If you desire to tell stories from your life, it behooves you to remember that you will be performing. Your life is too marvelous and special to be treated lightly. We encourage oral history performers to work on and practice their storytelling skills. Of course, we often tell stories from our lives in everyday circumstances, over lunch, meeting with friends, in the car, etc. But it is well to consider a formal telling of your life stories to loved ones and others.
Formality requires deliberateness and practice.
It also requires honing our storytelling skills. Our stories are made up of images that we can see, taste, feel, smell, and hear. When we remember our fishing trip with Dad, we may remember Dad's smile, the smell of the fish, the cool water, and the heron's cry. These are images which should be sharpened, made complete, and then included in your performanace. This may take some mental work as you muse about the past, filling the blanks.