Legacy Letter | Memoir | Last Word
write it down or watch it vanish
There comes a time
when the decades behind us
stretch further than the years ahead of us
for many the decades pass in silence
telling stories changes that
through a series of gentle conversations I create
Memoir Legacy Letter
& Last Word
echoing your own voice reflecting on
The places, patterns
truth, the tears &
the ordinary moments
Begin while the story is still yours to tell
Writing Services
What I know now
Is that most lives end up reduced to a few lines, a handful of memories, fragmented versions of who someone was.
It doesn’t have to be that way
I grew up in Ireland, where silence was a virtue and secrets were taken to the grave. For all the gift of the gab, the craic, the warmth and the wit — the silence was sometimes deafening. Beneath the surface ran a veneer of respectability, and beneath that, shame. Things happened that were never spoken of. People who existed, erased. Because the truth was considered too dangerous, too costly, too much. Their memories and experiences taken to the grave. The story of who they were, gone. Forever.
That's where I come from. It shapes everything I do.
I don't rush it. I'll meet you wherever you are — even in the "I don't know where to begin" — and gently guide you until the words come.
And when they do, they're yours, not mine.
If you don't tell your story, someone else will, inaccurately, briefly or not at all.
Investment
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Guided recollection and conversations
Your memories gathered, organised and shaped into a beautifully written narrative
Edited hardback book of 55–80 pages, professionally printed with cover design
Completed over 12–14 weeks
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A beautifully written letter for children, partners, family or dear friends, written in your voice
Approximately 2–5 pages
Presented on premium archival paper, in calligraphy or your own sampled handwriting
Completed over 2–4 weeks
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Your final reflections, memories, guidance and personal messages, preserved in your own words
Includes a professionally written obituary, eulogy and order of service, final inscriptions and a will-reading preamble
Presented in a personalised A5 colour folder for guests to receive and be guided by
Completed over 4–6 weeks
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A gentle, allied-support writing service to sit alongside therapy, reflection or personal healing
For documentation around grief, estrangement, trauma, regret, survival and identity
Approximately 3–7 pages, presented on parchment in calligraphy or your own sampled hand
Completed over 2–3 weeks
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Professional narration or voice recreation where possible
Captures accent, dialect, humour, personality, tone and emotional presence
Whether you tell your story in your own voice or create a lasting recording for future generations, narration adds what words alone can't description
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Your story doesn't lose its importance simply because life becomes financially difficult — wherever possible, every effort will be made to help preserve what matters.
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This work is sensory, visceral and emotionally intelligent. Together we'll return to the smallest moments — the ones that rarely vocalised. The warmth of a kitchen. The sounds that signalled the time of day. The pattern on your mother's dress. The weight of their hand finding yours when words were no longer enough.
It's often the quietest details that carry the greatest emotional truth.
My language is deliberately plain. I don't believe powerful writing needs complicated words. Instead I choose a considered and restrained tender vocabulary that lets the emotion do the work.
Every memoir develops its own voice, because every life has one.
I listen closely to how you naturally speak, and the writing gradually begins to sound unmistakably like you.
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Together we'll create a visual style that belongs only to your memoir. Typefaces, chapter titles, image placement, captions, photographs, family documents and the overall rhythm of the finished book. Some memoirs feel quiet and understated; others are rich with photographs, maps, recipes, letters or memorabilia.
No two memoirs will ever look the same.
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Over approximately 10–12 weeks we'll meet every ten days for 45 minutes to an hour.
Each conversation has its own purpose. Some weeks I'll introduce memory-collecting techniques. Other weeks I'll send prompts or a theme before we meet so you have time to ponder what you might like to revisit. Sometimes our conversations are completely free flowing; sometimes I'll gently guide you with questions that help uncover stories that have been sitting quietly for decades.
Around week nine I'll usually be able to give you a preview of how your memoir is taking shape
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An old photograph. A recipe card. A familiar song. The pattern on a dress. Someone passing in the street who reminds you of a friend you haven't thought about for forty years. Those moments matter. When they arrive, send them to me.
We'll use Messenger, text message or WhatsApp for those moments. You can send photographs, voice notes, memories, or simply a message saying, "I'd like to talk about an old friend next time."
For our scheduled conversations, I use Microsoft Teams. It's reliable, free to download, and lets me record our sessions (with your consent) — so nothing you say is ever lost to a bad connection or a faulty memory (mine, not yours). But I'll happily adjust to whatever you're already comfortable with — Messenger, Instagram, FaceTime, or an old-fashioned phone call all work just as well.
The communication method is whatever feels easiest and most comfortable for you.
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I build yours in Microsoft OneNote as the work unfolds. It's where I gather timelines, notes, memories, research, sequencing, edits, rewrites, photographs and contributions from family if you'd like them included.
It is a living working document rather than a polished manuscript.
Once your memoir is complete, I'll give you the notebook as part of your project — a record of how your story came together.
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I don't outsource interviews, editing or writing because, I want this work to remain personal, intimate and deeply considered. Quality matters more to me than quantity.
Each year I write around thirteen memoirs, alongside Legacy Letters and Last Word projects. Although those pieces are shorter, they carry just as much emotional responsibility and care.
When you work with me, you're working with the same person from our first conversation to the final printed page.
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Alongside my commissioned work, I run complimentary memoir workshops throughout New Zealand in retirement villages, hospices, prisons, community groups and adult learning centres. They continually remind me how quickly memories disappear unless someone simply asks.I've learned how precious it is to help someone remember a few more stories while there is still someone there to tell them.
I do this because if someone isn’t invited to share memories, they not be inclined to give them, Thinking nobody would be interested - do it for yourself, first and foremost.
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Every memoir is designed individually to reflect the life it contains. All workshop materials and printed pieces are produced in house on carefully chosen made in New Zealand paper.
Your finished hardback memoir is produced by a professional book printer to create an heirloom that is made to last for generations.
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Your words, my writing - belongs to you.
Everything you share is treated with complete confidence and will never be published, circulated or used by me without your written permission.
How I work with you in ten steps
Writing is shaped through conversation, memory recollecting, writing and design.
You will work with me personally from our first conversation to the final printed page.
Ten | Where I Write
Every word is written from my old 1940s wooden home in Ngauranga Gorge, Aotearoa. I wake up hungry for words I write from dawn til dusk. Words come easy to me. I spend my days clattering on a keyboard listening for the sound of silence to hear the right descriptors. Sometimes I look up and notice the changing light on the water, watching the southerlies gain momentum.
I have to be in the mood to write, and Wellington - with its hills, winds and village feel gives me that mood.
Are you in the mood?
Enjoy a complimentary clarity call with me hello@tellingstories.art
