REFLECTING ON CHANGE: Writing Baby Boomers Life Stories

March 14, 2011 - PRLog -- It's a changing world - upheavals in governments, the Middle East, all convincing evidence that the world is changing. What has been true in the past, continues to be true in the future, the saying, “There is only one thing that is certain and it is change.” holds true today more then ever.  
   We are called the Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and the early 1960’s, and change has been constant in our lifetimes. Born at a time right after World War II, our world was filled with possibilities and far more opportunities and choices than our parents ever imagined in their lifetimes.  
   As a personal historian I have spent the last eight years helping our parents write their life stories, living through and surviving the Depression years, experiences in the Armed Services during World War II, or working outside the home helping the war effort and even how the GI Bill changed lives forever. Many of these great stories have been told and recorded, but let us not forget ourselves.  
   As those of us in the Baby Boomers generation approach retirement, I find it interesting that most of us have not taken an interest in our own lives, to write our own stories down to share with future generations.  We are some of the most educated and intelligent citizens our country has ever known.  One of the healthiest generations to date and we will live longer than even our own parents and grandparents.  We have been the most affluent group and have expected that affluence to be there forever.  But more importantly, we have great stories to tell.
   Each generation has differences, our lives are different from those of our parents and grandparents and the lives of our children and grandchildren will be different from ours.  Today we live in a world of instant communication via the Internet and social media.  And for some, the idea of instant gratification is stronger then the idea of patience and waiting.
   Our life stories can help our family members understand us better, make a connection and can even help us understand ourselves better.  We need to recall those years of growing up in the 50‘s, college in the 60‘s, finding the right jobs, raising our children, making choices. Now as many of us prepare for retirement, it is the perfect time for self-reflection and writing one’s own life story can be the start of a fantastic new journey.
   To help you get starting, I will be hosting webinars that will help you answer the questions: What should I write about?  How do I go about it?  I'm writing an autobiography, now what? For more information about joining these writing classes webinars go to http://lifestorytriggers.com/wordpress/how-to-write-webinars  These classes will begin by addressing some of the shared events that we all have experienced, we will approach each one of these events with a short memory essay to get your mind remembering your own experiences. These memory triggers will provide you with some insight into our writing styles and telling you own stories. Some triggers may leave you searching as they have little impact on your own experiences, yet others will have you writing for hours. My hope is that each webinar will hold such a jewel for you.  

Hella Buchheim started her company Personal Histories to help people start their life stories and complete each writing project with energy and motivation throughout. Her new book, Remembering...life story triggers and memory essays is available at http://lifestorytriggers.com/wordpress/ For more information about joining these writing classes webinars go to http://lifestorytriggers.com/wordpress/how-to-write-webinars

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Personal Histories works with writers who want to write their memoirs for their families. We help you with editing, book design and printing. Now working with boomers to document their own stories. www.personalhistories101.com