This article explains the basics of story structure using The Sound of Music as the main example, followed by a short personal example, and ending
Story structure – Strengthen any story with these tips and examples
Visiting an ancestral home at Witch Hollow near Salem
The Tyler family from which I descend had more involvement in the Salem witch trials than any other in New England in the number of
No coincidences? Uncanny occurrences in researching people and places
Uncanny, I think, when the archivist hands me the old photographs. But then again, in my line of work doing family history, I have come
Alice Ann’s Story Shows Me Riches
This is an embarrassment of riches. That’s what I thought when I looked around my leaking and smallish camp trailer while reading the pioneer story
An Adoption Story Touches My Heart 160 Years Later
Preface: This is an adoption story of enduring love, and pure hope. Also, it intertwines with my own family story (and I didn’t see that coming.) The
Grandpa’s Voice Tells their Pioneer Story
Because of a weirdly wide age spread in the generations in my family, the Mormon pioneer experience is only three generations back, even though I’m
In writing a life story ask: What are my talents?
If you are writing your autobiography, life story, or memoir, it’s an insightful exercise to ask introspective questions: What are my talents? What are my
What this photo says about death of a mother
You wouldn’t know by this photo that “the most important person in the world isn’t here any more.” My friend, René Thornton Jr., was the
My mom confessed “I dreaded Mother’s Day”
A friend once asked me what it was like having a mother who was so supportive. I have thought about that question a lot since
On gradually losing my mom: She is the sea and she says hush, hush, hush
This week I share an article I wrote a while back about losing my mom while she’s still here. So much has changed in her