memories Matter
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Revealing your life stories, one list at a time
Sometimes it’s not a long narrative that most interestingly tells your story, it’s a simple list. How to use lists to add texture to your life story heirloom book.
Don’t wait for “someday”
Meet Josh: He plans to write his biography someday. Yet he has told his adult kids none of his life stories. How about you—are you waiting for “someday,” too?
Do something special with one story
No one will tell your life stories but you. Start with one, & go beyond sharing it: Do something with it! 5 ideas for preserving one chapter of your life story.
The quest for truth
In Tell the Truth, Beth Kephart offers up a wonderfully original series of memoir-writing prompts that encourage self-reflection & striving toward the universal.
3 unexpected places to discover great life story questions
While there are lots of lists of family history questions on the web, here are 3 places to find unexpected questions that lead to meaningful life story writing.
Who will tell your life story?
No one will tell your life stories but you. Start small by saving family photos & preserving stories so you create a lasting, meaningful legacy, one step at a time.
What you can learn from Gloria Vanderbilt & Anderson Cooper
You might be surprised to learn what Anderson Cooper calls “the most valuable year of my life.” It's the period when he and his mother Gloria Vanderbilt maintained an email correspondence that delved deep—into the feelings they had previously not spoken about, and into their experiences both shared and wholly individual. The back-and-forth format of questions and stories is engaging, and most meaningful in its sense of discovery, of a grown man coming to know his mother in wonderful new ways. Why not be inspired to follow in their conversational footsteps?
“Billee’s ‘Famous’ Foods”
Gramma Billee kept a jar for bacon drippings on her stove; she used it liberally and kept it full. She knew everyone’s favorite foods and provided them—often.
Dawn Roode’s curated roundup for the week of Sept. 23, 2026, is overflowing with recent reads on memoir, life story writing, and family history preservation.