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Upcoming Member Forum 21 March

Upcoming Member Forum 21 March

Life Stories Australia Members’ Forum 11.00 am Thursday 21 March 2019 on Zoom (Members to register with Paul English for meeting invitation) AGENDA 1.    Welcome Chair: Paul English 2.    Apologies 3.    Introductions Members to introduce themselves very briefly (20 – 30 seconds) re their type of business, main type of projects, and what hoping to gain and give from […]

Kickstart Your Memoir by Joining a Local Writing Group

Kickstart Your Memoir by Joining a Local Writing Group

Writing a memoir helps you find your voice, tell your story, and reach out to others. You start thinking about your memories, moments that make you feel young again, wondering: what is the legacy I’m leaving behind?  But how to get started? I speak to many people who want to write their memoir, but they […]

The Story of Your Life

The Story of Your Life

Life Stories Australia’s HEATHER MILLAR works as a volunteer with palliative care patients to record their memoirs. In this article, first published in Health Agenda magazine, she explores the benefits of telling your life story. It was shortly before he died that my father asked my sisters and I to fly to Tasmania to witness his […]

Life Stories Enhance the Quality of Life of Our Seniors

Life Stories Enhance the Quality of Life of Our Seniors

There is an urgent need to introduce life story recording into aged care facilities as part of the patient-centred care of our seniors and people living with dementia. Life story recording includes writing memoirs and life stories, photos books and audio and video recording. Repeated research studies reveal that recording a person’s life story has […]

Video Life Stories – See for Yourself

Video Life Stories – See for Yourself

Able to capture the twinkle in an eye, a mischievous tone, the choking of a tear and the happiness of the biggest laugh, video life stories may be a good deal shorter than a written memoir but they do have their place and do have their clear benefits. From talking about the hardships growing up […]

7 Books to Read if You Are Writing a Memoir

7 Books to Read if You Are Writing a Memoir

If you are writing a memoir, you should have not only read a number of other memoirs yourself, but you should inhale as many books about the art of memoir writing as you can. Here’s a list of the best books (and an online course) I’ve discovered about writing memoir and how to get your […]

Recreating Scenes on the Prison Deck of Convict Ships

Recreating Scenes on the Prison Deck of Convict Ships

As we approach Australia Day, I’m putting the final touches on the major assignment for the online Family History Writing course I’m doing at the University of Tasmania. We have to write a short narrative focused on one of our ancestors, a place they lived or an event in their life. The narrative must demonstrate the […]

The Moments That Mattered in 2018

The Moments That Mattered in 2018

Now that the clocks have ticked over into 2019, it is the perfect time to reflect on our life during 2018. The special moments, ups and downs, challenges, victories and learnings. It is also a time to commit to implementing important changes in our life—changing jobs, retiring, starting a new course, study, taking up exercise, […]

The Perfect Christmas Gift—a Memoir

The Perfect Christmas Gift—a Memoir

As Christmas approaches are you struggling to find the perfect gift for your parents or grandparents? Do your Dad and Grandfather have enough socks and undies to last a lifetime and is your Mum’s bookcase and that of your Grannie bursting at the seams with recipe books they never read?  Have you thought of giving […]

7 Reasons Why Telling Our Life Stories is Good for Us

7 Reasons Why Telling Our Life Stories is Good for Us

Biographers who help people to record their memoirs see firsthand the benefits people get from the process of reminiscing and sharing their life stories. Here are just some of the reasons why …  1) It can help us to understand ourselves better. ‘Know thyself’, Socrates urged. He also said: ‘The unexamined life is not worth […]