What My Dinner Fiasco Taught Me about Writing

The other night I decided to make something different for dinner. My family had drifted into a summer rut of eating whatever was quickest and most convenient, not necessarily what was actually tasty or healthy. So, I determined to make something from scratch.

After searching through some recipes (yes, I actually looked through the old recipe box, not online), I found two that I thought would fit the bill. One was for the main meat course and the other for a side dish. Both sounded delicious and, most importantly, included ingredients I knew my family members, for the most part, would enjoy. Oh, one or two would prefer the meat over the side dish and vice versa, but at least everyone would appreciate the extra effort of a quality meal.

Or so I thought.

The meat that I thought everyone would love was not a hit with the kids. My fourteen-year-old suffered through it and ate it because he was really hungry (when isn’t he hungry these days?) but my nine-year old wouldn’t touch it.

As for the side dish, let’s just say it got a little overbaked. Some of the noodles became quite crispy, resulting in the unexpected and disturbing sound of crunch, crunch, crunch at intervals around the table.

And to top it all off, the brownies I made for dessert were flat and oily because I forgot to add an egg to the batter. That remains our little secret. My family never asked why the brownies didn’t look – or taste – like regular brownies (maybe they were afraid to ask), so I never shared my faux pas with them.

Needless to say, it was not a dinner I would have wanted to serve a guest.Read More

3 Lessons I Learned from My First E-book

For years I’ve thought of writing an e-book. After all, entrepreneurs have been utilizing and singing the praises of e-books for at least a decade. And as someone who has enjoyed a front-row seat in the rise of the self-publishing industry, I flippantly wondered, “How hard can it be?”

So with a new book idea in mind, I downloaded Kindle’s “Building Your Book for Kindle” PDF and read it word for word. Then I read it again. Great! Got it! This won’t be hard!Read More

Holes in Your Story? Here’s How to Fix Them

I recently rediscovered an oval wooden object in the recesses of one of my drawers. My mother-in-law had given it to me years ago, explaining that it was a tool that her mother had used to mend holes in socks.

To be honest, I didn’t understand why she wanted me to have it. I can’t even thread my sewing machine (another gift from her) and I knew I would never bother to mend my socks. Nevertheless, I accepted her gift and promptly forgot about it.

Now, holding the object in my hands once again, I decided it was time to learn more about it.

I discovered that my wooden tool is called a darning egg or a darning mushroom. Having assumed it to be a relic of the past – indeed, some are considered to be collectible (see RubyLane) – I was shocked to learn that many people steadfastly continue to use them to repair the holes in their socks.

Darning Egg

The egg doesn’t do a lot, really – its primary function is to serve as a prop. You insert the egg into the sock so that the hole is exposed, thereby creating a workable area to interlace new material with the old (you can see it done on this YouTube video). Thus, even though the darning egg doesn’t do the mending or stitching itself, the task would be much more difficult without it.

Similarly, there are times when we encounter holes in our story – when we can’t remember the circumstances around or our actions toward a person, place or event…or even the event itself. Read More

Genealogy & Life Story: An Interview with New York Times Bestselling Author Michelle Ule

Genealogy research is distinctly different from life story writing, but genealogists often unearth interesting facts that can shed new light on their own life experiences. I recently interviewed Michelle Ule, a New York Times bestselling author and speaker, who writes inspirational and historical fiction and is currently finalizing the biography Mrs. Oswald Chambers: The Woman behind the World’s Bestselling Devotional, which can be preordered now. She is also a longtime genealogist who self-published a family biography titled Pioneer Stock and is currently editing the life story of her grandfather. I think you’ll find her genealogy tips and surprise findings quite interesting. Prefer to listen to the interview? Click here to access the recording.

Dalene [D]: Welcome, Michelle, and thank you for taking the time to speak with me today.

Michelle[M]: I’m happy to chat with you, Dalene.

D: So with my audience being primarily life story and even family history authors, I thought I’d start out by asking why you think family history and life story writing is important.

M: That’s actually where I began. In my case, the grandfather biography I’m updating was written twenty-seven years ago to celebrate my grandfather’s 100th birthday.

D: Oh, wow!

M: And my end of the celebration was to write his history so I interviewed my aunts, my uncles, my cousins. I had a whole lot of material. I did auxiliary reading to put his life in context. He was an immigrant from Sicily prior to WWI and our family got our citizenship as a result of his service in the Army during WWI. Read More

Copyright Basics: How to Create, Protect, and Transfer Legal Rights in Your Works

A Guest Post by Patti Jenkins, Hogue Hill, LLP

I often get questions from artists and writers about the legal rights they have in the works they create. Below are responses to questions I am often asked:

  • What rights do I own in a work I have created? How long do those rights last?
  • Do I need to do anything more to protect those rights?
  • What happens when I sell or give away that work?
  • Can I use someone else’s work in my work?

Read More

How to Interview Family Members: The Step-by-Step Process

Have you ever thought of conducting a life story interview with a family member? It’s probably safe to say that each of us has at least one relative who has led a seemingly exciting life, has inspired us because of their ability to overcome significant challenges and/or has actively participated in a significant historical event. You probably love to listen to their stories and may have encouraged them to write them down before it’s too late.

Maybe they’ve said they’ll get around to writing their stories one day…but they’ve been saying that for years. Or maybe they don’t see the value of their experiences the way you do. Or maybe they simply don’t like to write.

Rather than pleading – or worse yet, arguing – with them to get it done, consider a different approach. Ask them if they would allow you to record them as they tell you their story. It could be an audio recording or a video recording, but for the purposes of this article, I will focus on audio recordings.

You don’t have to be a professional journalist; anyone can press the “record” button on a digital recorder or smartphone. However, here are a few tricks of the trade that will enable you to achieve the best results possible.Read More