Today’s Memoir/Family History Quote
“I spent considerable time interviewing my mother in preparation for writing Wish You Well, and it was an enlightening time for me. Most of us assume we know all there is to know about our parents. However, if you take the time to ask questions and actually listen to the answers, you may find there is still much to learn about people so close to you.”
David Baldacci
Today’s Literary Birthday
E.L. Doctorow, one of the most celebrated American novelists of his generation, was born on this day in 1931. He has won a National Book Award for World’s Fair, PEN/Faulkner Awards and National Book Critics Circle Awards for Billy Bathgate and The March and a National Book Critics Circle Award for Ragtime. He received a National Humanities Medal in 1998 presented by President Bill Clinton. Novelist Joyce Carol Oates has called Doctorow “our great chronicler of American mythology.”
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 your greatest skill? What skill do you wish you had but don’t?
I agree totally with your comments on “Most of us assume we know all there is to know about our parents. However, if you take the time to ask questions and actually listen to the answers, you may find there is still much to learn about people so close to you.”
Just a few days ago, my borhter and I were in a conversation with our dad who told us something we have never heard from him and never knew about to which he is a part of history to. We have encouraged him to write a book on his life and his memories which we want future generation to know about or else history will be lost when he is gone