Today’s Memoir/Family History Quote
“We human beings are remembering, record-keeping, history-writing animals. We are what we have lived through and what our friends and forebears have lived through as reported to us. To be human is to have, through the gift of language, a collective memory, a history longer and wider than awareness of a single life.”
Barrie Barstow Greenbie
Today’s Literary Birthday
American novelist Jeffrey Eugenides was born on this day in 1960. His novel The Virgin Suicides was made into a major movie by Sofia Coppola. His second novel, Middlesex, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Eugenides is currently on the faculty of Princeton University.
Today’s Memoir/Family History Memory Trigger
Each day we offer a question or action to help you trigger your memories of things which will make your memoir or family history richer, more detailed and more interesting. Reflect on the prompt and see what ideas it triggers. Here’s today’s:

Do you have a type-A personality? How does that impact others?
Do you have to deal with someone who has an “A”-type personality? How does that affect you and how would you like that person to change?

Today’s Memoir/Family History Quote
“To be faithful to ourselves, we must keep our ancestors and posterity within reach and grasp of our thoughts and affections, living in the memory and retrospect of the past, and hoping with affection and care for those who are to come after us.”
Daniel Webster
Today’s Literary Birthday
Science fiction and fantasy novelist Elizabeth Moon was born on this day in 1945. Her novels include The Sheepfarmer’s Daughter and The Serrano Legacy. She received a Hugo Award for The Speed of Dark. In 2007 Moon received a Robert Heinlein Award for “writings that inspire human exploration of space.”
Today’s Memoir/Family History Memory Trigger
Each day we offer a question or action to help you trigger your memories of things which will make your memoir or family history richer, more detailed and more interesting. Reflect on the prompt and see what ideas it triggers. Here’s today’s:

What is the most adventuresome thing you have ever done?

Today’s Memoir/Family History Quote
“Young and old alike find that knowing one’s roots, and thus coming better to know who one is, provides a personally rewarding experience. But even more is involved than uncovering a family history, for each discovered United States family history becomes a newly revealed small piece of American history.”
Alex Haley
Today’s Literary Birthday
Nobel Prize winning Columbian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez was born on this day in 1928. His best known works, Love in the Time of Cholera and One Hundred Years of Solitude helped to popularize magical realism in literature. When chosen for the Nobel, Garcia Marquez said, “I have the impression that in giving me the prize they have taken into account the literature of the sub-continent and have awarded me as a way of awarding all of this literature.”
Today’s Memoir/Family History Memory Trigger
Each day we offer a question or action to help you trigger your memories of things which will make your memoir or family history richer, more detailed and more interesting. Reflect on the prompt and see what ideas it triggers. Here’s today’s:

If you could change just one thing in the world, what would that be?

Today’s Memoir/Family History Quote
“Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.”
Napoleon Bonaparte
Today’s Literary Birthday
Mike Resnick, who ranks 4^th on the all-time Locus list of award winning science fiction writers was born on this day in 1942. He has 33 nominations and won five Edgar Awards including for novels Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge, The 43 Anterean Dynasties, and Travels With My Cats.
Today’s Memoir/Family History Memory Trigger
Each day we offer a question or action to help you trigger your memories of things which will make your memoir or family history richer, more detailed and more interesting. Reflect on the prompt and see what ideas it triggers. Here’s today’s:

What was your college experience? What stands out the most? Did you find it difficult? Did you get good grades?

Today’s Memoir/Family History Quote
“In a memoir, I think, the contract implies a certain degree of truth. I think you have to be as true to your memory and your experience as you possibly can.”
David Leavitt
Today’s Literary Birthday
Crime novelist James Ellroy was born on this day in 1948. Ellroy early novels set in Los Angeles gave him a cult following. His LA Quartet – Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, LA Confidential, and White Jazz, marked a transition from traditional, hardboiled, noir crime to postmodern historiographic metafiction reflected in works like Blood’s a Rover.
Today’s Memoir/Family History Memory Trigger
Each day we offer a question or action to help you trigger your memories of things which will make your memoir or family history richer, more detailed and more interesting. Reflect on the prompt and see what ideas it triggers. Here’s today’s:

Would you have liked to live during your parent’s era (when they were growing up)? Your grandparent’s?

Today’s Memoir/Family History Quote
“Family Stories – every family has them. Told at gatherings of the relatives or the extended family, they are those stories about ‘the time when’ that help family define their identity and stay in touch with who they are.”
Donald Davis
Today’s Literary Birthday
American mystery writer Max Allan Collins was born on this day in 1948. Collins has written three series of mystery novels, the Batman and Dick Tracy comic s, the TV series Dark Angel, and three graphic novels known collectively by the title of the first, The Road to Perdition.
Today’s Memoir/Family History Memory Trigger
Each day we offer a question or action to help you trigger your memories of things which will make your memoir or family history richer, more detailed and more interesting. Reflect on the prompt and see what ideas it triggers. Here’s today’s:

Did you always live in a town or city where all the neighbors had the same background, or were the same class as your family? If not, explain the Differences and how you were impacted by them.

Today’s Memoir/Family History Quote

“It’s not the college degree that makes a writer. The great thing is to have a story to tell.”
Polly Adler

Today’s Literary Birthday

American writer and cartoonist Theodore Geisel, who wrote over 60 children’s books as Dr. Seuss was born on this day in 1904. Among his best known and loved books are Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish. Dr. Suess’s Books have been adapted for TV, movies and Broadway.

Today’s Memoir/Family History Memory Trigger

Each day we offer a question or action to help you trigger your memories of things which will make your memoir or family history richer, more detailed and more interesting. Reflect on the prompt and see what ideas it triggers. Here’s today’s:

Describe the Main Street of your town.

Today’s Memoir/Family History Quote
“All human beings have an innate need to hear and tell stories and to have a story to live by.”
Harvey Cox
Today’s Literary Birthday
American novelist, critic and scholar, Ralph Ellison was born on this day in 1914. Ellison’s novel of an unnamed African-American man in New York City, Invisible Man, won the National Book Award in 1953. Ellison wrote over 2000 pages of a second novel, Juneteenth, but never finished it. His later writings consisted mostly of essays and criticism.
Today’s Memoir/Family History Memory Trigger
Each day we offer a question or action to help you trigger your memories of things which will make your memoir or family history richer, more detailed and more interesting. Reflect on the prompt and see what ideas it triggers. Here’s today’s:

Have you had a falling out or disagreement with a dear friend that you regret?