Journaling Your Past - an overview
(notes from my Artfest 2001 workshop)
The purpose of this workshop is to help you put your own adventure--your life--on paper. You'll learn what to record, how to put your memories on paper, and how to preserve them for future generations. Best of all, you'll learn a system to make it easy to continue with this important journal, in spare moments you seize during your busy life. After all, most of us are too busy living the adventure, to find time to document it! *grin*
Materials: you'll need only a pencil or pen, notebook paper, a binder to keep your papers in, and perhaps some photos or notes to help jog your memories.
The organization is simple, and the key to the success of this project: Date every piece of paper, and put each memory on a different sheet of paper. Then, file the papers in date order when you have a spare moment.
Date? I have trouble remembering what year it is, now! *LOL* Calendar dates are not important. Time is relative.
If you don't know when something happened, write down things that tell you roughly when it occurred: What house were you living in? Was Grandma still alive then? Was it before weird Auntie Hazel Ann finally got married?
These relative notes help you place the event/memory in time, and maybe later you'll figure out when it happened, in calendar terms.
Genealogists know that where something happened is always more important than when it happened, if you're going to research the event using birth certificates, the US Census, and so on.
What to put in this journal: Anything you want. What's important is to put something-words or pictures-on paper, to record your adventures.
Art is a kind of diary, so if you want to do a collage about your first (disastrous?) date, or an abstract in oil pastels about how it felt to graduate from high school (scary, exciting, surreal?), that's fine! Just make certain to label it, maybe putting notes on the back.
How to save this: In a perfect world, we'd be writing on acid-free paper, with acid-free art/writing supplies, and we'd store the papers archivally.
Forget that, for now. Archival work is not easy, and we know this has to be made "easy" or it's not really going to happen because we're busy people.
Instead, figure that your task is to put the memories on paper, period. Plain notebook paper will usually hold up at least 20 years. During those 20 or so years, you may have your work copied archivally. If not, one of your family members will probably do this.
However… If you use pencil, not pen, it will survive a flood in the basement without smearing. If you enclose your trinkets, photos, and so on, in acid-free archival plastic, they'll last longer, too.
One note of caution: DON'T LAMINATE! Laminated items will decay within the plastic. Sorry.
If you've already laminated things, get them photocopied now, while they're still fresh looking. Then treat those copies archivally.
The process: Outside of this workshop, the process is simple. Start with a question or a memory, and write it on a piece of paper. If time is a problem, set your timer for 10 or 15 minutes, and conclude whatever you're writing when the bell rings.
This is not the Great American Novel! A few ideas and memories jotted down now, is far better than a brilliant autobiography that you never find time to write in any form, and never share with your children/family.
The questions: You'll think of your own, but here are a few to get you started.
Remember, each memory goes on its own piece of paper. If you remember three different cars that your dad owned and loved, each car goes on a different piece of paper.
Stories from others - How did your parents meet? Were either of them engaged before? Did they have a long courtship? Did your mother have an engagement ring? Did your grandparents approve of the marriage?
Do you have earlier stories? How did your grandparents meet? Did they live happily ever after?
Who were your immigrant ancestors, and where were they from? Why did they leave their homeland/s? What kind of work did they do? Meet and marry after moving?
Stories about your family - What was your father's favorite car, and did it have a name like "Abigail" or "Speed Racer?"
What did your mother figure she'd do/be when she grew up, and did she expect to meet Prince Charming?
What was your father's first job as a kid, and did he work his way through college? Did he change his lifestyle when his first child was born?
What would your parents say was the single most important thing they each accomplished? Has this affected your goals?
Your stories - First Christmas/holiday memory? Best holiday gift ever? When did you get your first bicycle, and was it hard to learn to ride it? Did you have a favorite pet? What was your favorite back-to-school outfit? Who was your favorite teacher… and is that the one who influenced you the most… and how? Favorite childhood TV show? Favorite teen TV show? Teen idol? First favorite singing group? (Beatles, Dave Clark Five, or Rolling Stones?)
When you see the movie, "A Christmas Story," what part/s make you nod your head in agreement? Memories of Dad picking out the Christmas tree? Snowsuits? The neighborhood bully… and who was he/she? Worst/best holiday dinner?
Did you take driver's ed, and how awful was it? How about gym class horror stories that make you laugh now? First attempts to cook for yourself? The first time you wore something because it made you look fabulous… even if it felt awful? (Shoes? Tube top?)
Where were you when…? Every generation has "Where were you?" memories. For example, where were you when you heard that Kennedy was shot? When the lights went out? When the space shuttle exploded?
Landmark events - Losing your first tooth. Being asked out for the first time. Your first dance. High school prom. Applying to college, and your first day at college… and/or at work. First pregnancy/child/delivery. Going to the movies for the first time, without your parents.
Everyone has memories, and each one of them is a single event to
put on a single piece of paper.
As you add memories (pieces of paper) and start filing them in date order, you'll soon discover you've written a wonderful story of your adventure… your life, for others to read and enjoy, and understand you.