“After nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.”
– Philip Pullman
Many years ago, when I had just finished my videography courses, I had a passion project I truly wanted to do. My plan was to collect oral histories, in particular from the elderly, then make them available in bite-sized pieces in an online database. You could sort the clips by interviewee, by topic, or by keyword. The project was inspired by the death of someone who was really dear to me. When I was little, Annie R. told me amazing stories about her childhood in Ireland, and it made me so sad that no one else would ever hear them (and that I could never hear her tell them again). Unfortunately, life got in the way, and I never got past the planning stage. Eventually I kind of forgot about it. This is the written version, and I just love their interpretation of the idea.
Today’s remarkable thing is a website and service called Storyworth. You sign up someone you love (or yourself) and they receive a once-weekly writing prompt by email. They just have to answer the question you selected for them. And if they’re uninspired by the question, they can change it to something about which they want to write. At the end of a year, their stories are bound into a keepsake book which can be customized with photos and captions. I think it’s just about the best gift for an aging relative or friend ever, and copies of the book would make great gifts for the next generations as well. (Extra copies can be purchased for $39 each).
Storyworth is definitely going on this year’s holiday gift guide, but why wait?
You can check out Storyworth on their website, on Instagram, Facebook, and on their brilliant podcast.
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My OBT 
May 19, 2022 at 7:58 am
One of the blogs I follow has really done this. Maybe we all should ….but “my” story might not be very exciting. I wish we had ask more questions from my grandparents but one of them always said” why would you want to know”? Maybe there were secrets we will never know.
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May 23, 2022 at 10:32 pm
My grandparents used to say that same thing! How funny.
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May 19, 2022 at 9:02 am
After I move back to Tennessee, I will have six grandkids to tell stories to plus my son and daughter-in-law. About three years ago I sent Donna my history. i have a fun life. I got to know a couple of famous people. Tina Turner before she was married to Ike for one. President Harry Truman for another. I was five and had no idea who he was at the time. Yes, there are parts of my life that will get left out. 🙂 Hal
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May 23, 2022 at 10:33 pm
The history you sent me was fascinating! But yes, there are always stories we forget about until something triggers the memory.
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May 19, 2022 at 10:41 am
As a family historian, I absolutely love this idea. I got into family history when I was 20 because I wanted to investigate all of the bonkers family anecdotes my late grandmother had told me and see how many were real (turns out they all were!) and that really underscored to me how important a family’s oral history is. Of course, I am a hypocrite and do not record my own life experiences (except for on my blog, I suppose) because I don’t think my own life is that interesting even though people always tell me how fascinating my random anecdotes are. I think a project like this would, therefore, be perfect for someone like me who needs a bit of a nudge to actually consider what is worth recording for posterity.
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May 23, 2022 at 10:35 pm
I love that your grandma’s bonkers stories were true! I’ve had a few of those myself. Beloved eventually learned I wasn’t making them up (but it took years). I mostly feel like my life isn’t that interesting, too. Maybe we should just tell each other!
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May 24, 2022 at 2:11 pm
I wonder if we all think our own lives are just humdrum?
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May 25, 2022 at 8:23 am
That seems likely. It also seems likely that the people who think they’re interesting are possibly at least a little sociopathic (or at least intensely annoying)
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