This coming, Tuesday, November 11th, I will be attending a very special fund raiser in Houston, Texas.

Amy and Kris Brown are hosting a holiday market at their home to benefit Texan Children’s Hospital from their foundation KickClub. Amy has invited unique companies from across the country to come and show their products and services at her home as a special kick-off to the holiday shopping season (Which actually works well since her husband Kris is the kicker for Texans).

Tuesday, November 11th
9am – 3pm
4712 Holly Street - Bellaire, TX 7740
RSVP: 832.824.2124

Come and see me in Houston! I’ll be showing off some of my favorite biography projects and talking to local families about how they can start saving the stories of their loved ones! It should be a wonderful event and a great start to the holiday season.

This coming Wednesday, October 29th, the Vineyard on the Square in Sugarland, Texas, is welcoming me as a special guest to their wine bar! It is a beautiful place to enjoy a glass of wine and unwind.

Everyone is welcome for a wine tasting and I’ll also be talking about the ultimate gift you can give to your loved ones this holidays season, a custom biography. Each year I work with a select number of special clients to capture their best life stories and transform them into a biography. Come see how I am changing the way we remember our loved ones.

In addition, Petaluma, California-based Adobe Road will be offering a wine tasting of Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon. Adobe Road is a small, family-owned winery, specializing in flavorful, handcrafted vintages with distinctive taste. The wines are created in small lots, allowing precise quality control to ensure that every bottle is just the way the wine artisans intended. Adobe Road varietals also include Zinfandel, Syrah, Petit Syrah, Cabernet Franc and Meritage.

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
6:00- 8:00pm

VINEYARD on the SQUARE
(Sugarland Town Square)
16135 City Walk
SUGARLAND, TX 77479

Contact Rory Siefer at 210.373.9313 for more information.
Learn more about Rory: http://www.TexanBiographer.com

This coming Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, we will have a booth at Junior League’s big holiday extravaganza, Ole Marketplace. It’s the biggest fund raiser of the year for Junior League of San Antonio, and the fair is packed full of amazing vendors from across the country. Come and finish your holiday shopping early this year!

Don’t miss a special guest appearance at our booth from Joe O’Connell. Joe, a former FBI agent, just finished his biography this past summer, and will be a part of our booth on Saturday morning starting at 10:00am. Come by and learn more about his fascinating stories with the mafia, bank robberies, and more.

Market Shopping hours are:
- Thursday, October 23rd: Noon to 6 p.m.
- Friday, October 24th: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Saturday, October 25th: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

So come by and learn more about the ultimate gift you can give this holiday season. Take a look first hand at our custom biographies, and figure out how to start saving a loved ones stories today!

This morning there was an article posted in the New York Times all about what it takes to be a “Personal Historian” and how quickly the trend of saving life stories is growing.

The article, “Tales from the Past, Preserved for Families,” is all about how Personal Historians are using every kind of multimedia possible to save memories.

For those of you who are trying to be your own family’s personal historian, here are a few different types of media you can use to save stories, if you can’t hire a Family Biographer like me:

1) Capture it all in a Biography

2) Preserve Stories in an Audio Recording

3) Record the Memories on Video

4) Remember the Events through Photographs

Everyday this week, in honor of Family History Month, I’ll be highlighting each of these media forms and telling you how they can be used best to save your loved one’s past!

As promised, here is the link to watch my appearance on yesterday’s San Antonio Living Show. It was a great opportunity to meet with Shelly Miles and tell some local families about how they can start saving stories today. If you missed the show, be sure to go watch it at this link.

Also, here’s a little of what I discussed on the show. Tips from Family Biographer, Rory Siefer, on how your family can celebrate Family History Month:

• Save the Stories: Record your family’s stories orally or in written form. Sit down and interview your parent or grandparent – and get the kids involved. Or as an extra special gift to a loved one, hire a family biographer to come in and capture the stories for them!
• Trace Your Family Roots: Start a family tree together and call your parents and grandparents to uncover the exact dates. Who knows how far back you can go!
• Preserve the Photos: Create a photo book with some of your best old family pictures. Record the details about each snapshot so that those stories are never lost.
• Create a Family blog: Keep your family and friends up to date on what your family is up to on a regular basis. his can be an easy weekly activity and then by the end of the year you have a great collection of memories.
• Make Sentimental Gifts: Integrate family mementos and history into a one of a kind gift for your loved one. Frame a family artifact, or create greeting cards from your favorite old photos.

To learn more about how to save your families priceless stories check out Rory’s website or call today:
Rory Siefer - The Texan Biographer
(210) 694-4743
http://www.TexanBiographer.com or rory@texanbiographer.com

I will be appearing on the San Antonio Living Show, this Tuesday, October 7th at 10:00am, to talk about Family History Month. As a family history expert I’ll be sharing with the viewers fun and creative ways that they can celebrate this month, and most importantly save their loved ones best stories.

As soon as the show has been uploaded to the NBC site, I’ll add a link here so that all of those outside of San Antonio can watch too!

Check back to learn more about the tips I’m sharing with San Antonio families.

If I have learned one thing over the years as a biographer it is this: We all have a story to tell! No matter what our age, our life experiences, or even our storytelling abilities, each of us have special stories worth sharing and saving.

I just came across a wonderful quote the other day and I wanted to share it with each of you:

“Do not tell people how to live their lives. Just tell them stories. And they will figure out how those stories apply to them.” – Randy Pausch

If you haven’t heard the inspiring life story of Professor Randy Pausch, then I highly recommend you watch his “Last Lecture” on YouTube. It has been viewed by over ten million people across the world. Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Randy had a limited amount of time left with his family, and this last lecture was his way of teaching others, through stories, how to take advantage of each precious day.

Think about this quote one more time, “Do not tell people how to live their lives. Just tell them stories. And they will figure out how those stories apply to them.”

Think about how you can begin to create a collection of your life stories to inspire others, in particular your close friends and family.

Find the time to pass on the special events from your life, how you succeeded, how you failed, and most importantly how your character was shaped along the way. It is my hope that your children, grandchildren, and even future generations will read your special collection of stories, and can interpret them into their own lives, much like Randy Pausch’s children will someday.

To find out more about how to create your own custom biography, contact me, Rory Siefer, today. Turn your life story into an inspiration for others. Find a way to help your parents or grandparents begin to save those priceless life stories, while they still can!

What gift can you get for mom or dad this year that will be different from all the rest?

Rory’s Take: Be inspired by Rory’s specially created gift list, “The top five most unique gifts that can never be topped!”

It seems I am constantly scrambling for a unique gift to give to my parents or grandparents whenever special events come up. What can you possibly give a loved one that they haven’t received or bought on their own for big events like a 50th Anniversary, a 70th birthday, or for Christmas?

As a professional biographer I have always had an affinity for finding a way to weave life history into the gifts that I give. When you take the time to incorporate special memories, snapshots, or life stories, a gift becomes priceless…something that could never be bought on a shelf.

So with this in mind, think about the following ideas the next time you need an extra special gift for your loved ones – all of them are guaranteed to be instant tear-jerkers and priceless family heirlooms.

Frame It: Frame a photo and special piece of memorabilia that tell a story

This Christmas I decided to create a framed masterpiece for my mother. I combined the following priceless items:

• A heartwarming photo of her parents
• A digital scan of a handwritten love note her father had written to her mother
• A special set of hand embroidered handkerchiefs that each of them used to carry

Picture It: Create an album that captures a year of memories or a special events

With the advent of online photo album publishing, creating an elegant album on your own has become a snap! Starting in 2002 everyone in my family purchased digital cameras, and along with the new camera came an end to physically printed snapshots.

So I started a new tradition. Each year, for Christmas, I collect all of the family’s photos, and use one of these great companies to create an album. Before printing I send the book design to my brother and put him in charge of captions. This is a gift that keeps on giving and a priceless tradition to begin. Capture these memories while you still can remember the details that bring them to life!

Say It: Capture written letters from friends and family and combine them into an album

We don’t always take the time to tell loved ones how much they mean to us. This year for their big gift take the time to contact 20-25 close friends and family members and put them to work creating a tribute for your loved one:

1. Give them a timeline of no more than two weeks and tell them to try to keep their submissions no larger than 8.5×11 inches in size.

To learn more about how I can you give your loved one the gift of a lifetime contact me today: rory@texanbiographer.com

2. Give them ideas for their submissions:

• Write a poem
• Children can draw pictures
• Create a narrative about a special memory together
• Make a top ten list of best memories
• Choose a photo of the two of you and tell the story behind it
• Write about your loved one’s best qualities

3. Contact everyone after the deadline has passed and make sure they have all sent in their submissions.

4. Combine the tributes into a special album. Try looking at a craft or scrapbook store for the perfect one.

5. You’re done!

While most people will be timid about having all their friends and family members gush about their feelings, I promise this collection of stories will be a priceless pick-me-up and reminder of how much they are loved!

Feature It: Take your parent’s photos to the big screen – create a quick video slideshow

This gift can be especially moving for older parents or grandparents – to take their small postcard sized photographs and blow them up to television screen size. Suddenly they will see small details in each shot that bring them to life in a new way!

For a special Christmas gift last year we put together a short video slideshow for my husband’s grandparents. Here’s how you can do the same:

1. Collect 50-75 snapshots from your loved one – tell them it is for a special project if they start asking questions.
2. Get a list of their favorite old songs: Frank Sinatra, Glen Miller, etc.
3. Scan in all of the photographs or get a local print shop to scan them for you.
4. Use available movie editing software like iMovie to create the slideshow – or contact a savvy family member who has great computer skills.
5. Combine the pictures with the music and voila, your loved one is the star of their own feature movie!
6. Present the completed movie in front of friends and family at the big event.

I can’t tell you what an amazing impact this slideshow had on my husband’s grandparents. The larger than life snapshots combined with their favorite music soon became their favorite movies – as long as they could get the DVD player turned on!

I’d be happy to help you find local help creating a masterpiece like this, so email me if you need help finding an expert video guru: rory@texanbiographer.com

Capture It Forever: Hire a Biographer and capture their life story in a hardback book

The last and maybe most memorable gift that you could give your loved one is the story of their life captured forever in a custom biography! You don’t have be famous anymore to have your biography produced, you just need the help of a professional biographer to see you through the process.

It’s my job to take a lifetime of your loved one’s memories and transform them into their own memoirs – a very special book that captures their point of view on life and the lessons they’ve learned.

After being in this industry over five years I have to say that on the day that the final biography is revealed, and friends and family are there, you can feel some kind of magic in the air. There is a look in my client’s eyes when they hold their finished memoirs and know that their story has been saved! Now they know their legacy will be remembered by generations of children and grandchildren to come!

Bulverde, TX

In a typical year, as retired grandparents, Bulverde residents Joe and Jean O’Connell would be sitting on their back porch, taking in the beautiful countryside. But for the past six months they’ve been working on a once-in-a-lifetime project — creating their own memoirs!

Joe, a former FBI Agent and WWII veteran has always loved to tell stories. Whether they included recollections of bugging the mafia, taking control of a hijacked plane, or solving bank robberies, his kids and grandkids have always loved to hear his tales. So this year, one of his daughters and son-in-law decided to give Joe and Jean the gift of a lifetime… their very own personal biographer. Rory Siefer, The Texan Biographer, travels the country helping people just like the O’Connells, properly capture their best life stories in the form of their own biography! As Rory says, “You don’t need to be famous to leave behind a legacy about your life –you just need some professional help to make sure your stories are saved in a very special way.”

Not knowing exactly what they were getting into, Joe and Jean began interviews with Rory back in November. They were immediately amazed at how quickly the stories came to mind, especially a few that they hadn’t thought about in a long time. Jean talked all about growing up during the Depression and becoming a majorette in high school. Joe talked about meeting the love of his life, joining the FBI, and raising three daughters. Rory was able to take those hours of stories, along with over 150 of their best photographs, and transform them into their very own leather-bound biography.

Just three weeks ago Joe and Jean invited all of their children and grandchildren over for the unveiling of the long-anticipated biography. As Joe unwrapped paper away from the edges he quickly saw the gold etched title, “Down Memory Lane, with Joe and Jean,” and tears filled his eyes while emotion overtook him. In his hands he was holding his life story. Now he knew that those memories could be enjoyed forever!

Since Joe received his completed biography he hasn’t let it out of his sight, except to show it to friends, family and neighbors. He proudly talks about how his granddaughter is reading a chapter a night and how other friends were amazed at some of his amazing WII experiences which he had never revealed before.

All in all, this has been a once-in-a-lifetime accomplishment and one that Joe hopes inspires others:“I just can’t believe how amazing my biography turned out. It is absolutely priceless. I hope that other people get a chance to see it and maybe even decide to write their own life story, too! It was worth the effort to have something as priceless as this finally complete.”

So this summer, while Joe and Jean won’t be working hard on their memoirs, they will be sitting on their back porch, taking in the countryside, and re-reading their completed biography!