I’m back to the blog in just under 7 months, feeling behind but a little ahead too. It’s all about perspective, isn’t it?

Some changes in 2011. In January I left my day job as the development director at the Myrna Loy Center and launched a new business, Life Stories™, working with families to record their elders’ life stories and family history for future generations. I offer several ways to go about getting this oral history, starting with the most basic of interviewing the family member on camera and producing a set of DVDs for the family. Life Stories™ can also professionally design and print a memory book with photographs, letters, postcards, and vignetters or assist in writing and publishing a full memoir. In addition, we have done a few smaller custom pieces like a handmade book of a letter from a grandmother to her grandchildren, a beautiful keepsake. I often hear people say, “I wish we had gotten Dad’s (or fill in the blank’s) stories on tape, but we just never got around to it.” Life Stories™ gets those precious stories recorded for you once and for all.

I also assist individuals in recording a particular story that they have always wanted to get on paper. Sometimes someone just needs to be coached on how to get started and stay with their story project. Other folks need someone to take on the whole project. In these cases, I videotape the storyteller telling her/his story and then work with the storyteller and a transcript of the interviews to produce a book. What I hear these people say is, “I always wanted to write a book about my experience but…”

Not in Montana? No problem. I can come to you and your loved one. Right now, I’m working with families locally and in Denver and Chicago. Get on the list early to get on my travel schedule!

First step to setting up a project is for us to have a meeting in person or by phone to discuss what you have in mind. We’ll go from there!

Start with an email: [email protected].