Flash Narrative Video: A Surprise on William

Flash Narratives are a way to share my current work in progress, a book based on the Great Plains diaries of my great-aunt Hattie, which she kept from 1920-1957. For more background information on the project and a complete list of Flash Narratives, go here.

This week’s Flash Narrative is something new: a video! It was soooo much fun to make. I hope you enjoy it.

June 7, 1942: A Surprise on William

16 thoughts on “Flash Narrative Video: A Surprise on William”

  1. Lisa, I LOVE this! Do you have personal recollections any of these fore-bearers? I also journal, and although I do it only because I love to do it, this shows how valuable it can be to yet-to-be-born descendants. And I love your statement, that everyday life matters.
    I have searched, to a degree on ancestry.com, just because I wish I could put faces and names to my grandparents parents and grandparents. Something about it is just fascinating to me. Thanks so much for this video. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
    Jane

    • Jane, thank you! Louise, the first woman on the left in the group of siblings, was my grandmother, and she lived on the same farm where I grew up, so I knew her very well. Like you, I find this kind of history fascinating. I wish I’d talked to my grandmother more about it.

  2. Lisa..thank you so much. My aunt, when I was 11 or 12, in the mid 1950’s, gave me a diary, the kind with the little gold key, and it started me on a lifetime of journaling. … it hasn’t been continuous, and some have been lost thru moves, but my aunt, who is almost 100 still journals I’m sure. (I haven’t seen her for many years, but she has felt it important to record the family history thru recording it in archives. I write because I love to and it helps me remember details that would have been forgotten. I love to read what was written by … usually women…on their daily lives, and I often wonder what prompted women who traveled by covered wagon, and lived isolated on the prairies to record their daily lives…luckily for us they did. Thank you for sharing your families memories. Siggi in Downeast Maine

    • Siggi, thank you so much for these thoughts! I have the same curiosity you do. Maybe the reason is the same as yours: They write because they love to. Your point about remembering details is also important, and one I haven’t fully appreciated before delving into Hattie’s diaries.

      Do you still have the diary with the little gold key?

  3. Woo! I just love this. I love the book trailer aspect of it, and you’ve done a wonderful job of bringing Hattie’s appeal to present day. Really awesome, Lisa!

    • Thank you, Christi! I definitely have a new hobby (as if I need another one, lol). I hope that my family enjoys it.

  4. Lisa this is awesome! I loved the music you chose – it really added to the feeling of the times. Thanks for sharing this. It must have taken a fair chunk of time to create!

    • Carrie, thank you! It took more time than I’m willing to admit, but it was my first try with the new software I’m using, so I’m thinking of it as a learning curve.

  5. Lisa, you did a great job! I love it! I’m writing a trilogy, with the 2nd book based on my mom’s life. Wish she had journalled. It surely would have helped!

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