Future posthumous autobiography

Good advice ... will begin to write the ending.

Maybe even in the vain of Jimmy "The Saint" Tosnia (Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, 1995) who runs "Afterlife Advice" in Denver, where dying people videotape messages for their loved ones.

Good plan. Although if you live to a ripe old age a lot of us won't get to read it!
Good point! I'll try not to take *too* long! ☺ — Derek

Good move!

My father wrote a good few thousand words on his life before he passed.
Entitled 'Letter to my Grandchildren' - its a treasure for the family.
He lived from 1930 and only just left us.

Malc x

I love this concept. So great. Something I'm doing is journaling twice a day sent to an email account only I have. Upon my death, people will gain access and have a journal entry for every single morning and evening from my life.

Will you be including a chapter about me?

I've been working on a memoir for almost 3 years now. I should be done by the time I'm dead. I hope I'm interesting.

Derek, I love this idea. Yours will be a treasure. Just yesterday I was talking to a deacon to prepare a memorial service for the brother of my best friend. In compiling all of the information needed for the service, I realized we should all be living our lives with this compilation of information in the works. We spend so much time monitoring silly metrics that don't matter, like retirement funds and weight... but when we die is when we realize how we lived.

I'm going to ponder what you've said and attempt it myself.

Thank you for writing.

Great idea. As ever, you are leading the way.

Question: I'm curious as to what the logistics are of it being released if you should die suddenly by accident or sudden serious illness. Do you have a copy with a trusted friend? A blog post that's set to publish a week in the future (that you keep pushing back while alive), or something else entirely?

Hi Derek,
this really reasonates with me.
My second child brought a lot of worries, future worries, hitting 37 yo, I often worry I won't be of much help in the future, expecially when she will be my age, so I began a sort of diary last year. I never thought you and so much of your readers were doing something similar

"History will be kind to me,
for I intend to write it"
☺ — Derek

Great idea, looking forward to reading it, but not to you dying!

I don't relate to this as I live in the present, surrounded by a spiritual world.

For a good while, one of my joys in life was sitting at lunch between a married couple in power wheelchairs who could not easily feed themselves. So I would.

"You guys just chew, and since you are a captive audience I will tell you about my boring so-called life." We had great fun, since they were truly interested in my recent days, and I can make a story out of anything.

But still... even for good comedy shows on TV the makers know not to go over a half hour.—So why a book of my life?—Any longer and they had best do a variety show. I love my own journals but I don't read very many pages at a time.

Journal note: I write with a semi-permeable membrane for the world, so I don't have to mention or linger on unhelpful stuff: It doesn't help me to improve, and is not very educational.
Also, for every two-page spread I have a corner section for highlights so that my life is not all a blur. A fellow my age said, "I've lost two decades, and I don't know which ones."

I try to share my life in the present.
What helps others is sharing my life on an ongoing basis as honestly as I can, so that when a person is in trouble, perhaps ashamed and scared, I already have an honest relationship so I can be trusted to hear the news and respond from my heart.

Why do you need an autobiography?
I don't. But some people who care about me might want one, and it might be fun to write. — Derek

The code for auto formatting all and releasing in all formats would be awesome! haha

I love this idea, and glad you are doing it.

I like this idea better than my idea, which was to write a bunch of emails to be sent with some kind of digital dead man's switch. I didn't trust myself to code it in a way that wasn't too annoying, and thinking about it I guess this is the kind of thing people leave in wills, or ask others to do for them. It might be nice to have paper copies of the letters too (which your autobiography would also do!)

Love this Derek ..... and makes me consider what I would write and also some others .

Can’t wait to read your autobiography ☺️☺️🙏👀

Oh man. I miss Milt too. :(

Chris

But now some people will root for your death so they can read the book. You should release a middle version with the statement, "this book is a work in progress so you can read it in this middle stage."

Every 10 years put out the update. That's about right.

Marvellous - in my day this was called keeping a diary or journal...

I won't be boring any friends with my life.

Be remembered as how you want it. Or more importantly writing it down makes it more real. Self fulfilling prophecy or conscious guidance of the unconscious mind. Ask and the universe response accordingly.

Just last week I had talked about how writing your own epitaph can be unsettling to start with but if you soldier on, it can be liberating. This is taking it to the next level ☺ Well done. It's inspiring me to do the same.

Writing your autobiography as you live your life makes you plan out your life so it is more interesting to others.

Don't know if that's a good or bad thing.

I got my mother to write out her autobiography and she loved doing it, but I noticed that the things that most affected her life were not included in it.

These were things that not only affected her but had a huge impact on how she raised us kids too.

Thinking about how I would write my own autobiography, I see that I also would leave out the bits that most affected me, that most injured me, that maybe has affected my kids without me even realizing it.

So I guess you have to think about why you are writing one. And if you are brave enough to include the most important parts of your life.

I'm sort of conflicted on this, Derek.....I'm very much looking forward to reading that book, but at the same time, I feel very sad that I'll only read after you've passed.........but that's only if I out-live you, which at my age, is doubtful......Live for a long time, Derek. The world needs you.

My daughter who meant the world to me, hanged herself 4 weeks ago. She was bi-polar and folks say it is a terrible disease. Any disease that would be so painful you could leave your mother behind with no warning must truly be horrible. I would give anything to have an epitaph she had written me. I called her every day from Germany to L.A. and when she said she was feeling badly, I said I would come to her in five days. I did not know I should not have waited the five days. I wish to G-d I had an epitaph she had written me, my darling girl whom I will never stop loving nor ever get over.

Wow Derek. I’ve been pondering this too. You deeply inspired me. You amazing human being you ❤️

Nice. Question, Derek: what program/tool do you use to record and place the audio at the top of your posts?
Anything to record my voice as a WAV file. Edit. Save as MP3. Upload. HTML5 audio tag. — Derek

I love this idea so much

I'm curious to read your last book on Earth. But I'm not wishing to read it soon. I love reading your latest book "How To Live". I read it fast at first. Then I read it slow every night. I'm highlighting the words that I like to reflect. Maybe one day it's full of highlights.

I'm your silent fan. I enjoy reading your blog. I'm sharing it to my cousins, my brothers and their girlfriends. They are all younger than me.

Hey,

Please train an AI on your voice so this can go out as an audio book.

Thanks,
Matt
Ha! — Derek