Write your life story — and make it last forever
Learn to capture your life story as a polished memoir — using audio recording, family video, and smart publishing tools like QR codes to create a book that lives on the page and on screen for generations to come.
"Your story doesn't have to be extraordinary to be worth preserving — it just has to be yours."— Nina Hershberger
What you'll learn
What you'll be able to do
- Write a structured, compelling memoir manuscript by developing your personal memories into vivid, chapter-ready stories
- Use simple audio recording techniques on your phone or computer to dictate memories and convert them into polished written drafts
- Build and manage a YouTube channel to host family videos and memory recordings that bring your book's stories to life
- Create scannable QR codes that link readers directly from your printed book to your family videos and audio memories online
- Apply professional book-publishing principles — layout, formatting, and self-publishing platforms — drawing on companion book-publishing course guidance
- Deliver a finished, print-ready memoir that blends written narrative, audio storytelling, and embedded digital media into a lasting family legacy
How it works
A school that adapts to you
This isn't a set of static videos. Every lesson is generated live and tuned to where you actually are.
We learn your level
A quick placement check tailors your starting point so you're never bored or lost.
Lessons adapt as you go
Each lesson is written for your pace and your goal, adjusting as your skills grow.
Your AI coach keeps you moving
Checkpoints, feedback, and gentle nudges turn progress into a real result.
The curriculum
What's inside your school
6 modules · 19 lessons
Finding Your Story — Memory Mining & Memoir Planning
Every life contains hundreds of stories worth preserving. This opening module helps writers overcome the belief that their life 'isn't interesting enough,' systematically excavates buried memories through proven prompting techniques, and transforms a raw memory list into a clear, chapter-by-chapter blueprint — so students begin writing with confidence and direction rather than a blank page.
- 1.1Your Life Is Worth Writing DownIncluded
- 1.2Memory Mining — Unlocking Stories You Thought You ForgotIncluded
- 1.3Structuring Your Memoir — From Memory List to Chapter MapIncluded
Speak Your Story — Audio Recording for Memoir Writers
Many memoir writers find it far easier to talk their stories than to type them. This module teaches students to use their smartphone or computer as a professional-quality recording studio, convert spoken words into polished written drafts using free transcription tools, and capture the irreplaceable voices of family elders through guided interviews — producing both raw manuscript material and audio files that will later be linked via QR code inside the printed book.
- 2.1Your Phone Is a Recording Studio — Audio Basics for Non-Tech PeopleIncluded
- 2.2Dictate, Transcribe, and Polish — Turning Spoken Words Into Written ChaptersIncluded
- 2.3Interviewing Family — Recording the Voices of People You LoveIncluded
Writing the Memoir — Craft Skills That Make Stories Come Alive
With a chapter map in hand and a bank of dictated and transcribed material, students now develop the core craft skills of memoir writing. This module moves from big-picture scene construction down to sentence-level voice and dialogue, and closes by guiding students through their chapter map from start to finish — leaving them with a complete working draft of their memoir manuscript.
- 3.1Show, Don't Tell — Writing Scenes Instead of SummariesIncluded
- 3.2Finding Your Voice — Writing the Way Only You SoundIncluded
- 3.3Dialogue, Emotion, and the Stories That Are Hard to TellIncluded
- 3.4Writing Through Your Chapter Map — Building Momentum to a Complete DraftIncluded
Your Family YouTube Channel — Bringing the Book to Life on Screen
A printed memoir becomes a multi-generational digital legacy when it is connected to a YouTube channel hosting family videos, recorded interviews, and audio memories. This module guides students — including complete tech beginners — through creating and branding a dedicated family memory YouTube channel, filming and uploading content, and organizing the channel so family members anywhere in the world can find and watch the stories that live inside the book.
- 4.1Setting Up Your Family Memory YouTube ChannelIncluded
- 4.2Filming and Uploading Family Memory VideosIncluded
- 4.3Organizing, Titling, and Sharing Your Channel With FamilyIncluded
QR Codes — Connecting Your Printed Book to Your Digital Legacy
QR codes are the bridge between the physical printed memoir and the living digital world of videos and audio recordings. This module demystifies QR codes completely — what they are, how to generate them for free, how to test them across devices, and — critically — exactly where and how to embed them inside the memoir manuscript so they survive the printing process and actually work when a reader scans them from the finished book. Sequenced after the YouTube channel is established so every QR code points to a real, live destination.
- 5.1What Is a QR Code and How Does It Work in a Book?Included
- 5.2Generating and Testing Your QR CodesIncluded
- 5.3Placing QR Codes in Your Manuscript for PublishingIncluded
Publishing Your Memoir — From Manuscript to Finished Book
The final module carries the completed memoir manuscript through professional editing, interior formatting, cover design, and self-publishing platform submission — producing a print-ready book that can be ordered as physical copies for family distribution or made available more widely. This module references and integrates the companion Book Publishing Course for deeper guidance on platform selection, ISBN acquisition, pricing, and distribution, ensuring students have a complete roadmap without duplication.
- 6.1Editing and Preparing Your Manuscript for PublicationIncluded
- 6.2Formatting, Cover Design, and Self-Publishing PlatformsIncluded
- 6.3Sharing Your Legacy — Launch, Family Distribution, and Keeping the Story GrowingIncluded
Who it's for
Is this you?
The Grandparent Storyteller
You have a lifetime of stories you want your grandchildren to know — this course helps you capture them in a book they'll treasure long after you're gone.
The New Retiree
Retirement has finally given you the time to write the memoir you've been putting off for decades, and this course gives you the structure to actually finish it.
The Family Historian
You're already the keeper of old photos and family lore — now you can weave it all into a polished, published book with an embedded digital archive.
The Non-Tech Writer
You've never set up a YouTube channel or heard of a QR code, but you're willing to learn — and every tech step here is explained in plain, patient language.
The Reluctant Writer
Writing has always felt intimidating, so you'll love learning to speak your memories aloud first and turn your own voice into polished chapters.
The Legacy Leaver
You've experienced loss and know firsthand how quickly stories disappear — this course helps you preserve your family's history before it fades.
Questions
Frequently asked
Your teacher
A note from your teacher
Nina Hershberger
Maybe you've been carrying these stories for decades. You think about them in quiet moments — the way your father's hands looked when he worked, the neighbourhood that's gone now, the year everything fell apart and then somehow came back together. And you've always meant to write them down. You just weren't sure how to start, or whether anyone would really want to read them.
I want you to know: I understand that feeling completely. And I built this school because I believe the biggest obstacle standing between you and your memoir isn't talent, or time, or even technology. It's the quiet, nagging voice that says your story isn't interesting enough, or that you've waited too long, or that you're not a "real writer." This course is my answer to that voice.
We begin at the very beginning — not with writing, but with remembering. You'll work through a gentle memory-mining process that surfaces stories you thought were lost, and you'll organise them into a clear chapter map before you write a single word. Then, if the blank page feels daunting, you'll simply speak — into your phone, in your own natural voice — and we'll show you how to turn those recordings into beautiful written chapters. No prior writing experience needed. No special equipment. Just you and your stories.
What I'm most proud of is where this course goes next. Because your memoir deserves to be more than ink on paper. You'll learn to record the voices of the people you love, build a private family YouTube channel, and embed QR codes right into your printed book — so a grandchild reading your words twenty years from now can scan a page and hear your voice, or watch a family video, in an instant. That's not just a book. That's a living piece of your family's history.
By the end, you'll hold a finished, self-published memoir in your hands — something you can give to your children, your grandchildren, and anyone whose life you've touched. Every step of this journey is broken into small, manageable pieces. Every lesson is taught in plain language. And I'll be beside you at every stage, reminding you of the one thing I know for certain: your story is worth telling, and you are exactly the right person to tell it.
— Nina Hershberger
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- 6 modules, 19 lessons
- AI-adaptive lessons tuned to your level
- Quizzes & checkpoints to lock in progress
- Your own AI learning coach
- Learn on any device, at your pace
- Full access for as long as you're subscribed