When starting on a memoir, it can be difficult to remember all the stories and memories you would like to include. You naturally want to jog your memory.

When you are intent on writing “from the inside out” as we at The Memoir Network hope you will, there are some useful techniques you can use—to add to compiling your Memory List and perhaps even to stimulate it.

Below are a few “memory jogs” to get you thinking and especially feeling about the people and places of your past.

1) Scrutinize your photo albums to jog your memory.

Who are the people in your photos? What were their names? What were their relationships to you and to each other? What was happening to you and to them at the time of the photo? What do you remember about the place in which the photo was taken? Why were you there?

If you decide to preserve this information on the back of photos, use permanent ink felt tips to avoid making impressions or cracks in the surface of the photos. Allow at least a half hour for the ink to dry before you stack your photos together. Always write full names, full dates, and full locations. Never write just “Mary, Springfield, June,” or “Jason, age 2.” What is so obvious to you at the moment could be a mystery for generations to come!

For more help saving stories behind your photos, click here

2) Take an imaginary photo.

Go back in time and “take” the photo you wish you had. Who would be in it? How would they be posed? Describe the details: clothing, hairstyles, setting. What would have happened right before this photo was taken? Right after? How would the people in the imaginary photo have felt about being photographed together?

3) Look at photos and paintings of the time you want to remember and write about.

Study books and magazines on the history of fashions, of home decorations, etc. that deal with the relevant era. Also, visit vintage clothing shops, take in old movies, browse at flea markets. This exercise will jog your memory.

4) Make lists of members of your family.

Include their names, birthdays, principal residences, the type of schooling they had, their marriage dates, the number of children they raised, their illnesses, jobs/careers, special events in their lives, circumstances surrounding their deaths, etc. You will find that focusing on finding this information for one member of your family will clarify facts about others-or suggest areas you should explore. For instance, as you determine that Aunt Marie made that trip to New York in June 1962, you’ll realize that Uncle Eli couldn’t have gone with her that summer because they didn’t meet until two months later in August.

5) Make lists from your past of both the serious and the frivolous items.

Add all your relatives; record albums you owned or hit songs you liked; movies, favorite dance steps, special foods-anything in your past that interests you. Then, choose one at a time and write about the memories these items evoke.

Good luck to jog your memory for writing your stories!

Click here for more info on creating Memory Lists rather than relying on prompts. If you enjoy video, let me speak via Youtube.