Writing your life story

HistoryAtWork was recently asked to contribute to an article called 'How to create an engaging family history' for an American company with many baby boomer clients. This has been made so much easier now that we have moved into a new digital era that does not rely on writing and publishing books to share your story. The most exciting thing about digital historytelling is its versatility - your story can incorporate photographs, videos and audio. This means that tangible objects - a worn photograph, silk wedding dress, well-loved toy, or a collection of postcards for example - that go a long way to bringing these stories to life can be photographed or scanned and easily included, as can the old videos of the children learning to crawl or the family holidays. There will always be someone in your family who will find in the stories you write and illustrate a connection to their lives or something of great interest, and they will thank you for your efforts.