It's time for a mindshift in how we go about our family history storytelling. The explosion in project forms we can use means it's time to think first about “why” before starting on any project.
I really enjoyed this session Barbara. It left me thinking after it was over that my A to Z Challenge posts coming in April are a big project. As I’m researching and gathering information on my topic, each post is a mini project. I do tend to go down many rabbit holes when doing this and always end up with too much information and having to cull. I’ve been struggling with what to leave out. After discussing our ‘why’ today I’m thinking that if I go back to the drafts with the ‘why’ lens on, it will probably all become clear. I hope that’s clear!
I find I have to circle back to this concept several times a day. Perhaps one of the most powerful elements of this concept is that you don't have to try to tell "THE Story." If you step back with your "Why" lens on, you can instead focus on "THIS Story."
A collection of facts are like an all-you-can-eat buffet to a storyteller. You can keep coming back to the same set of facts to tell different stories for different purposes. When we've passed, our descendants will come back to the facts of our lives to tell different stories for different purposes.
And, Jennifer, I love that metaphor of a "Why" lens. I just might borrow that! 🤓
My current "why" is for the 4 grandsons aged 6-12 and their parents now in their 40s, to learn what life was like for me as a child in the 1950s and 60s. In 2017 for the April A-Z bloggers challenge I focused on my life on the farm in that period. My project now is taking those short stories and rewriting with the younger audience in mind, adding more pictures, adding in my siblings names etc. and preparing it as a printed Christmas book for them. The titles for each story as I wrote them in 2017 can be seen here. https://earlieryears.blogspot.com/2017/04/zero-nought-nothing.html My siblings responded well to those stories back then, so time to pass them on to the younger generations. Yes they will also end up on my weare archive, but for now the immediacy of a book hopefully will engender more interest in family stories.
Oh my goodness! Carmel, I LOVE that! Inspired by Sindi Terrien's Activity Book recipe for Projectkin in January this year (see it at Projectkin.org/recipes) I really did create an activity book for my grand nephews and nieces this summer. It was a blast! I've always thought about creating a child's story book, but struggled getting a "hook" for the book. Giving it a simple A-Z flow is brilliant! I'm going to shamelessly borrow that idea from your earlieryears post! earlieryears.blogspot.com/2017/04/zero-nought-nothing.html.
One idea I can offer that's been working for me with my own cousins Substack-to-WeAre archive is to shamelessly include links. For my own reasons (see Projectkin.org/private-podcast) I keep my both password protected, but if I want to get them "into" the WeAre archive, I give them the story-equivalent of delicious chocolates to go looking for.
Oh... wait, maybe a quick-and-easy version would be to do a digital advent calendar... Hm, can I get it done in time. 🤔
I can't believe I missed this live. Darn! It was an excellent presentation and discussion. I'm glad you recorded it. You gave me a few more ideas for my recipe talk next month!
I love this. I was recently thinking I would love to know more about my ancestors and share it with my children. It made me appreciate a little vignette I have created in my home of all my mums, grandmas and great grandmas embroiderys 🥹 and how I would love one day to create my own to add to it. These nourishing artefacts and stories matter.
Oh, my... THAT is exactly how it starts. I have just such a "vignette," then a cousin sent me a cross-stitch sampler her mother (my aunt) gave her from our shared 3x great grandmother started in 1822. Now you have ME thinking.
We talked about "small projects" in the discussion. I've been mulling over a follow-up post about such a small project. You've made me realize how I had to go back to the piece and a second piece I'd done to remind myself why that sampler mattered (I always have to count to get the "greats" right. 😉)
Do join our community! You don't have to start a project yet... Sometimes you just need to be prepared for the creativity, right?
I really enjoyed this session Barbara. It left me thinking after it was over that my A to Z Challenge posts coming in April are a big project. As I’m researching and gathering information on my topic, each post is a mini project. I do tend to go down many rabbit holes when doing this and always end up with too much information and having to cull. I’ve been struggling with what to leave out. After discussing our ‘why’ today I’m thinking that if I go back to the drafts with the ‘why’ lens on, it will probably all become clear. I hope that’s clear!
Oh, it absolutely is!
I find I have to circle back to this concept several times a day. Perhaps one of the most powerful elements of this concept is that you don't have to try to tell "THE Story." If you step back with your "Why" lens on, you can instead focus on "THIS Story."
A collection of facts are like an all-you-can-eat buffet to a storyteller. You can keep coming back to the same set of facts to tell different stories for different purposes. When we've passed, our descendants will come back to the facts of our lives to tell different stories for different purposes.
And, Jennifer, I love that metaphor of a "Why" lens. I just might borrow that! 🤓
“focus on THIS story” - I love that.
My current "why" is for the 4 grandsons aged 6-12 and their parents now in their 40s, to learn what life was like for me as a child in the 1950s and 60s. In 2017 for the April A-Z bloggers challenge I focused on my life on the farm in that period. My project now is taking those short stories and rewriting with the younger audience in mind, adding more pictures, adding in my siblings names etc. and preparing it as a printed Christmas book for them. The titles for each story as I wrote them in 2017 can be seen here. https://earlieryears.blogspot.com/2017/04/zero-nought-nothing.html My siblings responded well to those stories back then, so time to pass them on to the younger generations. Yes they will also end up on my weare archive, but for now the immediacy of a book hopefully will engender more interest in family stories.
Oh my goodness! Carmel, I LOVE that! Inspired by Sindi Terrien's Activity Book recipe for Projectkin in January this year (see it at Projectkin.org/recipes) I really did create an activity book for my grand nephews and nieces this summer. It was a blast! I've always thought about creating a child's story book, but struggled getting a "hook" for the book. Giving it a simple A-Z flow is brilliant! I'm going to shamelessly borrow that idea from your earlieryears post! earlieryears.blogspot.com/2017/04/zero-nought-nothing.html.
One idea I can offer that's been working for me with my own cousins Substack-to-WeAre archive is to shamelessly include links. For my own reasons (see Projectkin.org/private-podcast) I keep my both password protected, but if I want to get them "into" the WeAre archive, I give them the story-equivalent of delicious chocolates to go looking for.
Oh... wait, maybe a quick-and-easy version would be to do a digital advent calendar... Hm, can I get it done in time. 🤔
As I said, you've inspired me!
I can't believe I missed this live. Darn! It was an excellent presentation and discussion. I'm glad you recorded it. You gave me a few more ideas for my recipe talk next month!
Aw, shucks, I’m so glad you liked it. It was a fun discussion, I came away with ideas too!
What’s this, @Lynda Heines is doing a Projectkin Project Recipe?!? Y’all won’t want to miss this: Reservations are available and they’re still free!
Operators standing by. 😉 https://tockify.com/eventscalendar/detail/56/1734026400000?startms=1733040000000
Barbara, Thanks for the shout out! It’s going to be so much fun to share Cloth Stories with our community.
Did I do that? Oops, 🤭 I did it again.
I love this. I was recently thinking I would love to know more about my ancestors and share it with my children. It made me appreciate a little vignette I have created in my home of all my mums, grandmas and great grandmas embroiderys 🥹 and how I would love one day to create my own to add to it. These nourishing artefacts and stories matter.
Oh, my... THAT is exactly how it starts. I have just such a "vignette," then a cousin sent me a cross-stitch sampler her mother (my aunt) gave her from our shared 3x great grandmother started in 1822. Now you have ME thinking.
We talked about "small projects" in the discussion. I've been mulling over a follow-up post about such a small project. You've made me realize how I had to go back to the piece and a second piece I'd done to remind myself why that sampler mattered (I always have to count to get the "greats" right. 😉)
Do join our community! You don't have to start a project yet... Sometimes you just need to be prepared for the creativity, right?
Looking forward to listening to the recording. A couple of the comics on my Substack are family stories and I am working on a bunch more.
Oh, fabulous! Feel free to drop the links here I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one interested in family. history in this crowd. 😉