Here I am, aboard a beautiful ship, Seabourn's Ovation...

Today is my ninth day at sea. For all these days, I have been trying to convince people that their stories are important. That the lives they have lived and continue to live matter. I’m a guest conversationalist on a ship that Columbus, in his wildest dreams, could not have imagined. People have time to write. But so many are reluctant. Why?

Write it down, I say. If you can tell a story, you can write it. Some people are traditionalists: they like to write. But for others the written word intimidates. So speak your story into your phone, I tell them. Voice memos (on an I-Phone) converts speech to text. So do many apps. However you do it, do it. Someday your kids, your niece, your nephew, someone in the future, will want to know about you. Don’t you wish you knew more about your ancestors?

Here’s a list of prompts to get started. I have more. But let’s being with these. I’ve shared them with guests on this cruise. I am sharing them here to encourage anyone who happens on to this page to begin to write. I did not write these prompts. Jeri Walker did. I like them so I am sharing.

Jeri Walker’s Memoir prompts:

Was there anything unusual or unique about your birth?

What is your earliest memory?

What is your happiest childhood memory? Your saddest?

How have childhood favorites impacted you? (toys, cartoons, books, etc.)

Were your parents good parents?

What event in your childhood had the most impact on your life as an adult?

What is your first memory about school?

Was learning to read and write a struggle for you?

Who was your favorite teacher?

What was your favorite subject in school?

Did you participate in any extra-curricular activities?

What clique did you belong to?

What do you wish you would have learned more about in school?

What schoolmate had the most impact on your life? In what way?

Who was your first best friend? How did that person influence your life?

What did you learn about yourself in high school?

What was the first moment you felt truly grown up or independent?

How old were you when you began to drive?

Who gave you your first kiss?

Who was your first love?

What is your best memory as a teenager with your friends?

What was the best party you went to when you were a teenager?

What was your first job?

How much was your first paycheck and what did you do with it?

What moment in your life have you felt most loved?

Which one of your parents are you most like?

Was graduating from high school a big event?

Has education played an important role in your life?

What have you done that you never thought you would do?

What was the greatest challenge of your life so far?

What do you wish you had done differently in your life?

Who do you wish you could see again?

Who was the lost love of your life?

What word would you most like people to associate with you?

Who was the biggest influence (positive or negative) on your life?

How were your belief systems formed? (religion, politics, family, etc.)

What is great about your life right now?

What could be better about your life?

To what degree has technology shaped your life in the past 10 years?

When is the last time you learned to do something new?

Does your career make you happy?

How is your family unique?

Is your significant other your best friend?

What do your pet peeves reveal about you?

\What do your tastes reveal about you? (food, music, clothes, books, etc.)

How many life goals have you attained?

What regrets do you have?