Title Your Own Chapter

Porch Swing Tip of the Week: Doubt Busters: #4 What if I need help? 

This is the first question addressed in Porch Swings’ Help/FAQ section of our website, because it is the base for every other question! Questions about chapters. Questions about how to begin. Questions about pictures, and videos, and publishing. Rest assured, if you have a question we haven’t covered there, we’re just a phone call or email away. We want you to succeed, and we can help you get started, set goals, and navigate your StorySite.

A side benefit is that the learning process needed to tackle a new proficiency is good for your brain, beyond the actual skill itself! According to Central Connecticut State University’s Continuing Education website, learning a new skill changes your brain chemistry; increases the speed of learning and the connections between skill areas; makes you a more interesting person; beats boardom; helps you adapt more readily to change; and … (Drumroll please!) helps stave off dementia! 

So, what stories can we help you with?

Need additional help? Contact us at 833-767-2411 or inquiries@porchswingstories.com 

We’re always here to help.
 
Jayme & John Resnik and the Porch Swing Team

Porch Swing Tip of the Week: Doubt Busters: #3 – Maybe I won’t remember all the details accurately

Hmmm.. that can be worrisome. Here are several suggestions to help unravel that riddle:

• Keep a paper and pen handy to write down notes when something you wanted to remember comes to your mind.
•  Look at old pictures and mementos to jog your memory.
• Ask someone. Your siblings and friends or children might recall specifics.
• Your StorySite on PorchSwingStories.com has a feature called In Others’ Words, where you can send an email requesting someone else’s input on an event that happened in your life. Your loved one can give a personal perspective that may remind you; you can even add their slant to tell the story in a broader, possibly more entertaining way.
• “Just one more thing ..” Take off your coat. I mean, it worked for Detective Columbo: “I gotta take off this coat. I can’t think in this coat … THE COAT, I can’t think in the coat.”

Keep in mind that your stories do not have to be perfectly detailed, and that is okay too.

Need additional help? Contact us at 833-767-2411 or inquiries@porchswingstories.com 

We’re always here to help.
 
Jayme & John Resnik and the Porch Swing Team

Porch Swing Tip of the Week: Doubt Busters #2 – No one will read my stories.

You’re probably not concerned that after you’ve spent time writing down your life’s stories, your book won’t make the New York Times Best Seller list. You really just want your family and friends to enjoy reading it, right? “But what if they don’t want to read it?” whispers that little voice in your head. So, pick a story you’ve written and read it out loud to a loved one, maybe on the porch swing, maybe even over the phone. We’re pretty sure your listener will clap and cheer and encourage you to keep going. If you’re feeling especially reassured, you could ask for suggestions or advice for more story topics that they might want to hear.

Then, drown out that little voice with a positive attitude!  Remember, “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” Winston Churchill

So, what stories can we help you with?

Need additional help? Contact us at 833-767-2411 or inquiries@porchswingstories.com 

We’re always here to help.
 
Jayme & John Resnik and the Porch Swing Team

Porch Swing Tip of the Week: Doubt Buster #1 – I’m not a very good typist
 
Many of us have a narrative that plays in our minds and keeps us from tackling projects or enjoying activities.  You know it: “I’d like to invite friends over for a meal, but (your excuse here). If you’ve been taunted by some discouraging self-talk about getting started writing your life’s stories, we’re here to help you overcome and succeed! For example, if you wish you had better keyboarding/technology skills and you’re worried about this bogging down your progress, it’s time to try using a smartphone app that converts your talk into text. The Porch Swing FAQ section at www.porchswingstories.com gives a step-by-step guide to using talk-to-text technology to create your out-of-this-world stories. If you have never used this feature, you can ask a family member (tech-savvy grandkids come to mind!) or friend to help you get started. And… you’re off and running!

So, what stories can we help you with?

Need additional help? Contact us at 833-767-2411 or inquiries@porchswingstories.com 

We’re always here to help.
 
Jayme & John Resnik and the Porch Swing Team

Porch Swing Tip of the Week: Summer Nights
 
No, not talking about the song from the musical, Grease! (But singing, “Tell me more, tell me more!”) Can you still hear the cicadas and see the fireflies? Did you play kick-the-can with the neighbor kids until the streetlights came on and your parents expected you to head home? How about cold slices of watermelon and spitting the seeds farther than your sister? If you’re feeling nostalgic, sit down and record the details on your Porch Swing StorySite. As you write remember all your senses, and don’t forget to mention turning your pillow over to find a cool spot in the days before air conditioning. 

So, what stories can we help you with?

Need additional help? Contact us at 833-767-2411 or inquiries@porchswingstories.com 

We’re always here to help.
 
Jayme & John Resnik and the Porch Swing Team

Porch Swing Tip of the Week: Back to School
 
As if turning the calendar to August didn’t already remind all of us, lots of stores are running their “Back to School” sales on all the items “your kids need most.” Do you remember how it felt to get all those supplies gathered together for the first day of a new school year? The smell and feel of a brand-new box of crayons; several unsharpened pencils and a full-sized pink eraser; a Big Chief tablet or packages of notebook paper; the requisite boxes of tissues – it was all so exciting. 

A member of our Porch Swing family remembers her mother spending weeks in the summer busy with her sewing machine so her kids could have new items when school started.  What could you tell your grandkids on your Porch Swing StorySite to help them understand how your experience was similar and how it was different from 2022?  (No worries there won’t be a pop quiz!)

So, what stories can we help you with?

Need additional help? Contact us at 833-767-2411 or inquiries@porchswingstories.com 

We’re always here to help.
 
Jayme & John Resnik and the Porch Swing Team

Porch Swing Tip of the Week: Here Comes the Bride
 
Just like most other things in our culture these days, a lot has changed in our lifetimes. Look at one common ritual that is often much different now: marriage ceremonies. Destination weddings, very expensive wedding gowns, numerous attendants for both bride and groom – not to mention what deep pockets are needed! Now, lest you think I’m an old crank who complains about everything newfangled, let me clear that up. I love my dishwasher, the internet has lots of amazing information, and 75 mph on the interstate is fantastic! But I digress … be sure to write about your own marriage ceremony, whether your vows were said before the justice of the peace – and lasted fifty years plus – or you rascals started your lifelong adventure with an elopement, or you had a standard church service. Include funny or embarrassing things; be detailed, like what kind of flowers were in the bride’s bouquet, what the groom wore, who the attendants were. It was a day to remember, so do!

Need additional help? Contact us at 833-767-2411 or inquiries@porchswingstories.com 

We’re always here to help.
 
Jayme & John Resnik and the Porch Swing Team

Porch Swing Tip of the Week: April Showers Bring ????
 
You know the old poem about March winds and April showers and May flowers.  When the weather warms up and the spring showers start, about what are you reminded? Do you start planning your summer vacation?  Do you take a spring road trip to see how things are greening up? Are baby animals part of your personal spring memories? 

This year a client shared that she ate Easter dinner with her mother in the nursing home where she lives. It was not much like Easter every other year of her life up until now. But her thoughts were reminded of her family’s strong Easter traditions and foods that they fix only at that time of year, and she is doing her part to pass these on to her children. One Easter as her granddaughter bit into the special sweet bread they make in time for Good Friday, she questioned why they make it only this time of year because they really are amazing.  Our client is glad that her granddaughter knows their family customs because her generation will get to pick them up and share the traditions with future generations to come.  

Enjoy this Spring!

So, what stories can we help you with?

Need additional help? Contact us at 833-767-2411 or inquiries@porchswingstories.com 

We’re always here to help.
 
Jayme & John Resnik and the Porch Swing Team

Porch Swing Tip of the Week: Cute Things My Grandkids Say

Do you remember Art Linkletter and his TV show Kids Say the Darndest Things? He also hosted People Are Funny, which is absolutely true! Did you know he was also a promoter of and an investor in the1950’s craze, the hula hoop; that he became the spokesman for Milton Bradley’s board game, The Game of Life; and that he and his wife, Lois, were married for 74 years before he died in 2010? But I digress… kids do say such funny thigs. Art Linkletter delighted in showing children making humorous, on-air comments. Each of us is sure that our own precocious grandchildren are the cutest, smartest, most gifted, etc. creatures on the planet. Have you written about your marvelous little humans and how they have impacted and improved your life? Make sure that you take the time tell them! 

So, what stories can we help you with?

Need additional help? Contact us at 833-767-2411 or inquiries@porchswingstories.com 

We’re always here to help.
 
Jayme & John Resnik and the Porch Swing Team

Porch Swing Tip of the Week: Make Your Summer Reunion Special
 
Do you have a class reunion this summer? Will you attend? Reunions aren’t everyone’s thing, but lots of people never miss the opportunity to get together with their high school classmates, even though keeping track of old friends is simpler now with the internet and social media. Whether you attend or not, this might be a good chance to recall and discus some of the shenanigans you got into with your BFF (Best Friend Forever), “Your grandma Wasn’t Always an Angel” could be the title of this chapter in your life story.  Now that would be a chapter your grandkids would read over and over!

So, what stories can we help you with?

Need additional help? Contact us at 833-767-2411 or inquiries@porchswingstories.com 

We’re always here to help.
 
Jayme & John Resnik and the Porch Swing Team