You are now entering the very heart of Writing Your Legacy, in which you will learn all about legacy themes and how they can make life story writing manageable and fun. Writing with themes accomplishes four goals.
In this section, you will begin writing on the ten primary legacy themes. You will write two- to three-page stories on each theme, starting with “Forks in the Road” and ending with “My Legacy Letter.” When you combine all your stories into a cohesive whole, your life story will total between 7,000–8,000 words. The core legacy themes are:
We suggest you write in the order in which the themes are presented. Each theme represents a basic aspect of life that is important to all people, regardless of race, culture, or gender. They proceed from the general to the more profound and specific aspects of your life.
Probing questions accompany each theme and are meant to help you access your memory bank and reveal the treasure of your life stories. Don’t answer each question; rather let the questions sit with you for a time until one speaks to you and compels you to write. Write two pages and put it aside. At this stage the goal is simply to begin writing. Title each of your stories so that you will better recall what you wrote when it comes time to organize all of them into one document. You can always change the titles later if you choose.
What follows are the ten themes, each including a sample story excerpt from one of our students. These have been shortened to better fit the framework of this book. Remember that they serve as guidelines and examples only—you can write your story any way you wish.