kelleytjansson

This is my very first post.  My blog will focus on memoirs.  I wrote a few of my childhood stories for my 80-something parents as a 2011 Christmas gift.  I wanted to write the funny little stories that had been told and retold around the dinner table so many times.  I started out with the goal of writing ten stories.  By the time I was done six weeks later, I had written closer to eighty stories.

There’s something special about giving a homemade gift to a parent.  I can still feel the big smile on my face when I handed the storybook to my parents.  They glowed with pride and immediately started reading the small vignettes aloud.  We relived the memories, and laughed together.

Sadly, my mother died six weeks later.  My storybook suddenly took on more meaning.  It was only luck that I had written it when I did.  If there was any consolation in my mother’s passing, it was that I had documented our family’s special memories.

Since my mother’s passing, I’ve decided to self-publish my storybook on Amazon.  I have no idea whether anyone will ever read it, but somehow it feels like I’ll be able to keep my mother’s memory alive.

So far, I’ve signed up for an Amazon CreateSpace account for POD (print on demand) and hired a graphic designer and illustrator.  The designer will create an electronic version for Kindle e-book format as well.  I’m still working on the final version of the manuscript and need to hire a professional editor.  I have no idea what I’m doing, so just plan to figure things out as I go.

A family friend who read an early version of the manuscript thought that my storybook would encourage other people to write their family stories as well.  I hope so!