Living Legends News is a free monthly newsletter available from Recollections which will help you capture your precious memories and those of your loved ones.
Take a look through the sample issue below and subscribe here: subscribe@memorybooks.ca

LIVING LEGENDS NEWS

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Vol. 2, Issue 3 - Carol M. Upton

www.memorybooks.ca
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Subscribe - Send an email with "Living Legends Subscribe" in subject
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Our subscriber list is confidential and we respect your privacy. Please pass this newsletter on to your friends, as they may also be able to benefit from it. Subscriptions continue to grow thanks to all of you. Send your feedback and contributions to me - they will be warmly received!

You will be receiving this May issue in June and that small delay was created because I wanted to get my affiliations up and running for you. Read more about those in the section on memorybooks.ca website news.

Ask me for more information about my Living Legends e-course. This introductory course on life story writing will run for six weeks starting September 30, at a special first-time fee of $75.00. That is six weeks of life story exercises, writing, feedback on your work, tips, encouragement and resources - all delivered to your in-box. I will edit your work privately, but your online classmates will provide feedback as well. If you wish, this could become an ongoing memoir-writing group. It can be anything we want it to be! Check out the detailed curriculum at www.memorybooks.ca and contact me. There will be other dates TBA and I am already starting a wait list.

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IN THIS ISSUE:

QUOTES FROM THE QUILL

TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

WORKSHOPS

RESOURCES

SWEET SEASONS

GO AHEAD - ASK!


QUOTE FROM THE QUILL
My very first lessons in the art of telling stories took place in the kitchen.. . my mother and three or four of her friends . . . told stories. . .with effortless art and technique. They were natural-born storytellers in the oral tradition.
- Paule Marshall

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TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

Adding Sensual Details To Your Stories

Most of us have an interest in telling or obtaining family stories; not all of us will want to become professional writers as we put these stories together. In Capturing Memories classes, I don't spend a lot of time on grammar, punctuation or style, because a good style manual will cover that. I do, however, talk about sensual details.

You will want to write your stories as evocatively as possible, employing as many of the senses - sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell - as you can. How do we recall these?

Try asking yourself or your subject some of the following questions:

Can you recall any particular sounds from childhood or later in your life?
Geese honking as they flew south for the winter or the sweet song of robins just before the sun goes down? The clopping of horse's hoofs, the rustle of leaves in the wind, or the clickety-clack of the train on the track? What meaning do these sounds have for you?

Can you recall scents or smells that cause your heart to quicken even now, as an adult? Roast turkey, chocolate fudge or pumpkin pie? Wood smoke? Sawdust and saddle leather? Freshly cut grass or hay? The ocean or the conifer forest? Close your eyes, if it helps, and think about the significance of these smells.

And what about taste? The tart of the earliest raspberries or the sweet of late summer peaches? The sharp, medicinal taste of thyme or the green, carroty taste of parsley? New potatoes, barely steamed, eaten with butter, salt and pepper? Or the yuck of cough medicine you may have had to take as a child?

Do you remember the way things felt to you? The first time you stroked a soft, new puppy or kitten? The sticky fluff of cotton candy on your fingers? Squishy mud or sharp rocks beneath your toes? Slimy seaweed clinging to your bathing suit as you waded into the ocean or the crust of sand and salt on your skin after swimming?

You get the picture. Remember that your stories will come alive to your reader if these kinds of sensual details are included. Use old photographs, letters, high school annuals, concert or trip souvenirs, old music, and recipes - anything that will help to jog your memory of these precious details. Have fun!

WORKSHOPS

I will be teaching MEMORIES AS GIFTS on November 4, from 1 - 4 pm at Chaster House in Gibsons. Go beyond the ordinary this solstice with a unique book of memories as a timeless gift. Do you have a collection of family vignettes just bursting to be told? How about a booklet of heritage recipes and stories? Perhaps you want to create a family newsletter or a narrative with a seasonal celebration theme? In this stimulating half-day workshop, I will encourage you to complete a short piece of writing and discuss layout, graphic design and binding options. Bring a favourite family photo, recipe or other bit of memorabilia to class. Register through the SCRD at 885-6801.
Some subsidies are available.
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Writing and Selling Personal Essays
Isabel Viana (4 weeks, $60)
http://www.writing-world.com/classes/essays.shtml
A class that can be taken by email!

To write a personal essay is to embark on a journey toward self-knowledge. To sell that essay, one must be able to express that knowledge in ways that enable the reader to identify with the writer's experience. Find out how to develop ideas, write the first draft and revise it until it expresses your thoughts in a way that is meaningful to others. You'll also learn the business side of essay writing, including how to write a cover letter, format a manuscript, and find markets for your essays.

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RESOURCES

Looking for ideas for your memoir? Start your family history research here.
http://www.myfamily.com

Keeping Family Stories Alive - A creative Guide to Taping Your Family Life and Love by Vera Rosenbluth. Although published in l990, this book is a great do-it-yourself resource, with loads of useful information and a list of in-depth questions at the back.

AUDREY OWEN, an editor who specializes in working with self-publishing authors, has a web site full of great information for writers. At http://www.writershelper.com you can explore the writing tips, read the FAQs page to learn more about how an editor works with a writer, ask your own questions, and send in 500 words for a free sample edit.

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SWEET SEASONS
Contributions to this column are warmly welcomed!

My favourite taste of summer is fresh herbs - from the early snippets of chives and parsley to the coriander seeds produced by my charming cilantro plants. All summer foods are enhanced by the hardy herbs that appear year after year in my garden and in pots on my deck. While some can be dried or frozen for winter, there is nothing like wandering outside with a pair of scissors to cut bundles of fresh herbs - parsley for the nugget potatoes, fresh mint for the strawberries, basil and dill for the tomatoes. My Polish grandmother grew buckets of tomatoes and there was often a glut of them on her Manitoba farm towards the end of July. One of her special summer recipes follows:

Tomato Soup with Basil and Dill

1 medium chopped sweet onion
1 lb fresh tomatoes
1 small chopped garlic clove
2 c. vegetable or chicken stock
1/4 c. butter or olive oil
sea salt
ground black pepper
At least 1 tbsp each fresh basil and dill - more to taste!

Melt butter or olive oil in a saucepan and cook the onion and garlic until soft. Do not brown. Skin and chop the tomatoes and add to the onion. Cook and stir for a few minutes, then pour in the stock and bring just to boiling. Add salt and pepper and simmer for about 20 - 30 minutes. In the last few minutes of simmering, add 1/2 the chopped basil and dill.
Puree in the blender. My grandmother served this soup hot or chilled, with extra herbs stirred in just before serving!

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GO AHEAD - ASK!

I would love to receive your questions about family story writing or family histories and will do my best to answer them or find out the answers for you!
Remember, that I am available for an initial free consultation on your family history project. Call me at (604) 886-8951 or email newsletter@memorybooks.ca and move toward creating a special legacy for your family!

Warm regards from Skookumshack
in Gibsons, B.C. -

Carol Upton (Recollections)
And
Kerry Mills (Laughing Dog Enterprises)

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