Project 365 Vets is a site I would normally list on one of my inside pages rather than featuring here, but because its mission is so worthy and may be time-limited (it’s not clear to me whether the project will continue for more than one year), I’m giving it the spotlight.

The site was found by two moms “who are on a mission to honor a Veteran a day, every day of the year.” The founders say:

We want to honor veterans through their stories told in their own words. Our goals are simple. We want to honor our heroes, raise awareness about the issues veterans face every day, and preserve veteran’s stories for future generations.

Project 365 Vets actively seeks veterans who would like to share their stories. Wednesdays have been set aside for Memorial Stories, so that those who would like to honor a fallen hero may also participate.

Those interested in participating in the project are encouraged contact the project founder Tina Shang.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

A convergence of three recent articles tickles my fascination with differences in how we tell our stories in the virtual world vs. “in real life.”

In one of the posts (which is referenced in the second one), R.I.P. Personal Branding, Olivier Blanchard expresses a refreshing, iconoclastic view in a careers sector that has been dominated by the you-must-have-a-personal-brand edict for the past several years:

People are people. They aren’t brands. When people become “brands,” they stop being people and become one of three things: vessels for cultural archetypes, characters in a narrative, or products. … Can you realistically remain “authentic” and real once you have surrendered yourself to a process whose ultimate aim is to drive a business agenda?

I have long shared this cynicism about personal branding. “Is there really any value,” Blanchard continues, “to turning yourself into a character or a product instead of just being… well, who you are?” And finally, scathingly: “You know what we used to call people with ‘personal brands’ before the term was coined? Fakes.”

In Is Your Personal Brand Fake?, inspired in part by Blanchard’s post, my colleague Barbara Safani seems to take the view that personal branding is OK as long as it’s not fake. For example, the identity — or brand — she projects on Facebook, she contends, is authentically her:

People who friend me on Facebook see the gray. Sure, they get job search advice, links to great articles and resources, and motivating success stories about my clients and all of this helps build their confidence in me as a professional. But they also see what types of things I am interested in and they get a feel for who I am as a New Yorker, a mother, a daughter, a friend. And if they dig deeper they will figure out that I love dark chocolate, running in Central Park, and high-heeled shoes. They get the panoramic view of me rather than just the professional headline. People want to hire people that they relate to and connect with.

Barb contrasts the projection of one’s personal brand on Facebook with that on LinkedIn, which she implies may be “boring, one-dimensional and not believable … [j]ust like many of the LinkedIn profile headlines I read…Visionary CEO…Dynamic Marketing Executive, Results-Oriented Operations Manager…”

She’s saying, I believe, that it’s possible to express an authentic brand but easier (or perhaps, more expected) to do so in some online venues than in others.

According to the third post, we do authentically express our real selves in social media, especially on Facebook. In Study: Your Facebook Personality Is The Real You, Alicia Eler reports on an academic paper revealing results of two research studies that conclude “Facebook users are no different online than they are offline.”

It’s not hard to find flaws in the studies. One suggests that the number of one’s Facebook friends correlates with extroversion. I have a higher than average (130 friends, according to Facebook’s stats) number of friends, but I attribute that at least in part to the fact that I have been on Facebook longer than many people — since 2005, when only people with .edu email addresses could belong.

Still, I agree, like Barb Safani, that what you see of me on Facebook is pretty much authentically me. One exception is politics. I hold strong political feelings, “feelings” being the operative word. I expend a lot of time and energy trying to avoid political punditry because it makes my blood boil. Similarly, I avoid engaging politically in social media because I’m too emotional about it to make rational arguments. This avoidance is admittedly difficult in an election year. But I digress …

To avoid fakery in the way we project ourselves — whether online or in real life — we need to think in terms not of personal branding but of personal storytelling. We have amazing tools to do that these days. Blanchard writes, for example:

If I have learned anything from Facebook’s new Timeline feature, it’s this: It’s fun to be yourself. It’s easy to forget that, especially when the “personal branding” industry would have you shift your focus away from the little flaws that make you… well, you.

Ask yourself if you are authentically telling your story in all your interactions and look at the differences in how you tell it from venue to venue.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

Recently, in a LinkedIn group to which I belong, a member cited his “favorite LinkedIn profile of all time.” The profile belongs to Orrin “Checkmate” Hudson, who uses chess to turn around troubled kids, and it does the best job I’ve ever seen of using a LinkedIn profile as a platform to tell a story. And not just a story, but a compelling, inspiring story. Here is most of it:

I grew up in a tough housing project in Birmingham, AL, in the 1980s, never far from gangs, drugs, and criminal activity. Fortunately for me, I met an exceptional teacher who put me on the right path.

After 6 years as an Alabama State Trooper, I thought I’d seen some worst possible examples of human behavior. Then one night in May, 2004, the TV showed how 2 teenagers murdered 5 teenaged employees of a Wendy’s in far-away Queens, NY. Kids killing kids for money — cold blooded, execution style, no value for life — all for a lousy $2400.

Evil prevails when good people do nothing. The TV images were so awful I couldn’t sleep that night. I thought back to my own youth — growing up in a family of 13 kids — and how close I came to landing in jail for stealing inner tubes off truck tires. But an English teacher got me interested in the game of chess. He turned me around.

Watching the aftermath of a mass murder in Queens was my personal wake-up call. I decided to follow the example of my own teacher and use chess to turn around troubled kids. Nine months later I sold my business — auto sales and repairs — and launched BeSomeone.org. As of 2012, we’ve helped build the character of about 25,000 young people — our goal is one million — to inspire them through the game of chess.

The last time I wrote about LinkedIn profiles, I noted that one of the difficulties of deploying stories in profiles is that, like resumes, the profiles are usually constructed in reverse-chronological order. Granted, it appears that Hudson doesn’t seek a job; his objective seems to be to raise awareness for his organization and drive visitors to its Web site. As such, he perhaps has more latitude with the chronology of his profile.

LinkedIn profiles are usually presented in reverse-chronological order because the user wants the audience to see the most recent — and usually most relevant — career activity first. In promoting his organization, Hudson has less of a need to list the most recent first. In fact, his story does not follow a linear course. His profile is far more engaging for drawing the reader in with the challenge of his growing-up years. He then skips way ahead to a more recent career incarnation and how a classic inciting incident became the turning point that led to launching his organization.

In between the incident and describing founding the organization, he flashes back to the teacher that turned him around as a youth by sparking his interest in chess.

Skipped in the tale is how he went from being an Alabama State Trooper to owning an auto sales and repair business — but it hardly matters because the reader is so immersed in his tale.

Would a chronological — but not necessarily linear — story work in a job-seeker’s LinkedIn profile? Maybe. It helps to have a dramatic, turning-point inciting incident around which to spin the story. It also helps to write as well as Hudson does. At the very least, Hudson’s profile has opened my eyes to the story possibilities in LinkedIn profiles.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

Some interesting life-writing items I’ve come across recently reflect end-of-the-old-year/beginning-of-the-new-year themes.

Professional Personal Historian Dan Curtis (pictured) published a list of The Top Personal History Blogs of 2011, some of which I know well and will also be well-known to readers here. (Do read his post to learn his criteria for the list and which blogs he considers to be the best of the best). Here are his picks with his commentary:

• The Heart and Craft of Life Writing. Owner Sharon Lippincott describes herself as “…passionate about all forms of life writing, especially memoir and journaling.”

• Legacy Multimedia blog. Owner Stefani Twyford says that on her blog “you will read about my passion for personal history, filmmaking techniques, genealogy, and related topics. I will veer off onto other topics from time to time but always come back to the things that make my work and my life a joy.”

• Memoir Mentor. Owner Dawn Thurston says, “My blog is an attempt to participate in the larger community of people interested in life story writing of all kinds and perhaps help a few people persevere in writing their stories.”

• The Memoir Writer’s Blog. Owner Denis Ledoux describes his blog as “helping people write family and personal stories…”

• One Story at a Time. Owner Beth LaMie says, “I hope you find my stories of interest, especially if you want to write some of your own family stories.”

• True Stories Well Told. Owner Sarah White says, “Here’s where I share the thoughts I might bring up for class discussion. Here’s where I post the writings of my fearless, peerless, workshop participants. Here’s where I share stories from my own life, as well as my pet peeves, pointers, and personal observations. I hope to create the atmosphere you find in my classrooms.”

• Video Biography Central. Owner Jane Lehmann-Shafron describes her blog as a place for “Advice, essays, samples and inspiration for people interested in preserving their personal and family history through video biography, memorial video, life story and genealogy video.”

• Women’s Memoirs. Owners Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnet have put together a wealth of information that includes writing prompts, book reviews, and more. Women’s Memoirs is not strictly speaking a personal history site but there’s a lot of useful material here for anyone involved in personal histories.

Curtis also recently published The 50 Best Life Story Questions. It’s a terrific list because it certainly isn’t run of the mill. Here’s a small sampling:

• If you could do one thing over in your life, what would it be?
• What makes you happy?
• Looking back on your life, what do you regret?
• What do you believe to be true?
• What is the secret to a happy life?
• What do you believe happens to us after we die?
• Who’s had the greatest influence on your life and why?
• What are the qualities that you admire in your friends?
• What is the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do?
• How would you describe yourself?

Amber Lea Starfire has an New Year’s Day excellent post in which she describes the process she engages in annually in which she reflects on the past and looks forward to the future. In A New Year’s Writing Tradition, she describes creating a New Year’s Chart (pictured), kind of a mind map that captures:

• Things I want to do.
• Things I want to be.
• Things I want to learn.
• Things and people I want to see.
• Places I want to go.
• Adventures I want to have

Amber says developing the chart is a fun, creative activity, and I believe it.

Finally, when SMITH Magazine founder Larry Smith participated in his Q&A here back in September 2010, the magazine had just launched a new project, The Moment, “moving personal pieces about key instances — a moment of opportunity, serendipity, calamity, or chaos — that have had profound consequences on our lives.” Today is the release day for the book that resulted from the project, THE MOMENT: Wild, Poignant, Life-Changing Stories from 125 Writers and Artists Famous & Obscure. I’m probably looking forward to this book more than Smith’s six-word-memoir books because the contents will necessarily be much more storied when not restricted to six words.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

In his final offering of November’s National Lifewriting Month, Denis Ledoux offered the downloadable Scheduling for Success, a guide to keeping one’s writing projects on track.

Strictly speaking, the guide works for any writer, not just lifewriters.

Meanwhile, Annabel Candy is offering the free, downloadable e-booklet, Personal Writing Magic.

The 10-page publication offers personal writing tips, storytelling devices for memorable personal writing, a piece on personal writing and self-discovery, and seven personal-writing themes.

The personal-writing approach came about for Candy when she made an interesting discovery: “It turned out that people are much more interested in my personal story and experiences than they are in my qualifications …”

I can relate. Sometimes I feel self-indulgent when I occasionally write personal stories about my own life in this space — but those posts often generate more attention and comment than my usual fare.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

Here’s one more followup on New York Times columnist David Brooks’s project to collect stories from folks older than 70, a series he’s calling “The Life Report” …

Brooks has synthesized the lessons offered by the life stories/essays he received:

• Divide your life into chapters.
• Beware rumination.
• You can’t control other people.
• Lean toward risk.
• Measure people by their growth rate, not by their talents.
• Be aware of the generational bias.
• Work within institutions or crafts, not outside them.
• People get better at the art of living.

You can read Brooks’s full elaboration on these lessons here.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

A few months ago, graduate student Joseph Palmisano asked me to be a subject-matter expert for his master’s-degree project, an online, narrative-based career tool.

In fact, it has been my involvement with Joseph’s project that has inspired this current series. He turned me on to Lisa Severy, whose similar project I profiled in the previous segment of the series.

Like Severy’s Joseph’s tool is beginning its life as a project as opposed to an actual product the public can use. While Severy’s didn’t survive after her research ended (though many aspects were rolled into the True Path assessment on the site Turning Points), Joseph hopes to approach his employer, a publisher, about turning it into a product. He has given me permission to write about the project.

Like Severy’s project and virtually any narrative-based career assessment, Joseph’s project is “designed to take a constructivist approach to career assessment, whereby:

• Subjective life and work experiences and feelings are viewed as a whole within a lifelong development framework.
• An individual is guided to author a meaningful future career story that is integrated with life themes and a preferred way of being.
• The expected outcome is client-driven change based on a deeper understanding of self-identity and growing complexity of the world of work.”

The steps, or “chapters” in Joseph’s version, which he has named “Constructing a Life that Works,” taken from the title of a research paper on narrative career consulting by Campbell and Ungar. His target audience is mid-career changers, who “will write a future career story integrated with the other aspects of their lives in collaboration with a career counselor.” I can’t be absolutely sure, having not seen Severy’s project, but my impression is that Joseph’s model places greater emphasis on working through the chapters with a counselor.

The seven chapter story exercises cover the following tasks. In each chapter, “Collaborating with the career counselor” consists of emailing a self-assessment to counselor and reflecting on feedback and guidance:

Self-Assessment

• Describing career indecision and reasons
• Collaborating with career counselor

Chapter 1: Early Recollections

• Writing about childhood memories
• Identifying life themes
• Collaborating with career counselor
• Elaborating on chapter story and life themes

Chapter 2: Role Models

• Writing about role models
• Identifying life themes
• Connecting themes of chapter stories
• Collaborating with career counselor
• Elaborating on chapter story and life themes

Chapter 3: Values

• Identifying values
• Identifying life themes
• Connecting themes of chapter stories
• Collaborating with career counselor
• Elaborating on chapter story and life themes

Chapter 4: Interests

• Writing about interests (work, hobbies, other activities)
• Identifying life themes
• Connecting themes of chapter stories
• Collaborating with career counselor
• Elaborating on chapter story and life themes

Chapter 5: Career and Adult Life Roles

• Writing about work and adult life-role experiences
• Identifying life themes
• Connecting themes of chapter stories
• Collaborating with career counselor
• Elaborating on chapter story and life themes patterns

Chapter 6: Future Career Story

• Combining chapters into future story
• Using Web-based sources on the world of work
• Collaborating with career counselor
• Elaborating on future career story

Chapter 7: Action Plan

• Drafting action steps and timeframe
• Documenting potential barriers, solutions, and compromises
• Identifying support resources
• Collaborating with career counselor
• Finalizing plan

I note two especially interesting aspects to the tool. In the “Early Recollections” chapter, Joseph talks about the concept of “preoccupation:”

Some early memories made a greater emotional impression than others, due to your sensitivity to them. These memories became a preoccupation or struggle that you, often subconsciously, continue to relive and attempt to turn into motivation and strength. With repetition, you will hopefully take another step towards mastery.

It seemed to me that a user would need some guidance about which early recollections to focus on as it’s hard to imagine that just any recollection is relevant to this “preoccupation” and themes that inform one’s career. Asked my earliest recollection, for example, I always cite the time my sister, age 1, picked up a honeybee and handed it to me (age 3), whereupon, the bee stung me. It’s hard to see preoccupation and career themes in that memory.

Joseph takes his cue from Mark Savickas, a pioneer in narrative career counseling. “Savickas suggests,” Joseph says, “that the client will share what s/he believes are significant memories, which will result in identifying their preoccupation.” Maybe I just don’t remember enough about my childhood (one of the hazards of being as old as I am).

The other interesting piece is Joseph’s approach of integrating a nomothetic assessment into an otherwise idiographic one; in a chapter that encompasses elaborating on life-career themes, Joseph has the career counselor determine the client’s RIASEC type based on the client’s writings. RIASEC is an acronym for the career-related personality types developed by psychologist John L. Holland. The letters in RIASEC stand for: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. The client takes his or her RIASEC type into consideration in drafting his or her Success Formula. Typically, RIASEC would be derived from a multiple-choice-type assessment. I’m rather fascinated that counselors could derive the type from the client’s narrative instead. I’m also slightly uneasy that the narrative doesn’t stand on its own in Joseph’s approach, and the more reductive RIASEC approach is introduced. Combining the approaches, however, is novel, and I’ll be interested to see how it plays out.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

Denis Ledoux has been offering loads of free goodies for November’s National Life Writing Month.

The latest is a free download, Who Will Read Your Book?.

The guide includes a detailed form that enables authors to truly understand whom they’re writing for.

Ledoux’s own audience is lifewriters/memoirists, but the handout could be used for virtually any kind of book.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

I’m continuing to receive lots of communications from Denis Ledoux of Soleil Lifestory, marking National Lifewriting Month.

Tonight at 7 Eastern is his first of three teleclasses for memoir writers, “Write the First Draft of Your Memoir: Getting Started and Keeping Going.” To register for the free class, call 207-353-5454 or e-mail.

Denis is also offering a PDF “Where Do I Start Guide” for memoir writing, along with these November memoir-writing/activity prompts:

November 6: Organize a lifestory party to which you invite your siblings. Have a free exchange of memories.

November 7: Tell a story to your child or grandchild about one of your grandparents.

November 8: Tell a friend or relative the back story of an object in your house. Write the story down.

November 9: Write in a journal about today. Include salient details that will make the day vivid when you reread this entry years from now.

November 10: Write a 3-to-5-page story about something in your life you have not spoken to many people about.

November 11: Volunteer to write five pages of a relative’s lifestory.

November 12: Find your memorabilia (diplomas, newspaper articles, certificates) and write at least 50 memories that come to you.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

When I first read this article about funeral celebrants, I didn’t get what the big deal was. It talked about “a growing trend at funerals: celebrants, whose aim is to make funerals more personal and meaningful while officiating the services.”

It seemed to me that part of funeral officiants’ role has always been to deliver a personal eulogy if possible.

But as I read on, I learned that this breed of celebrant helps “families that are not affiliated with a church and who do not want a religious service.”

I also learned that celebrants are trained by the likes of the Celebrant Foundation and Institute and In-Sight Institute and that they offer storied ceremonies for occasions other than funerals. From the Celebrant Foundation and Institute (which calls these practitioners Life-Cycle Celebrants):

Celebrants officiate at and co-create personalized ceremonies such as weddings, marriages, commitments, renewal of vows, baby welcomings and adoptions, coming of age, step-family tributes, new dwellings, birthdays, graduations, survivor tributes, job transitions, memorials, funerals/end of life tributes, divorce, special achievements and civic and corporate events.

Storytelling is part of the curriculum for those training to be celebrants, and these practitioners sit down with families to gather stories for the ceremonies at which they serve.

Celebrant Foundation and Institute Charlotte Eulette international director affirms what I’ve always believed about why personal storytelling has exploded in recent years:

After Sept. 11, 2001, she said, “people in America wanted something personal, and death became something to be embraced.”

I’m excited to learn of a new way folks can integrate storytelling into a career field.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.