What do you wish you knew about your parents? What do your children want to know about you? The following questions, culled from college students, can give tremendous insight into what to include in your own life story writing.

What are your "ten best" stories? In this presentation you'll see a step-by-step method to make the process of writing or recording a personal history easier and more fun.

Here is a short exercise from today's presentation, "Story Triage: How to Tell the Best Ten Stories of Your Life." If you are at the Rootstech conference, you can hear this presentation at 2:30 p.m. in Room 150. If you aren't able to join us, here is a little exercise you might want to try. It may jump-start some memories, and give you some ideas about important stories you need to tell.

As "personal historians," Tom and I often use these terms interchangeably when blogging or teaching about the concept of writing one's life stories. But does that signify that they all mean the same thing?

Holidays, for better or worse, are family gathering times (followed closely by weddings, funerals, and family reunions). What better time is there to interview those family members you only see once a year? Give your auntie an excuse to stay out of the kitchen and hold her comfortably captive while you ask a few questions.

Here are a few tips that will help you get better stories.

Since it's Friday---and who doesn't love grammar advice on a Friday?---I'm going to show you a neat little trick that will make your writing clearer, stronger, and more to the point.