Alyoshka

Hey,

I was trying to think of a summer job where I could be my own boss and work when it's convenient. I know that lately there has been a resurrgence of people wanting to preserve memories, yet few people are able to write well enough to put them down in any meaningful way.

How practical is it for me to think that I could make a little job of finding an old couple or two and writing a little memoir for them?

How would I go about doing this?

I'm going to be a college senior english and political science. I'm only 9 hours away from having my english degree.

Any suggestions on if this is a good idea or not? I've seen places on the internet saying they charge about $40 an hour. I think I'd do it for $25-30.

BoatDrinks

I would have no idea about how much money you could/should make, but as far as finding subjects, I would put a small ad in whatever little local paper is read by the elderly crowd in your area. There are always little community papers and such that they tend to read.

Also, go around to the retirement communities and perhaps even the "assisted living" homes. These places have folks that have nothing to do all day and most likely have tons of stories to tell. I bet they would love talking to someone about it. I doubt that they would pay, but their family might? Check with the people who run these types of places.

Scarecrow

Interesting idea. Be sure that, if you do it, you figure gas and stuff into your hourly charge. It's easy to quote a figure and forget to figure in stuff like that.

Alyoshka

thanks to both of you for the great advice! I guess I'll spend a couple weeks seeing if I can line something up...then if it doesn't work I'll do the conventional job search.

lorenzoh

I have also heard of people compiling memoirs in a whole multimedia presentation on disc. Writing, still photos, video and audio interviews. It's much more administrative work but easier for family and friends to share. These types of Digital Media classes are big at colleges with extension courses.