Hear this blog post read aloud:
Our latest Stories of Our Lives session took place on the 18th of October at our new/ old home, Chorlton Library and was co-led by our wonderful guest speaker Merryn Myatt, who is a writer, celebrant, public speaking coach and retired journalist and broadcaster, and now runs lifestory.vip.
It was an extended session today as we had so much to cover! We began by sharing our intentions for the morning. One participant used the lovely phrase “panhandler” , meaning sifting through life’s detritus for nuggets of gold. Others offered words like open, sisters, motivation, consideration, collaboration, encouragement, celebration, gentleness, and gratitude. Someone summed it up beautifully: “I can hear my critic, but I answer then with let’s get involved, let’s get curious.”
Together we reflected on our purposes for writing memoirs or life stories. These included validating our lives, showing the many sides of ourselves, and declaring with clarity and pride: there is more here than just what you see. Many spoke of wanting to leave a story behind, something that helps family and future generations see the whole person, not just what’s visible in the present. Others saw writing as a way to make sense of memory, to look back with compassion, or to celebrate what’s been achieved.
Merryn then shared examples from her work supporting people to create their own memoirs and explained her process. We discussed rhythm, method, and form, how our personal styles shape our writing journeys. I also shared a short presentation about voice transcription tools, which we’ll return to in a future session.
A big theme of the day was the power of photos, how choosing, labelling, and presenting them clearly can bring memories alive. Merryn offered practical tips on clarity, formatting, and choosing meaningful images. We even imagined creating boxes of memories, collections of photos or objects that can spark conversation and reflection, perhaps for people in care settings.
Towards the end, I reminded the group that Merryn is available for one-to-one support via merryn@lifestory.vip, and we talked about other ways to keep writing and stay connected. Many of us left with fresh motivation, one person said, “I’m remembering that I can do this.” Others planned to set aside a regular time to work on their project, even just fifteen minutes a week. Someone else said they felt newly inspired to embrace technology after the session, and another said they now want elocution lessons from Merryn because of her beautiful voice! (Merryn kindly refused, pointing out quite rightly that this request was asked by someone who has a beautiful voice of their own).
It was a gentle, purposeful, and encouraging morning and a brilliant reminder that our stories and authentic voices matter, that they’re still developing, and that sharing them can be both an act of genorosity as well as creativity and care.
The Stories of Our Lives 