Prompt #4 - Memory Brainstorming

This week's prompt is simple, but will hopefully lead you to a lot of more complex writing and reflection.

This week I want you to simply brainstorm. I want you to get out a notepad, or some loose paper in a 3-ring binder, and I want you to simply write down a bulleted list of all the memories you can think of that you would like to record in more detail down the road.

I want you to do this for two reasons:
1) It helps to draw out the stories that are just aching to be told.
2) Having even a short phrase about a memory can help to ensure it isn't forgotten later.

Okay, three reasons:
3) Having this list means you'll always have something you can write about, and when you (miraculously) have a few minutes to write, you won't have to spend all of that time thinking about what you want to write about.


Here are just a few from my 5 minute (if that) brainstorming session:
• Wonder Woman undies and my big wheel
• Chickens in the back yard
• Jerry the scary hunter
• The first time I ever saw someone’s mom force them to blow their nose (Matthew)
• Playing Contra at Jim and Liz’s
• Buying my first house
• Chicago with Hap
• Nauvoo with the whole awkward crew
• Thomy and his “harem”
• Being so proud when I had the fastest “fun run” time in P.E., and then the next week when someone ran it faster, acting nonchalant so her win would seem kind of anticlimactic
• Sister Eyre
• Baking pies
• Discovering different ethnic foods
• Playing soccer
• Clogging. Dear me.
• Loving art. Always loving it, since I was little.

This list could keep me writing for weeks and weeks. And the best part is, once I get writing, I know these memories will spark others.

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Thanks for joining me in my journey to write my personal history! If you participated in this prompt and would like to share your memory, email me!

Organization of Memories

One thing that has been eluding me since I started thinking about my personal history is how to organize it (and what to call it, but that is something I'll talk about later).

If you are already in the middle of writing your personal history, how have you organized it? Are you going in chronological order? Or by the type of memory?

I know that as far as I'm concerned, I would have to enlist the help of my parents to get certain memories categorized into the right time frame. So for me chronological order only partly makes sense.

Maybe a rough chronological order, like Early Childhood, Late Childhood, Adolescence, College Years, Young Adulthood, and so on and so forth as I reach different stages would work well. Factoring in some latitude for my horrible memory only makes sense, since it's not likely to improve between now and death. Right?

I'll have to keep thinking on this.

In the meantime, get ready for the next prompt. It will be posted in just a few minutes.

Prompt #3 - Memorable Meals

For this prompt, I expect many of us will be able to think of more than one thing to write about. This prompt centers around meals that you have retained in your memory for one reason or another. Maybe it was simply a new recipe you tried. Or maybe it made you sick. Maybe it was the first time you tried food that wasn't cooked by your mother. Or the first time you discovered that new favorite food of yours.

Maybe it wasn't the food that made the meal memorable--maybe it was the topic of conversation, or where you ate, or who you were with.

Think about the meals you have enjoyed (or not) alone or with company. Help the rest of us relive it with you.

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Thanks for joining me in my journey to write my personal history! If you participated in this prompt and would like to share your memory, email me!

Prompt 2 - Favorite Place(s)

For this prompt, I want you to think about your favorite place(s). They don't have to be current favorites, but they can be. You can write about past favorites, current favorites, future favorites (i.e., a dream vacation spot you're dying to go to, or that house you've been wanting to build for the last 10 years), or all of the above. They don't have to be restricted to geographic locations, either.

To help you get started, here is a list of places I'll be choosing from (I definitely won't be writing about more than one or two of them, though):
-the mountains
-Paris
-Florence
-Arches National Park
-the front of a classroom
-Chicago
-Orem High School
-New York
-my car (not about how great a car it is... but about how much I enjoy driving in my car and what that time means to me)
-the Atari room in Grandpa Knight's house
-bundled up in front of the fireplace or hogging a heating vent
-Goblin Valley
-Alaska

Think about why this place is so meaningful to you or comes to mind as something to share. Describe it in as much detail as you can. What memories do you associate with this location? Is this a favorite place because of certain memories? Did certain events or moments become more meaningful to you because they took place here?

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If you're participating in this prompt and want to share, email me.

Prompt 1 - My First Memory

For the first prompt, I want you to think back as far as you can into your childhood. What is the earliest memory you have?

Does it involve family? A favorite toy? A certain place? What emotions did you feel? What was the weather like? Is there a certain smell associated with this memory? Did music or other noises play a role in this memory?

Try to recall all of the details involved with this memory and record them. Try to recreate the moment or the event through description. Involve all of the senses. And even though you should try to remember as many details as possible, don't get caught up worrying about the accuracy of your memory--the way you remember it is how you should record it.

If you don't remember very much, that's absolutely fine. Just record what you do remember. My first memory is only one or two paragraphs long. The memory is vivid in my mind, but only covers a few short seconds of time.

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Thanks for joining me in my journey to write my personal history! If you participated in this prompt and would like to share your memory, email me! You can send me your whole memory or just a brief part to be posted or linked on the blog. If you want to share it with me but don't want it posted, just let me know in your email.

Let's Get Started!!

Before getting started, take time to do a couple of things:
1. Determine how much time you can dedicate to writing your personal history, and schedule specific writing time for yourself every day or every week.
2. Choose and prepare a format for recording your history. This could be a regular pen and paper, typing into a word processing program, creating a personal history website or blog, or recording into a tape or video recorder. Work with the format that best suits your preferences.
3. Regardless of the format you are using to officially record your memories, keep a small notepad and pen handy so you can jot down memories that come to you at unexpected times. It's surprising how quickly these memories can surface and then disappear again. (I love this notepad from Wellspring because it doesn't get all bent or torn apart in my purse, it comes with a pen, and it closes securely so I can stick Post-Its or other scraps of paper in there until I have a chance to go through them.)

And remember to always keep these two things in mind:
1. Don't feel overwhelmed. Thinking about writing the story of your whole life can feel daunting, but if you capture it memory by memory, soon you wil have a rich treasury of stories, memories, and thoughts.
2. Take it at your own pace. I'll post prompts pretty regularly, but they shouldn't dictate the pace of your writing. You don't need to finish with one prompt just because I've posted another. In fact, one prompt could lead you to think of so many stories and memories, you might spend a month working on a single prompt!

So, here's what you can expect from me:

• At least once a week I'll post a prompt that is meant to guide your writing or get you thinking of other related memories to write about.
• The prompts will come in many different forms: pictures, single words, questions, a story or news article to respond to, etc.
• I may include short examples or stories from my own life. (I promise not to bore you with super-long self-indulgent examples.)
• Sometimes I will ask for a visual response along with/in place of your writing (i.e., a drawing, photograph, cartoon, collage, or whatever visual medium you can use to portray a certain event or memory in your life). If you don't want to do a visual response, you can just write.
• The interpretation of the prompt is entirely up to you. (It's your life, I'm just here to help you get started.)

If you have prompt ideas, questions, or need to contact me for anything else, you can drop me a line any time using the email on the sidebar. I love feedback, and I take constructive criticism really well, so if you have thoughts on journaling, personal histories, or this project in general, I would love to hear them.

This Time It's Personal

I have never been very good at keeping a journal.

I've tried many times (and I've got storage bins full of partially-used journals to prove it), but I've never been consistent. So, I'm giving up on the idea of a journal that records my day-to-day activities and I'm focusing on writing a personal history.

In my mind a journal always seemed more like an accounting of where my time went that day, rather than focusing on the funny, interesting, sad, thought-provoking, or otherwise note-worthy details. Because I have had that mindset, my journal entries tend(ed) to lean towards the dry and boring side of things. (i.e., I did this, then I went there, then I hung out with so-and-so, then I came home and went to bed. Nothing about the emotions I felt, things I saw, or the little details of the day. How boring am I???)

But a personal history... Wow. It sounds so much more intriguing, don't you think? It instantly evokes different images in my mind--images that are much more personal, lively, and warm. A personal history is also meant to be shared with others, so it immediately gives me an audience to address, which helps me recognize that I'm telling a story, not just documenting the logistics of my life.

I hope you will join me as I begin this project. I think it will be a lot of fun!

Please Note:I am not a professional writer, personal historian, geneology buff, or otherwise considered an expert on personal histories, writing, biographies, or any related topics. This is purely for my own development as a person, so I hope you'll give me some leeway in that regard.