A private memoir studio
Questions, answered plainly
Plain answers, kept short on purpose. Anything not answered here can be asked directly.
- What is the Legacy Estate?
- My one commission. I record a series of telephone conversations with you, from your own home, wherever in the world that is, and from them I make three keepsakes. The first is a memoir written in your voice and printed privately to heirloom standard. The second is a set of recordings of your voice, the way you tell stories. The third is a way for the people you love most to keep talking with you long after you are gone: they ask a question, and they hear you answer in your own voice.
- How does it work?
- You and I talk by telephone, and I capture every word. Most commissions take six to eight conversations, spread over four to six months, at your pace. You speak from your own home. There is nothing to travel to and nothing to prepare.
- Who writes the book?
- I do, alone. I am on every recorded call myself, and I ask the questions. People talk, I listen, and their book sounds like them.
- Who owns the recordings and the transcripts?
- You do. The written transcripts and the audio recordings of your conversations belong to you from the start, and you can have them whenever you ask.
- What happens to my privacy?
- A non-disclosure agreement is signed before we record a single word, not after it. Your name appears nowhere without your written permission, including in my own marketing. Discretion is the default, not an option.
- How many commissions do you take each year?
- Twelve. When the diary is full, it is full, and I will tell you honestly when it opens. I would rather decline a commission than dilute one.
- Where do the conversations happen?
- By telephone, from your own home, wherever in the world that is. You simply talk, and I listen.
- Can my family really talk to me afterwards?
- Yes. Once the recordings exist, the people you love most can sit across the table and ask you anything, long after you are gone, and hear you answer in your own voice. A great-granddaughter who never met you can ask what you were like at her age.
- How do we begin?
- Write to me at [email protected]. One sentence is enough: tell me what you want kept. The first step is a twenty-minute introduction, unhurried, by telephone. If you would rather speak first, say so in your email and I will telephone you. If I am not the right pair of hands for your story, I will tell you whose are.