Why I Started a Company to Record Family Stories
We've identified the top three reasons to start writing your parents' life story, now. Plus: A free download to get started on your story.
Plus: An easy first step to get started (free download)
I loved my grandfather’s stories. The room filled with cigar smoke, I would listen to tale after tale as we played backgammon together. I loved to hear about his adventures with his football team or the time he met my grandmother.
This is the kind of history we feel most connected to - that of our own families. Their experiences. Their emotions. Their eyewitness accounts of the moments that shaped their lives.
Sadly, when my Grandfather passed away, I realized that the details of those old stories had faded. I had missed the chance to make a record of my grandfather’s life.
"I can still recall some of their experiences. But will I be able to do them justice when I tell snippets of them to my children and grandchildren one day?"
Today, this is a common problem. We have Facebook pages, old home movies, and photo albums. But these are often left scattered in boxes, on old computers, and discarded and broken phones - and they often don’t tell the important stories.
This is why, two years ago, I set up my company, Story Terrace. We help people to capture their Mom or Dad’s life story in a beautiful hardbound book by matching them with a professional writer.
People like Peter, for instance, who started a new life in the West as a dishwasher after the Russians invaded his hometown of Prague in Czechoslovakia. Or Sue, who gave up her job as a nurse to take care of her three children.
Sue, Peter, and hundreds of others have come to us at Story Terrace for help with writing their autobiographies – to tell their stories for generations to come. Not as some kind of vanity exercise, but to give their families a profound sense of where they come from. To show that every life has its ups and downs, its triumphs, and struggles.
I wish my grandparents had done the same as Peter and Sue. Their stories have faded faster than I could ever have imagined. I can still recall some of their experiences – experiences that have, after all, shaped my values and interests. But will I be able to do them justice when I tell snippets of them to my children and grandchildren one day?
So if you love your parents’ stories - if you want your children to remember their grandparents - then however you do it, capture them while you still can.
I am Rutger Bruining, Founder and CEO of Story Terrace, and I hope that together we can change the way that history is written.
Next steps: Two ways you can start capturing your parents' stories today
i) Download Our Free Guide
Subscribe and we'll send you our free guide, starting with 65 Memory Prompts you can ask your parents to get started.
ii) Work with a Story Terrace Writer
Story Terrace offers a complete service for capturing your parents' life story in a book, with packages starting from £1350.
Plus: An easy first step to get started (free download)
I loved my grandfather’s stories. The room filled with cigar smoke, I would listen to tale after tale as we played backgammon together. I loved to hear about his adventures with his football team or the time he met my grandmother.
This is the kind of history we feel most connected to - that of our own families. Their experiences. Their emotions. Their eyewitness accounts of the moments that shaped their lives.
Sadly, when my Grandfather passed away, I realized that the details of those old stories had faded. I had missed the chance to make a record of my grandfather’s life.
"I can still recall some of their experiences. But will I be able to do them justice when I tell snippets of them to my children and grandchildren one day?"
Today, this is a common problem. We have Facebook pages, old home movies, and photo albums. But these are often left scattered in boxes, on old computers, and discarded and broken phones - and they often don’t tell the important stories.
This is why, two years ago, I set up my company, Story Terrace. We help people to capture their Mom or Dad’s life story in a beautiful hardbound book by matching them with a professional writer.
People like Peter, for instance, who started a new life in the West as a dishwasher after the Russians invaded his hometown of Prague in Czechoslovakia. Or Sue, who gave up her job as a nurse to take care of her three children.
Sue, Peter, and hundreds of others have come to us at Story Terrace for help with writing their autobiographies – to tell their stories for generations to come. Not as some kind of vanity exercise, but to give their families a profound sense of where they come from. To show that every life has its ups and downs, its triumphs, and struggles.
I wish my grandparents had done the same as Peter and Sue. Their stories have faded faster than I could ever have imagined. I can still recall some of their experiences – experiences that have, after all, shaped my values and interests. But will I be able to do them justice when I tell snippets of them to my children and grandchildren one day?
So if you love your parents’ stories - if you want your children to remember their grandparents - then however you do it, capture them while you still can.
I am Rutger Bruining, Founder and CEO of Story Terrace, and I hope that together we can change the way that history is written.
Next steps: Two ways you can start capturing your parents' stories today
i) Download Our Free Guide
Subscribe and we'll send you our free guide, starting with 65 Memory Prompts you can ask your parents to get started.
ii) Work with a Story Terrace Writer
Story Terrace offers a complete service for capturing your parents' life story in a book, with packages starting from £1350.
