Create Your Life Story : Helping You Record a Lifetime of Stories

Nine Aspects of Life and the Prompts to Start Your Story!

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Welcome To Episode Seven of Create Your Life Story.

So you want to talk to someone or you want to record yourself, but what are you going to talk about?  Sure it’s a conversation and we have conversations all the time so how hard can it be.  In the shower and driving in the car you think of a constant stream of subjects to talk about.  You remember the time you broke your collar bone or the time Dad came home rolling drunk, the birth of your children and the passing of your parents, your excitement of heading off to university and that stunning holiday in Europe.  Oh, and all those special loves and adventures not to mention the achievements in business and work.

Then you turn on the microphone and recorder and you say… Nothing.  All you have is a void, all of a sudden, those subjects are gone, vaporised… funny that!

Having something to talk about is the single greatest fear and subject that concerns people when it comes to creating a Life Story.  Either it’s “I don’t have anything worth mentioning” or  “I don’t know where to start”.  Either way, here is a start and something to talk about to help you on the way.

Rather than you having an endless list of questions to ask here is a list of prompts to get you thinking.  Read through this list and think of the times, situations and people that pop into your memory.  Carry a notebook and as ideas appear to you write those ideas down to work on later.  Ideas will come to mind as you travel somewhere, hang up the washing or walk to get lunch, any and everywhere.

In the first instance just write down quick notes of the times, people and events that you want to talk or ask about.  These are just memory grabs to remind you for when you get a moment to return.  Then when you have time pull out your notes and flush them out into a more useful form to use when actually recording.

Here are some general ideas of time and situation in the average life to get you started:

Family History

* Meaning behind name, heritage, culture and country

* Grandparents and older generation stories, work, times & culture

* Family traditions current and past

Birth

* Type of birth, where, times

* Name choice

* Health and first memories

* Stories passed on from parents and siblings

Childhood

* Where, times, culture, climate

* Toys, games and playing

* Celebrations, birthdays, Christmas and gatherings

* Hobbies, activities, chores, clubs and groups

* Good and bad times

* School, education, talents and skills

* Illnesses, hospital, dentist and accidents

* Parents and Grandparents

* Changes form today for children

Adolescence

* Friends and social groups

* School, activities, social, academic

* Work at home, volunteering, paid

* Family and other holidays trips

* Relationships with parents, siblings, relatives and friends

Early Adulthood

* Additional education or training

* Work, people, friends and skills

* Dating, Intimate relationships and love, who, what, where and how

* Meeting partner, marrying and settling

* Family life and relationships

Adulthood

* Children, births, names, personalities, history

* Career, study, location and skills

* Home locations, holidays and celebrations

* Children’s development through years

* Retirement, travels, hobbies and education

* Accidents, illnesses, divorce and deaths

* Friends, hobbies and recreation

Start Small, Just Record

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With any new project, like recording a Your Life Story, it’s important to start!

Filling your life with the preparation is often a form of procrastination. For that reason it’s important to get underway and seeing results as quickly as possible and here is a simply way to start, to get you underway on your path to the proficiency that you are after.   When it comes to recording a Life Story you will need to feel comfortable with using the technology, organising your thoughts and speaking well.  The sooner you start and get used to the process the better.

Don’t be surprised that you feel a bit overwhelmed with the technology and the process of recording.  It’s all new and will take time for you to become familiar with.

Your voice will sound strange.  It’s not as you hear it yourself but the more you listen to it the faster you will become used to how it sounds to everyone else and it will no longer bother you.  Reverberation in your skull when you speak makes your voice sound deeper than it is, so to hear your voice as others hear it is often a shock as it sounds higher pitched.  If you don’t like your voice, relax you will get used to it the more you listen, just give yourself time to adjust.

If you’re intending to record someone else in conversation with you there is the advantage of having someone to engage with and bounce ideas off.  Someone who can relax with you and engage in a real conversation.  This is the easiest type of recording to create as you are doing what we all do all the time, it’s just that this time you are capturing it.

If you’re recording yourself the challenge is slightly more difficult, in that you need to create an engaging conversation with the listener and you need to imagine that you have been asked a question or you wish to contribute some information into a conversation where the other person is intently listening.  Then you tell a story explaining what is appropriate and would have been expected of you if there was another person sitting with you.

Most people find the thought of recording themselves awkward and although they normally can speak well and sting along a conversation, the moment a microphone is placed in front of them they gum up and fall all over their thoughts and suddenly the normal congruent speaking style becomes a ramble of mismatched thoughts full of stammers, umms and arghs.

Practice makes perfect and with that recording practice you will learn what can be left in or edited and what needs to be repeated and re-recorded.

So start practicing.  Start recording.  Start playing and don’t worry if it is broken, you’ll improve.  And it’s best to improve with practice rather than when you turn on the recorder for the serious business where you have less time to make errors.

Practice with real content.  It will help to improve your memory of the stories you want to tell and put them in some sense of order.  As you think them through you will be reminded of additional stories to mention later.

To record by yourself first we need to create a mental state that takes us to where we will be able to speak as though someone else was in conversation with us. Then the conversation will flow as if they are quietly listening.

In the audio of this episode I explain how I start a one sided conversation by telling the story of how I started my skydiving life.  Make sure you listen to this story to fully understand these points.

To speak well as if in conversation with someone this is the method I use:

* Create a list of questions and statements that will provoke you to respond – This orders your thoughts to stay on...

The recorder you need you may already have and others that you don’t know of.

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This Episode 5 of Create Your Life Story will help you realise what you need to record a life story and the equipment that is open to you today.

When I first decided to start podcasting I thought that I would do it in the most economical way possible and use what I had.  Things have changed in just 3 years.  I was intending on using my iPod nano with a microphone that I bought to attach to it.  Sadly it wasn’t good enough for a two up conversation but even back then I realised that it would have been suitable for an individual to record with.

I decided to upgrade to some better equipment that lead onto my home recording studio and a portable

recorder.  Now however we have many new portable recorders built into all sorts of devises that you may not even be aware of.

Recorders come in many forms.

* Built into software that you will be using to edit your audio. This software is also a recorder and with the addition of a decent microphone can be all you need for recording the audio of a conversation.

* Portable audio recorders are the hand held purpose made recorders that have appeared in the last 5 years. Recorders like the Zoom H4 & H2, Edirol R-09HR, M-Audio MicroTrack and Sony PCM-D50.  These recorders are specifically designed to be taken to the audio source for the convenience of recording while away from a studio environment.  Most have built in microphones and the ability to accept external microphones.  Some have phantom power for the microphones that are plugged in.  They generally have removable SD memory cards for recording the audio to and simple plug and transfer systems to get the audio into the editing software.  The great advantage is the mobility to take the recorder to the person and place where the conversation is most comfortable.  They are discreet with little to disturb and distract from the conversation and can generally be, set and forget so as to allow you to get on with the conversation.

* Many MP3 players now have built in recorders that are surprisingly good.  Although not a perfect solution without the ability to make adjustments for different environments and not being able to accept a microphone they do still allow you to record for minimal or no outlay.

* Mobile phone now have audio recorders that record conversations surprisingly well.  As with the MP3 players it is the quality of the built in microphones that determines the quality of the recording.  Take the time to understand the quality of the audio depending on the position of the microphone especially with two people and the surrounding environment.

* Video and still cameras often can record audio.  Video cameras files will be large even with the lens cap on but once transferred you will need to separate the audio and video tracks so as to just work with the audio. GarageBand will accept video files where you can delete the image and just work with the audio. Still cameras have audio recording capabilities but these vary in length and quality of the microphones like MP3 players. Most are designed for audio note taking and only run for a minute or five depending on the camera. Worth investigating.

* If you don’t have equipment look into borrowing from your local community resources.  Check out your local library, university or oral history club.  Many of these organisations have have equipment available for use for these purposes.

* Do you have access to older systems.  These are not the systems that you would consider purchasing but if you or your family have them lying around consider the viab...

What would you like to see from producing an audio Life Story? – What is your minimum and maximum effort?

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When I started producing Your Story I considered using my iPod nano with a microphone.   Everyone said it was just that easy but I soon realised that I wanted to produce content at a higher standard than I was able to achieve with that small and cheap microphone.

I decided that if I was to produce content of the standards that were the minimum for me I needed to invested in some equipment and a lot of time to learn the necessary skills.

I would love to produce radio documentary quality audio but the amount of work for the additional return is just not worth it.  The 80/20 rule is what I use to help me understand my standards, I manage to get 80% of the quality that I think is achievable for 20% of the effort.  That was my decision based on my judgements of quality and effort, what you want to achieve and the effort that you want to put in, for your desired results are up to you.  It’s a very personal thing.

What do you want to achieve?  What do you have already?  What would like to additionally acquire?

1. What is the end result that you’re after in a Life Story?

* Long and chatty or short and concise conversations

* Heavily edited with mixed sound effects and music or just the conversation

* Published on the web or physical publication i.e. sent on CD

* Included with text, video and photos or stand alone audio

Decide on how far you want to go.

2. What equipment do you have?

* Computer – How familiar are you with it. Does it have a microphone and does it have or can you install editing software

* Recorder – Portable recorder, phone or use editing software as a recorder

* Microphone – Built into your computer, portable recorder or stand alone – skype, lapel or desk microphones

Note- Desk microphones unless a USB version require an interface and mixer to connect with a computer.

Test what you have as it may suit your purposes. Record, transfer and test edit to see how it all works.  Will you use what you have or will you purchase to suit your budget?

3. What level of skills do you have with the technology?

* Recorder – Can you use a recorder or recording software and transfer to and from a computer

* Editing software – Can you use editing software like Gargeband and Audacity

* Publishing – Do you have blogging experience, transferring files to Archive.org, burning CD & DVD’s

With the test recording see how well it works and quality.  How are your skills?  What level of expertise do you want?  Give yourself time to learn. Once you get the general idea you can move on from there and develop the skills as you learn.  Don’t expect to know everything before you start.

4. Publishing

* Can you burn CD and DVD’s?

* Do you have a blog, consider getting one to practice on at WordPress, Blogger(google) or Typepad – Instruction will be for WordPress.com. Write about the experiences of your day as a means of practicing including adding photos and videos where appropriate.

* Have you produced a Photo books – Check out Momento.

5. What to do.

* What are you after – Consider and imagine the style of Life Story you want to create?

* Inventory of equipment – What do you have and would you considering worth purchasing

* Inventory of recording and editing skills – Make a trial recording and pl...

When is it too late to start a Life Story Project?

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Welcome To Episode Three of Create Your Life Story. The last of three episodes that introduces the ideas and motivations behind this podcast and site.

I asked the question, “Is it too late to start and audio life story?”

The obvious answer is that when life has ended it is too late to record someone but I explain in this episode that there are profound and subtle events in our lives that reduce or remove the opportunity to record an audio Life Story. These are conditions of old age like stroke, dementia and fragility but also the subtle forgetfulness of living a life and simply forgetting some experiences.

Despite that opportunities pass by, not to be repeated, resulting in the lack of ability to record a Life Story when someone is in their prime there is still the opportunity to record something. Where there is life there is hope and even if only a few words can be recorded they are better than the void if nothing is done.

Is it too late to start an audio life story? One day it will be but maybe not today.

Action:

If you are wanting to record someone else’s life, have you contacted them yet? Have you mentioned your reasons and motivations to them? Have you set a date to get started?

If this audio life story is about yourself start listing the subjects that you want to talk about. There is a list of prompts to get you thinking in the e-Book and a lot of other ideas. Please remember to fill out the surveys before and after you read the e-Book.

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Create Your Life Story.”

Subscribe freely in iTunes by Clicking here.

If you use another Podcast software Get the feed here.

Support Create Your Life Story by commenting on this episode with one of the social network sites below or writing a review on iTunes.

The reasons you’ve never thought of to record a Life Story Biography

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These are some of the reasons for using audio as a system for creating a biography in this episode of Create Your Life Story.

Text is traditionally first considered when we think of producing a biography.  More due to the long history of writing of the events of a person’s life but with new technologies there are now profound reasons for using audio to record a Life Story, then publishing that audio as a biography.

Producing biographies have always been popular for many reasons:

* To show the little things that make people great

* Someone feels a person is significant

* Someone thinks they have something interesting to share

* Family is always interested in the shared heritage

* Their life reveals a snapshot of history

* A way of journaling a period in life

All these reasons are valid for producing a text, video or audio biography. However audio has a few advantages:

* Oral history is the original system to share memories

* Storytelling is engaging

* Intimacy in listening becomes a shared experience between speaker and listener

* Easy to listen to in variety of environments

* Audio can be a precursor to the written text

* Easy set-up and use

* Adds significantly with non-dialogue communications

* Captures the humanity of conversations

* Publishing and sharing are easy and convenient

* It’s a conversation

Recording and publishing audio Life Stories is a new way of thinking of biographies. Text has been available as long as humanity has been able to write.  However recording has only become available to the average person in the last decade with the development of powerful cost-effective recording and editing systems.

Images have been created as long as there has been art, text as long as there’s been writing but audio has relied on technology that has only been available for 120 years. In human history a relatively short time. In this episode I played an old recording to show how recent and poor this technology was and how far it has come in the last few years.

Audio is the most powerful and easily accessible system for producing a biography.  When combined with any of the other systems it helps to create the Life Story of someone, in a way that has only recently become available for everyone to the average person wanting to record a unique life.

Action:

As you have someone in mind make a list of the things that you want to say or ask. Place yourself in the role of the listener and speaker then think of what each of them would be interested in. What are the questions and general situations that they would be interested in. Use some of the ideas in the e-Book – Recording Life Stories to help while remembering to fill out the surveys before and after you read the e-Book.

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Create Your Life Story.”

Subscribe freely in

The start of how you can Create Your Life Story.

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This first episode (the first of three as an overall general introduction) is about how I came to starting this podcast and my goals in sharing how to record an audio Life Story as tool for others to use in their lives.

In 2007 I started Your Story after discovering podcasting and realising that I could also produce a show, I just needed to think of the subject and learn the technology.  Very quickly I realised that I have always loved talking to people and having them explain their life to me.  I wanted to know their story and that lead to Your Story.

Your Story is an online chat show which has enabled me to meet many wonderful people from all walks of life and experiences.  It has managed to leaverage me into communities as I travel and a reason to contact people I admire to have a chat.

This lead me to realising how powerful a tool audio recording is as a mechanism for capturing a longer version of someone’s life as an audio biography.  I applied this to the patriarch of my family to gather the family story that he is the only one left to remember and share with the rest of our family on an accompanying website.

That’s what I want to share with you.

* Why an audio Life Story is valuable

* How easy recording, editing and publishing is now

* How to record someone else

* How to record yourself

* Prompts to keep the conversation flowing

* How to share and archive this knowledge

* Best practices for privacy or to helping others discover the audio

This is the first episode of three to get this new podcast started giving a brief overview of the who, what, how and why of producing an audio Life Story.

Action:

Grab you copy of the free e-Book Recording Life Stories to give you an understanding of the overall approach and many ideas and prompts to recording your own Life Story project. To help understand what you’re after, please remember to fill out the surveys before and after you read the e-Book.

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Create Your Life Story.”

Subscribe freely in iTunes by Clicking here.

If you use another Podcast software Get the feed here.

Support Create Your Life Story by commenting on this episode with one of the social network sites below or writing a review on iTunes.