Commissioned as a gift
The only gift that gets better after the person is gone.
For a ninetieth, a golden anniversary, a retirement from ministry, a baptism, or a milestone that everyone can see coming.
Most commissions that arrive as gifts arrive too late by about two years. If there is a date on the calendar and the subject is well, this is the easiest version of this work there is.
How a gift commission differs
- The subject usually knows. Surprise family histories are possible but harder — the interviews are the gift, and they cannot happen in secret. What most families do instead is keep the book a surprise and tell the subject only that somebody is coming to talk to them.
- Siblings can split it. Four adult children at a quarter each is the most common arrangement I see. I invoice one person; how you divide it is your business.
- The date is real. Tell me the date in your first message. I will give you a straight yes or no about whether it can be met, and I would rather turn the work down than deliver something thin on a deadline.
- Printing. The file arrives print-ready. Most families take it to a local print shop and produce eight or ten hardbacks; I will tell you what to ask for.
Lead time, honestly
| You have | What is realistic |
|---|---|
| Six months or more | A full family history. This is the good version. Multiple narrators, second and third interviews, photographs properly placed. |
| Three to five months | A focused history — one life, or one strand of the family, done well. |
| Six to twelve weeks | A long passage: two or three interviews written up to twenty or thirty pages. Genuinely giftable. |
| Under six weeks | One interview, written up. Ask me anyway — sometimes it fits, and something is enormously better than nothing. |
If someone is ill
Say so plainly in the first line of your message and put urgent in the subject. I reply the same day and I will tell you honestly what can be done in the time there is. Sometimes that is one ninety-minute conversation, recorded, written up inside a week. That is not a lesser version of this work. It is frequently the most important thing I do.
Where to start
Send me 250 words about one person.
No fee, no obligation. I will shape what you send into a finished passage, return it, and tell you honestly what your material could become. If the answer is that you do not need me, I will say that too.
PayPal invoicing only. Choose the service, receive the invoice by email, and pay securely through PayPal. ORDER & PAYPAL INVOICE →