Users Are Loving MyStories: More Stories from Our Community

MyStories offers a thoughtful way to capture life stories and turn them into beautifully printed books — a gift that can be shared across generations. With Mother’s Day approaching, many people are looking for a meaningful way to celebrate the mothers and grandmothers in their lives. In honor of Mother’s Day, you can now get 25% off MyStories books with code MOTHER25. 

Since its launch in early 2025, we’ve received encouraging feedback from users who have written and preserved their stories. You can read more in our original announcement post and our first collection of user stories.

We’ve continued to receive heartfelt feedback from users around the world, and we’re sharing a few more of those experiences here.

Steve Dewey

Steve Dewey from Utah, U.S., used MyStories to preserve his parents’ life stories and ordered 9 copies to share with his family.

Over 50 years ago, as newlyweds, my wife and I recorded hours of personal life stories as told to us by my parents. Sadly, both have since passed away. But, thanks to MyStories, those memories of my parents are now preserved in book form for our entire family to enjoy for generations to come.

The process of creating their book of stories in an illustrated chapter form was easy and enjoyable. I appreciated the flexibility of writing our own chapter titles instead of using your suggested questions. And I also loved being able to submit more than one chapter per week.

The ability to add photos and illustrations was very important, making the book much more interesting and personal to our children and grandchildren. I am very impressed with the quality of the book overall. It’s definitely meant to last for a lifetime and more.

Our married children have started reading the book to their own families, and they all love it. They’ve found it to be a great family bonding activity at bedtime, mealtimes, or on long road trips.

Thank you for making this family heirloom possible. We’re already planning the next one.

Jac van Gerwen

Jac van Gerwen from the Netherlands wrote his life story with MyStories and ordered 3 copies to share with his family.

My wife suggested I write my life story using MyStories.

With the help of your hints for the chapters I started the walk through that memory lane. It was really a fine and relaxing process to go back to my youth.

To sit back and remember the way you grew up with your brothers, sister, friends and your parents was a time that one forgets the day to day situations.

When writing the story you get the message loud and clear that one is a very lucky and happy man.

So I thank my wife and MyStories that I have got the opportunity to memorize one’s life again and again and that all of this is captured in a very professional and beautiful printed book.

Ingrid Verkaaik

Ingrid Verkaaik, a longtime MyHeritage user from New Zealand, created a MyStories book and ordered 7 copies to share with her family.

I am pleased to have received MyStories books and have passed some of them on to family.

My younger sister was absolutely thrilled with it and said she will keep it for members of her family to read. It is a historical book (looking back on childhood) and it helps in understanding my position on circumstances we all went through, but maybe saw things differently.

The questions certainly gave me the incentive to think about things and enabled me to write the book as an autobiographical work.

I enjoyed the way the photos in the book were arranged and the general outlay of the writing supported by photos that MyHeritage arranged.

I was thrilled to do it and really got into completing the task before time. My brothers thought that it was great and really nice to have. We are separated geographically and it’s always great to look back on things that were.

Rose McArthur

Rose McArthur from Great Britain created a MyStories book to preserve her life story for future generations.

The whole concept of MyStories is a wonderful one which offers so many different choices and opportunities, no matter one’s circumstances.

I write this as an 80-year-old lady and avid genealogist. Yes, I have a lifetime of stories to tell, but what inspired me in the first place was the fact that I would literally feel I was in Aladdin’s cave if my grandmother, great-grandmother, or indeed any of my ancestors had left a book talking about their life.

Writing my story, inspired initially by the suggested topics, has been fun. It has taken me down memory lane, evoked wonderful memories of my families, helped me to revisit my youth and reminded me that, although we all have our tough times, it is the happiest memories which come flooding back first.

Perhaps, equally as important, it will give my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren etc. an opportunity to learn more about their ancestral roots should any of them be curious and want to know more. MyStories is my tribute to the fact that, right now, we are the ancestors of the future.

Initially, having the prompts is what enables one to kickstart the process; it can be written in an ad hoc manner, or systematically. Being a butterfly by nature, my method was very ad hoc! There is the option of working on the weekly-submitted suggestions, or one can initiate topics of one’s own choice. I did both.

The whole project was most rewarding and left me with a really pleasing sense of accomplishment.

I would highly recommend MyStories to anyone who would like to leave a bit of themselves to their families and descendants, or simply just to tell their interesting personal story. The final product is absolutely first-class quality.

The whole experience has been most enjoyable, to the extent that I have even thought it would be good to do another one!

William Decker

William Decker from the U.S. created a MyStories book after years of wanting to write his life story.

I have long thought of writing about my life and had collected notes and ideas, but I never quite knew how to get started or how to structure what I wanted to say.

MyStories provided both structure and motivation — the weekly questions helped me by providing specific topics about which I could write and made it easy for me to “keep up” with the project.

My children love the “finished product” as the book was very nicely bound and of good quality.

Ed Goldberg

Ed Goldberg from Canada created a MyStories book and captured his life story over the course of a year.

Working with MyStories to create a book of my life stories was an incredibly rewarding experience. Each week, they provided thoughtful chapter suggestions that helped guide me through the process, while still giving me the flexibility to adjust or create my own chapters based on what mattered most to me.

The online platform made it easy to write at my own pace, and over the course of a year I was able to carefully build, edit, and refine my story. I also appreciated being able to add personal photos, which made the final product even more meaningful.

When I received the finished hardcover book, I was genuinely proud — it’s beautifully made and something I will treasure. Having a digital PDF version as well is a great bonus.

My only regret is not ordering more printed copies to share with family, because it truly turned out better than I imagined. I would highly recommend MyStories to anyone looking to preserve their memories in a lasting and personal way.

Looking ahead

Taking the time to write your stories creates something meaningful — for you and for the families who will read them. If you’ve been thinking about writing your stories, or creating a meaningful gift for someone close to you, this is a good time to start.

Start telling your stories — or help someone you love tell theirs with MyStories.

In honor of Mother’s Day, use promo code MOTHER25 at checkout to get 25% off MyStories books.