Page Title

As a child, was your Mom really the sweet little girl she claims she
was? How did Grandma and Grandpa ever get along without electricity
or indoor plumbing? Who was your Dad's first childhood sweetheart?
If you have ever wondered about questions like these, or about other
facets of your ancestors' lives, here's a chance to find out the answers
and preserve them for future generations of your family.

***

Life Story Publishing, Inc. is now working with The WRITE Business
Solutions to produce personalized narrative books documenting
people's lives. A Life Story project is not a genealogy search, not
simply a list of faceless ancestors from family bibles or county birth
records. Rather, it is a highly individualized narrative of a person's life
experiences - a storytelling of the subject's history in his or her own
words - including all the loves and hates, successes and disasters,
dreams and achievements.

The Life Story business was originally founded by an Iowa man
named Norman Honderd. A number of years ago, Mr. Honderd
recorded his mother's story because he wanted to learn about her
whole life. He published her Life Story as a limited issue hardbound
book for members of his family. The books were so well prepared
that he was soon approached by other people who wanted their life
histories made into books as well, and so the company was started.

Life Story Publishing, Inc. is currently owned by Alan Lance Andersen,
Mr. Honderd's executive editor, who is now working with Tammatha
Conerly of The WRITE Business Solutions to market Life Stories
nationally.

A Life Story project typically takes two to three months to complete.
Since most people - especially older folks - do not care to write down
all their experiences, the Life Story team uses a series of tape
recorded interviews instead. The first interview is conducted using a
form the company developed. This lets the Interviewer and the
person being interviewed get to know each other while basic
information for the book is collected.A client is interviewed only once
a week - for no more than an hour at a time. Usually a person is not
really comfortable until the second or third interview. But once he or
she starts recalling various life episodes, one memory often leads to
another. Often a client will sort through old trunks and boxes of
memorabilia between visits and have many recollections to share at

the next interview. It typically takes eight to ten interviews to get
enough material for a book. The tapes are subsequently transcribed
by The WRITE Business Solutions clerical staff. The books are then
laid out using professional publishing software, and photographs and
documents are incorporated.

All content is copyright Tammatha R. Conerly, 2005.
The Write Business Solutions