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Writing your memoirs
Sun, 29 Jan 2006 20:37:30 +1100
soc.genealogy.computing
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Joseph...
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Hello There
Does anyone have any experience in using dedicated software for writing your
memoirs? I would be interested in the name and approximate cost.
Lars Erik Bryld...
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Sorry, no personal experience, but Personal Historian
previously got some acknowledgement from Dick Eastman
It is rather inexpensive ($29) and has a free trial.
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Joseph
Australia
Herman Viaene...
Jeff...
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I don't think software is the answer.
Yes, writing memoirs is a difficult task.
All any software can possibly do is give an outline.
It is a much less dauting task if you break it up into a
series of initially unconnected essays.
"Memories before I started school"
"What I remember of the war"
"My grandparents"
"Games we played"
"My time in the Army"
"My first, second third etc etc job"
"Where we lived as children"
"Our neighbours"
"Our courtship & marriage"
etc etc
The beauty of this is that these are discrete tasks,
relatively easily accomplished, can be completed in whatever
sequence takes your fancy and can be undetaken as the mood
takes one.
Later this series of essays can be sorted and combined.
Often though, you'll find this is not needed. The essays
themselves provide a memoir.
Steve Hayes...
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That is what the dedicated softweare dioes, in effect.
It provides an outline where you enter information, and it strings it all
together.
Herman Viaene...
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Well, again, this is nothing that cannot be done by any decent wordprocessor
around on the market and using a proper template - although you might have
to put this template together yourself, memoirs not being a well-known
business or engineering document.
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The usefulness is that you can start at any point, and add stuff when you feel
like it, and, if it is well designed, doesn't let you forget anything, and
gives you ideas.
Herman Viaene...
The problem is that some of those programs have a proprietory format, and it
is diffcult to export to a word processor for the final polish, and they
usually have a limited set of printing formats.
So it's probably better to get lists of the kind of questions you should be
asking, and use those as a guide while you put the stuff in a word processor.
Jeff...
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I agree with all that but, for me, the key was it was never
'one project' which I think I'd have found overwhelming.
It was, in my case 34 separate projects and if, for
instance, a thought occurred to me in addition to those I'd
already established I'd just write another essay.
As thoughts and memories cross my mind I continually add to
or edit all of them.
They are also written in very different moods and styles.
Funny, sad, contemplative and even polemical.
Now I know I'll never attempt to combine them. They are all
in my "Genealogy Folder"" (suitably backed up!) They are
Herman Viaene...
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Then ....well here you lose me. What was then the sense of your original
question ???? You have already a lot of material, but you do not want to
Jeff...
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Not as much as you lost me!
I never asked a question!
Herman Viaene...
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Sorry, I mixed up Joseph end Jeff (which are "synonyms" in Dutch)
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use it, but start again from scratch ?
One way I could suggest is this:
1. copy your various files, so you can do with those whatever you like
2. import these copies into a common wordprocessor format (see also below)
3. get yourself acquainted to the use of master - and subdocuments.
You mentioned that price is a factor. Then I recommend you to use
myths...
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Or purchased from various people for CD plus postage (it cost me
£2.49).
It can open MS Office documents, and save them in that format - I've
only tested it for Excel.
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OpenOffice. Its free, can be downloaded from its site, and I have used it
in the past for very big docs, were previous experience with MS-Word on
such beasts was very uneasy, to say the least.
Herman Viaene
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stored in oth WORD and Plain Text formats and, at intervals
I print out latest versions.
I have a couple of password protected files which deal with
very personal feelings and events, which I'm not sure I want
anybody to ever read. Sometime, before I die, I have to make
up my mind what to do with those!!!
Not, I suspect, gripping reading for future generations. But
it will give anybody interested an insight to how I lived
and into me as a person (warts and all!!)
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It worked for me anyway!!!
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Herman Viaene...
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What would you expect from such piece of software ?
I could see you could reap some benefits by using one or another template in
any wordprocessor you like (OpenOffice, MS-Word, WordPerfect ......) but
that's often limited to give you a consistent look to your document.
Herman Viaene
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Hugh Watkins...
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any word processor
Steve Hayes...
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"any" word processor is NOT a dedicated progam for writing memoirs.
Hugh Watkins...
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these outliners are generally a waste of money
what you need is a dedicated author or wanna be writer
a pencil and a school exercise book
anything else is a frill
tears and toil
Hugh W
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or word pad is free
join a RL writers group for help
try and find a retired jounalist to help you
Hugh W
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