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Passing a Living Legacy

Your Indelible Footprint on Your Family

Tom Belisle

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How Do You Want to Be Remembered?

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Your Legacy

  • A Great Husband, Wife, Father, Mother, Sister, Brother, Cousin, Friend, Business Acquaintance, Other
  • Friendly, Kind, Charitable, Religious
  • Smart, Dedicated, Committed, Reliable, Honest
  • Successful, Inventive, Creative
  • Funny, Serious
  • Patriotic Veteran

How Will You Be Remembered

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Your Legacy Evidence

  • Photos, Videos, Recordings of You
  • Awards, Certificates, Diplomas, Testimonials
  • Fond Remembrances by Family and Friends
  • Things You Created, Built, Developed
  • The Cash/Stocks/Gold You Left Your Heirs
  • Other

                  • But………………………………………….

How You Will Be Remembered

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Your Legacy Evidence

  • What Lasts Over the Passage of Time?
  • What Endures, What is Sustained for Current and Future Generations?
  • What Leaves a Permanent Imprint of Your Time on This Planet—Beyond the Growth of Your Family Tree?
  • Did Your Family, Friends Really Know What You Really Did Over Your Military Career?
  • Did They Ever Ask You for Details?
  • Could You Tell Them?
  • Did You Ever Want to Help Them Understand Your Commitment to Your Country—and What it Really Involved?

How You Will Be Remembered

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A Memoir Is Born!

  • But………………………………………..

      • Maybe It’s Too Hard to Do

          • It’s Not!

      • Can I Write Something that Will Be Worthwhile and Appreciated?

          • It Will Be

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My Approach

  • Prioritize What You Believe is Important
  • After a Career in the Air Force, there Were Many Blanks to Fill
    • What Did You Really Do?
      • While at Work
      • While on Deployment
      • When You Disappeared with Little Notice After Receiving the Late Night Recall Order
      • On the Isolated Assignment Away from Your Family for Days/Months/Years
      • When You Were Sent into a Combat Zone
    • What Can You Really Tell Them?

Reflect on Life

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My Memoir

My Career

  • Commit to Telling Your Story the Way You Talk
    • Decide How You Want to Approach the Task
    • Think Through the Elements You Want to Address
      • What Do You Remember about What You Did?
      • Who Do You Remember Doing it With?
      • When Did You Do It?
      • Where Did You Do It?
      • Where Did You Do It?
    • This is Important to Keep Your Frustration Level Under Control

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My Memoir

Approaching the Task

  • Determine How Much Detail You Might Want to Use
  • Research as Much as Possible
  • Keep it Accurate
  • Make it Entertaining while Informative
  • Get Help to Fill in the Blanks
  • Dig Up the Old Photos
  • Talk with Family and Friends for Sanity Check

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My Memoir

  • Began By Creating a Chronological Outline of My Assignments
  • Dug Up Old Performance Reports for Job Titles, Locations, Dates
  • Decided Early-on to Include Photos
    • More Difficult in Building the Final Product—But Worth It
  • Expanded Outline for Each Assignment
    • Spent Plenty of Time Thinking About What was Notable about Each
      • Focused on Both Serious and Funny Situations
  • Writing the Way I had Conversations with Family and Friends Was Easy
    • Wanted My Family to Be Able to Recognize Me in My Writing

Start Writing—How I Did It

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My Memoir

  • First Draft was Rough—But Helped Me See the Gaps of Information Needed
  • Tried to Keep it From Being Too Technical—Didn’t Dumb it Down, But Explained in a Way that a Civilian Would Understand
  • Didn’t Worry About Pictures Til Second Draft
    • Where I Didn’t Have Any, I Searched for Free Photos
  • Second and Third Drafts were Refining the Story
  • Used Spouse for Sounding Board—After All, Years Can Take a Toll on Memory

Getting a First, Second, Third Draft

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My Memoir

  • When I Felt I had a Pristine Product, Sought Out a Local Editor
    • Knew I Needed a Second Set of Eyes
    • Also Knew That I Didn’t Have the Skills (or Patience) to Format the Book with Photos Inserted
  • Submitted Final Product to Create Space (now Kindle Direct Publishing)
  • Reviewed Proof and Then Gave Go-Ahead to Publish
    • Decided to Limit Distribution—-Not Available to General Public
    • Decision Based on Personal Nature of Memoir
  • Did My Own Distribution to Family, Friends
  • Will Eventually Update and Officially Publish for Wide Distribution

Getting Published

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My Memoir

  • Rave Reviews (What Did I Expect From Friends and Family)
    • “Wow—I Never Knew You Did That!”
    • “Unbelievable—Very Interesting.”
    • “It’s Hilarious!”
    • “I’m Glad I Didn’t Know You Were Doing Those Things—“I Would Have Worried About You.”
    • “Thank You For Your Service.”

Results

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Other Options

  • Can Do a Similar Approach with Shutterfly
  • Use Office Depot Services
  • Go Minimalist by Printing Out Your Story and Having it Professionally Reproduced and Bound
  • Record Yourself Telling Your Story via Video

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What’s Next

New Writing Career

  • Success of Memoir was a Challenge
  • Could I Write Fiction
  • Launched the New Career in 2019
  • First Novel In May 2020
    • Raptor Bloom
  • Second Novel in April 2021
    • Taking the Dream Spinner
  • Third Novel in Work!

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My Advice

  • Get Busy Writing!