Paul English, Alison Crossley & Gillian Ednie Podcasts

Paul English, Alison Crossley & Gillian Ednie Podcasts

Storyical Podcasts by Peta Roberts – listed also on our resources page Storyical inspires you to turn your stories into life histories. Find out what works by life story professionals (including from our members Paul English and his wife Alison Crossley, and Gillian Ednie) who share practical advice for you to capture your life story. Take […]

Easter Traditions and Your Family

Easter Traditions and Your Family

Easter is rapidly approaching with our shops laden with all kinds of chocolate animals and eggs, plus traditional hot cross buns, which have been on sale since Boxing Day. What family traditions have been passed down in your family? Much will depend on your own family background and origins. Practicing Christians see Easter as a […]

Mark Koehler – Our Newest Member

Mark Koehler – Our Newest Member

Mark studied journalism at the University of Canberra and was awarded a Bachelor of Education in Professional Writing in 1991, majoring in journalism and freelance writing. He worked as a journalist and photographer for two regional newspapers, writing news, feature stories and business profiles. Mark also started a small business and became a freelance journalist and […]

How Come Granny Has a Different Name?

How Come Granny Has a Different Name?

Easter is a time celebrated by more than Christian people. In countries all around the world, it’s a long holiday weekend, and with the extra time allowed for travel, many cultures and faiths get the rare opportunity to gather and enjoy the company of both young and old. So, what are you going to do? […]

Our Newest Member – Libby Harkness

Our Newest Member – Libby Harkness

Welcome Libby, a professional ghostwriter, specialising in life stories/memoirs. Libby has 40 years experience as a journalist, editor, writer and published author with more than 35 published works including several best-selling books. A busy professional, Libby travels nationally and internationally for clients.  Libby wrote Turia Pitt’s best selling memoir ‘Everything to Live For’ (Random House 2013) […]

Planting and Growing Your Family Tree

Planting and Growing Your Family Tree

What kind of detective are you? Do you enjoy research – starting off with one tiny fact and discovering that it leads on to an entire new subject/person? Do you know if another family member has started a family tree that includes you and your family? Why not make a start on your own family […]

Biography or Bat Poo…

Biography or Bat Poo…

There are bios, and there are kick-arse accounts of someone’s life. So, what makes a bum-kicking bio or memoir enjoyable to read? Is it the story-what happened to the subject-born in a concentration camp, survived three global conflicts, and married a prince? Or is it because we need to know about the private life of some […]

Save Your Life by Preserving Important Family Documents

Save Your Life by Preserving Important Family Documents

A vital element of recording and preserving your family stories is gathering all of your family’s family documents: birth, marriage & death certificates back to at least your maternal and paternal grandparents and forward to your grandchildren. Have you worked out a system for storing and saving these invaluable paper documents? Initially a simple drop […]

Five Things You Can Never Recover

Five Things You Can Never Recover

A friend in Canada emailed me recently, where he lamented his mother’s recent unexpected death. He, like I, works as a personal historian – a professional who interviews living people about their life stories and preserves them for the future as a family legacy. His sorrow was compounded by the fact that he hadn’t taken time […]

Do I still go to work?

Do I still go to work?

“What are all these bags doing in the hallway?” Defensively I reply, “They’re all my decluttering bags ready to go to the clothing/charity bins at the station.” After years of resistance, I had finally been through my wardrobes and drawers and had a lot to shed. The bags had been lined up at the front […]