Your story matters.

Your stories are your greatest heirloom. Preserve them, before it’s too late.

Thank you for attending one of my talks or for engaging with me in conversation about your family history.

If you’re here, it means you are taking the first step towards preserving your own stories—so congratulations! On this page you will find some of our top resources to help you on your storytelling journey, along with plenty of links to help you navigate the site and find exactly what you are looking for.

If you’d like to chat about how we can work together, please schedule a time for a phone call; I look forward to connecting!

Best,
Dawn Roode
Founder, Modern Heirloom Books

Are you ready to start preserving your stories yourself?

Get tips for:

You can also download free resources (our most popular guide is How to Use Photographs as Prompts for Writing Life Stories).

Are you interested in working with a personal historian to record your stories and have a book professionally done to preserve them?

Learn more about me, Dawn—how I became a personal historian, and why I feel honored to capture your stories.
Explore our Life Story Book packages, including our introductory One-Hour Heirloom (a wonderful gift option, or an opportunity to highlight one particular time in your life).
Do you wish to gather stories in honor of a loved one? Read about our Tribute Books, which include options for celebratory books to gift on milestone anniversaries or birthdays, as well as legacy books to capture the spirit and memories of lost loved ones.

let’s work together

**Still not sure your story matters—or that you even have any stories, or that you’re ready to undertake such a project?**

PLEASE read one of my favorite blog posts and meet Josh, someone just like you.
Learn about our process—all of the heavy listing is done by us; all you have to do is come prepared to remember and talk about your life experiences (and, well, that’s WAY more enjoyable than you can imagine…all our clients tell us so!).
Check out even more reasons why your stories matter, and get started preserving them before it’s too late!

If you prefer to delve into the blog, here are some of our ESSENTIAL POSTS—enjoy!

Featured

Don’t call it a memoir. Just write your life.

Sometimes the idea of telling our "life story" is overwhelming. If we think of memoir as a series of smaller life narratives, though, the way in becomes clear.

The spirit of scrapbooking, elevated

While scrapbooking & personal history share a goal of preserving family memories, key differences include the approach to storytelling and the finished products.

Think your grown kids don’t care about your stories?

Ever tried to talk about your childhood with your grown kids only to be met with a lack of interest? They might not care now, but they will one day—I promise.

When a parent doesn’t want to talk about their past

Why it's sometimes easier to talk about our life experiences with a stranger, and how to get a reluctant storyteller to genuinely open up about his or her past.

6 tips for choosing the best family photos to use as writing prompts

Family photos can be useful tools to jog memories and call forth stories. We share how to determine which images will elicit the best family stories.

Sharing is good

Print and share your family photos with loved ones. Besides generating conversation, you will spark joy, find genealogy clues, and discover even more treasures.

6 Heirloom book ideas

Do you want to preserve your family stories, but have no idea where to start? We’ve got six special life story book ideas to spark your imagination.

4 ideas for family interviews

Conducting family interviews is a great way to gather the stories of family elders and preserve family history for the next generation. Here are a few tips.

Family history in the 21st century

Family history is more than names on a chart; it's people's experiences that hold meaning. A curated list of resources for the genealogist who cares about story.

The next chapter in our story

Modern Heirloom Books founder Dawn Roode on her journey from national magazines to bespoke life story books, plus the new signature product lines of books.

Your life story—or life stories?

Why write your life story when telling your life stories is likely to be more compelling? Thoughts on memoir, biography & the power of first-person narrative.

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 photo legacy you leave your kids

Prepare your family photos so they provide comfort—not a burden—to your children when you're gone. It’s one of the most meaningful legacies you can leave your kids.

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.

Explore posts in MEMOIR & WRITING

Putting the pieces together (aka memoir ‘making’)

“I’m scared.”

Are you nervous about undertaking a life story project? Working with a personal historian or memoir coach can help alleviate many of the most common fears.

Why you need emotional distance when writing memoir

Is there ever really a ‘right’ time to start writing your memoir? There’s not, in my opinion, but here are two questions to ask yourself to help you decide.

Do you keep a writing ideas notebook?

Writer’s block can happen to the best of us. This simple idea—keeping a notebook of self-generated writing prompts—will keep your memoir ideas flowing.

Before you gift someone our Write Your Life prompts (or, “Who this gift is NOT for?”)

Looking for a meaningful gift for your parents? An annual subscription to our Write Your Life memory and writing prompts may be just the thing—or, maybe not.

“Write Your Life” delivers weekly memory & writing prompts via email

Learn about our Write Your Life course, providing memory prompts, writing guidance and a dose of inspiration to anyone who wants to preserve their stories now.

“We all know who’s in the pictures”—a poor excuse for skipping captions

Here’s one time I gave in to my client’s preferences that still haunts me: Why we did not identify people in any of the photos in their family history book.

Friendly reminder: Your personal story is part of a broader family history

While your memoir is telling your stories in your words, a family tree chart outlining your relationships has a real place in that book—here’s why.

What to cut from your memoir—when an editor and writer disagree

The first draft of your life story is likely to include some stuff you decide to cut later—but should none of your challenges make it into your final book?

How to create your own life writing prompts

Good writing prompts will rid you of blank-page anxiety—and you can easily write your own! Here, 5 steps to drafting a library of personalized memoir prompts.

Get started, before it’s too late

Please, don’t have regrets. The saddest days I have are when I meet people who say to me, “Oh, I wish I had met you before my father died,” or “My grandmother was recently diagnosed with dementia, so I think it’s too late to capture her memories.”

Your stories matter, and your kids will cherish them—trust me, even if they’re not interested now, they will be, one day…more than you could ever imagine.

share your stories