All-access membership for life story writers (bundle, personal track)
Summary: A secret weapon against what worries us most
And the training to use it for good
What if we could give you a secret weapon against the worries that give you sleepless nights? If you are like me, you are concerned about the wellbeing of your family, how the young people in your life are doing when we examine trends like teen suicide that has gone through the roof in recent years, cutting, and technology that seems to be changing faster than our humanity. There are algorithms that are sucking us in, and so much divisiveness in our world. These are tough problems.
The secret weapon is story.
By telling our most important stories, we can share our values in a way that doesn’t on too strong. We can inspire others to reach their potential to get through the hard stuff of their lives. Story is the way that we process the hard stuff of our own lives and find meaning in it. Story is at the very heart of our DNA. This is what it is to be a human. We've been telling stories since the beginning of time. It's how we share our values. It's how we create a shared culture. It's how we teach without being preachy. It's the only way we're going to be remembered after we're gone.
How can we possibly compete with big-budget stories?
It can feel daunting because we're surrounded by stories that are so well done. When you think about what Hollywood produces, what's streaming, the video games and the tug of social media, we certainly have no lack of story. And they are created with these budgets. So how do we compete with that in our own families?
The most powerful secret weapon is personal story
When we share a story about ourselves or about an ancestor with a member of our family, they care about it because it's about THEM. (What do humans care about? Ourselves). So, when we share these personal stories, it's like giving them the secret to unlock their own path, their own personality, their own DNA.
Online personality quizzes have an irresistible pull. Why? We want to know who we are. And when we tell these personal stories, it helps others understand who THEY are.
So, we don't have to have giant budget. You can learn to do it amazingly well. You can learn to apply the patterns that make for compelling stories.
Writing personal stories is also fun
It's fun when you're in the flow, and it's a joy when you get in that zone, and when creativity or ideas and inspiration show up that you had no idea would be there. It's absolutely exhilarating. And then when you finish a story, there's no other feeling like it. You think, “I did that I didn't know I could, and I wrote a story and it's good.”
Sharing stories with family can be so poignant
Then, when you bring it to your family, whether it's through social media or you share it at Christmas, it's an amazing feeling when they say it makes me proud to be part of this family. I didn't know that before. That is so cool. It's a gift to others. It's a love letter to future generations
Are you ready to get writing?
So that's what this new teaching model we are introducing is all about. This is all about us working together to learn the patterns, to learn all the tools, and to learn the steps to bring it together.
I went on a journey to figure out the process
Next, I went on this journey to figure out how to do it well. Reading everything I could get my hands on. Doing projects. Taking classes. At this point, I’ve put in more than 10,000 hours of hard practice and learning everything I can about what makes great stories, and how to teach these timeless principles to others.
We started teaching, and shifted online just before the pandemic
As our business grew, Rachel and I started speaking and offering small group classes. Then in 2019 we spent the better part of a year preparing to take our curriculum online. We launched our first online class in January of 2020, right before the pandemic went global. The timing was serendipitous to start teaching online. Now, the classes that we used to teach in person include students from all over the world.
Rob A. Gentile – an example of the power of writing your OWN story
Along the way, I have coached some wonderful clients and have realized the power in having people write their own stories instead of me doing it. One was Rob A. Gentile who had a near death experience. When I learned of his story, I told him, “I'm not going to write your story for you. It wouldn’t be authentic. This is your story to tell.”
There were times when he was tempted to have me just work on it because parts really wrung it out of him. But I kept saying, “I will walk with you. I will encourage you. I'll help you storyboard it. But I won't take this process from you”. And his finished product was an amazing, beautiful book that is important for our day. It ended up being a number one best seller on Amazon in something like 13 different categories.
Reviews from previous students
“I never realized how important writing is to me...I feel blessed to have found your class! Thank you for giving me the tools, and now the confidence, to take the words from my head and place them on paper. You are a fabulous teacher.”
I loved the books you showed – great ideas, and the twenty minute time has really helped me get my ideas down. You were very clear and your powerpoints were great.
“I had a terrific time in your class. It has provided a necessary means of accountability. I felt inclined to write some life stories but just wasn't applying the chair glue to do it.”
"Class started on time. Ended on time. Excellent, useful information shared expeditiously. I loved that both Rachel and Rhonda shared personal examples to make their points, that helped clarify concepts, and it made me feel connected. 😁 Storyboarding concept helped me visualize that the whole book, and even the chapters should have specific elements in a specific order to create a pleasing, satisfying story. There should be a rise and fall of action, conflict, interesting word choices and varying sentence lengths. The storyboarding formula made so much sense in helping me understand the steps and elements I need to focus on to create a well rounded story.”
"Taking that first step into family story telling, even just dangling your toes over the edge is so so so hard! I wanted to compile histories before the story tellers are gone and their histories lost but just didn’t know where to begin and didn’t want to do it wrong. The tips and tricks I am learning give me to confidence to leap. If you aren’t quite ready to start but know you will someday, or if you do this all the time and are looking for ways to better utilize your time and/or improve and develop your process, I think you will find some really useful information here. You won’t regret this!”
Rhonda, Thank you so much for the inspiration, education and encouragement you have so generously given through the weekly course. I feel very lucky to have found you."
"You are an answer to prayer and are giving me lots of ideas."
“Your class was a delightful learning experience. It was nice to realize that a few well-told stories of the most impactful lessons of your life are enough to pass on to posterity. Thanks again for your inspiration.”
"I loved this class and I am so excited. I can see this work as a way to bring together all my interests & everything that I love—family, other people & cultures, writing, photography - everything. Also, I love the energy you bring to your work— you bring so much light and enthusiasm!"
"I really enjoyed your class and feel like I was set to go on a journey. I have to confess that I was not sold on the storyboard idea at the beginning of the class, but as I have studied it and learned a bit more, I can see and recognize it not only in books and movies but in real life. Very interesting!"
"Using what you taught us, I posted photos and short stories about my husband who died thirty years ago. I transferred his voice from cassette to flash drive. I uploaded his voice to FamilySearch. I am amazed at the reticent relatives and friends that appreciate these stories! The process showed me all I've lived through already. I can do this, too. Thank you"
“Thank you for teaching this class. It is making my life better and giving me the encouragement I need to finish my book.”
“Thank you for teaching this class. It is making my life better and giving me the encouragement I need to finish my book.”
"I loved the length of the sessions and how they were broken up. Inspirational, practical, and actual writing. time of day was good for me."
"Just wanted to say thanks to Rhonda and Rachel for the great crash course in personal life writing. They're hitting every essential point and it's a joy to follow their presentations. And I need to thank a dear friend for extending this opportunity to me to be in this class. Thanks! "
Rhonda Lauritzen
Rhonda Lauritzen is a professional biographer with multiple published books. She believes that when you tell your story, it changes the ending. This is why her passion is teaching, coaching, and presenting at conferences. As an author, she specializes in writing life stories, collecting oral history, and historical storytelling. Before she founded Evalogue.Life she served as a college Vice President and a CEO. In 2007 her family history writing journey began with the story of her parents, which became her first book, Every Essential Element, which was followed by others. Most recently she was the writing coach to Rob A. Gentile, author of the #1 bestseller, Quarks of Light – A Near-Death-Experience (What I saw that opened my heart).
Rachel Trotter
Rachel J. Trotter is a senior writer/editor at Evalogue.Life – Tell Your Story. She tells people’s stories and shares hers to encourage others. She loves family storytelling. A graduate of Weber State University, she has had articles featured on LDSLiving.com, lds.org, FamilySearch.org and Meridian Magazine. She has been a speaker at RootsTech, Weber State University Family History Conference, Conference on Family History at BYU and the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree. She helps people tell and write their life stories and has written six life stories with several more in production. She has also helped several others write their own stories. She and her husband Mat have six children and she recently became a grandma! She and her family live on the East Bench in Ogden, Utah.
Membership Includes:
- Our full slate of online courses in the personal track, templates and printables. Access these courses on demand when you need to study materials or return to brush up. This is a great value included in your membership.
- Weekly live tutorials with 15-minute teaching nuggets, then 15-minute in-class guided practice, and 15-minutes of Q&A. These are held Thursdays at 10 AM Mountain time. (That's noon Eastern, 11 Central, 10 Pacific and 5 PM in London
- Replays on demand, with transcripts.
- Access to a full learning library of tutorial videos, templates, and fully searchable transcripts
Bonuses and benefits!
- Bonus #1: In addition to the online Sensitive Subjects course, we are teaching a live Zoom workshop on Saturday, April 9, 2022. This is included as part of your membership. There will be a replay saved in shorter segments if you can't make it live.
- Bonus #2: Receive a welcome package mailed to you anywhere in the world. It contains supplies to help with your work. (A $25 value plus the cost of shipping)
- Bonus #3: Ancestor Stories Workshop on Saturday, June 4, 2022. Save the date for this standalone workshop that will walk you through the process of writing ancestor stories from start to finish.
- Benefit #4: The first 4 weeks of your membership will be a special training series in which you'll become confident doing oral history interviews. Learn the equipment to consider (from simple to fancy), questions to ask, how to save files, and how to transcribe audio.
- Benefit #5: Members who join now will receive a "founders" badge. Not only will you help shape the culture of our community, but your membership dues will not increase increase for life, regardless of inflation or how much the rate may increase for future groups. (As long as you remain current).
- Benefit #6: Pause your membership for up to 3 months if you need to take a break.
- Benefit #7: Cancel any time. We can part as friends whenever you have met your goals or you have what you need.
Preview what's included with this walkthrough video below:
Courses Included
Speaking engagements
Organizations who have hired us:
