Writing Biography: A Personal History
The idea of writing biography pages and keeping a family history was not appealing to me for most of my life. I knew in my heart that I should be doing it, but it was just too hard for me. Then twelve years ago, my oldest daughter Nik taught me through example the simple steps to writing biography pages as I lived my life…week by week. I update my personal record each Sunday afternoon by writing about the five (5) weekly notables. Nik’s once a week idea removed the overwhelm. A few more written biography suggestions follow so YOU won’t feel overwhelmed about writing your own written living biography:
__ _ __ _ __ _ __ _ __ _
- Begin with your PAST life history to date. Make it easy! Maybe a 2 pager on your computer.
- Begin your paragraphs with the word “I”.
- For more detailed writing, biography questions below might get your brain going:
- What was your favorite place when you were a child?
- What is the most interesting characteristic you posses?
- What about your employment do you like or hate?
- What did you feel like your first day of school?
- Concerning birth-order, where do you fall?
Two pages are all you need to catch up. If you would like more questions to get your mind working, click here to access my Personal History Questions. Once that is done, then you can move on to your CURRENT writing.
My suggestion is a one-page family history each year. ONLY one-page a year. That is easily do-able!
I learned this one-page formula for family history keeping at a BYU Education Week Class five years ago and have completed a page each year since. It takes me 1 to 2 hours a year to update from beginning to end. It really has been SO EASY for me. A down-loadable template of the one pager follows, but these are the main parts of the page:
- At the top include your name and the year
- Include one photo from a very memorable event that year
- Finish with a few sentences for each of the categories listed.
Click here to download your copy of My yearly one-page family history template .
If you are also interested in keeping a journal, Below are my tips for journaling:
- Write one day a week for up to 1/2 hour
- Pick 3-5 of the most interesting weeks happenings
- Confine it to a certain space (I use a 9” x 5” notebook and put one-week on one-side of a page.)
For many years I thought I was just too busy to take on writing biography pages weekly or to keep a yearly family history. Then I learned the easy way to begin and maintain. Planning and upkeep make it sustainable. If you would like to begin your personal written biography or family history, these ideas may be just what you were waiting for!
Get started this week. Begin by investing 15 minutes in writing biography pages and presto/chango…no more guilt!
12 Responses to “Writing Biography: A Personal History”
Leave a Reply
June 2nd, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Such a well written post.. Thnkx for sharing this post!
June 3rd, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Can I just say what a relief to find someone who actually knows what theyre talking about on the internet. You definitely know how to bring an issue to light and make it important. More people need to read this and understand this side of the story. You definitely walk the walk of a professional organizer.
July 8th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
Thank you Christal. I work at my blog posts. I am grateful you appreciate my work. Come back often. Vicki
August 5th, 2010 at 5:36 am
Good blog! I genuinely love how it is simple on my eyes and the info is well written. I am wondering how I might be notified whenever a new post has been made.
August 6th, 2010 at 9:43 am
Incredible!!! Bookmarked this page. Will come back often. Thanks
August 11th, 2010 at 11:05 pm
Ernest, I am pleased that you appreciate the work I put into my blog postings. Thanks for visiting. Come back often. Vicki
August 26th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
Just linked this page on my facebook page. It’s a very interesting read for all.
September 1st, 2010 at 8:47 pm
This is a good blog. Keep up all the work. I too love blogging and expressing my opinions. Thanks 🙂
October 4th, 2010 at 9:57 am
Keep posting stuff like this. I really liked this article because it is so useful to me.
December 30th, 2010 at 4:10 pm
I like your ideas here. Writing a biography CAN be rewarding. How about fruit smoothies to let the kids engage while they write!
January 3rd, 2011 at 8:50 pm
This week I’m on holiday in Chang Mai there’s eleven days left my next stop will be Thailand then I’ll be flying back home which will be a twenty two hour flight including a seven hour stopover. I’m thirty years old and have already made nine visits to Koh Samui. Don’t you think that is worthy of my life history biography?
January 15th, 2011 at 2:57 pm
After research a number of the weblog posts in your web site now, I realize I really like your method of blogging. Thanks for the info.