MyStories by MyHeritage: Why You Need to Capture Your Family’s Stories Now
MyStories by MyHeritage: Listen, I’m going to be blunt: we’re running out of time. Not with our research—with our people. The relatives who hold our family stories in their heads, who remember the Depression years and the war years, who know why Great-Grandma left Poland in 1903 and what really happened at that family reunion in 1978—they’re not going to be here forever. And neither are we.
Last year, I used MyStories by MyHeritage to create My Story: A Life Interrupted, and it fundamentally changed how I think about family history preservation. For someone who has spent decades researching other people’s stories, finally sitting down to document my own was both humbling and urgent. This isn’t just another genealogy tool—it’s the answer to a problem we all face but rarely admit: our own life stories are disappearing too.
Ready to start preserving your family stories? Get MyStories through my link
and get 15% off with code MHLOYAL15.
Then begin creating your family’s most precious heirloom today.
Your future generations are counting on you.
The Interview We Keep Postponing
We’ve all been there. You plan to interview your mom about her childhood. You’re going to record your father-in-law talking about his military service. You want to capture your uncle’s memories before his Alzheimer’s progresses further. You intend to write down your own experiences for your grandchildren.
But life gets busy. Work demands attention. Holiday gatherings slip by without pulling out the recorder. And then one day, you get the phone call. The person you meant to interview is gone, and their stories went with them.
I’ve seen this happen too many times in the genealogy community. We’re brilliant at tracking down 200-year-old death certificates, but we fail to preserve the living memories right in front of us. MyStories by MyHeritage changes that equation entirely.
How MyStories Actually Works (And Why It’s Genius)
Here’s what makes MyStories different from every other “write your memoir” project gathering dust in your desk drawer: it doesn’t overwhelm you. Instead of facing a blank page and the impossible task of “write your life story,” you receive one email per week with a single, thoughtfully crafted prompt.
Just one question. One memory. One story at a time.
Each week, that email arrives—perfectly paced, never demanding. You answer however you want: a paragraph, a page, whatever feels right. You can add photos directly into the platform. The prompts aren’t generic either; they’re designed to unlock specific memories you might not think to record otherwise.
Before you know it, weeks have passed, and you’ve documented dozens of stories. Then MyStories takes all of those memories and transforms them into a beautiful, professionally bound hardcover book. No layout skills required. No wrestling with design software. No trips to print shops. They handle everything, and the result is museum-quality.
When I held My Story: A Life Interrupted in my hands for the first time, I wasn’t just looking at a book—I was holding something tangible that will outlive me. Something my family can pass down for generations.
The Perfect Gift Nobody Thinks to Give
Let’s talk about gifting for a moment, because this is where MyStories becomes truly powerful. What do you give the parent who has everything? What do you buy your spouse for Valentine’s Day when roses and chocolates feel insufficient? What’s the perfect Mother’s Day gift for someone who values family above all else?
A MyStories subscription isn’t just thoughtful—it’s transformative. You’re giving someone the structure and motivation to preserve their legacy. You’re telling them their story matters. You’re creating a family heirloom.
Think about it: Tom M. from the U.S. received MyStories as a gift from his wife after she saw the presentation at RootsTech 2025. He created A Tale of Two Brothers, documenting stories that would have been lost forever. He ordered seven copies total because once people saw the finished book, they wanted their own. That’s what happens when you give someone the gift of their own story—it ripples through the entire family.
Valentine’s Day is coming up. Mother’s Day follows soon after. Birthdays, anniversaries, Father’s Day—these aren’t occasions for more picture frames or generic gift baskets. These are opportunities to give something that matters. A MyStories subscription says, “Your life is important. Your memories deserve to be preserved. Please don’t let them disappear.”
Why Genealogists Need This Tool
As genealogists, we understand source documentation better than anyone. We know that primary sources trump secondary sources. We know that contemporaneous records are more reliable than memories recorded decades later. Yet here we are, letting our own primary source material—our lived experiences—go undocumented.
Every genealogist should create their own MyStories book for one simple reason: we know what future researchers will need. We understand how valuable it would be if our great-great-grandparents had left us a 300-page book explaining their thoughts, feelings, motivations, and daily lives. We’d give anything for that level of detail from our ancestors. So why aren’t we creating it for our descendants?
MyStories by MyHeritage makes it effortless. The weekly prompts keep you moving forward. The platform handles all the technical complexity. You focus solely on what matters: sharing your story.
Stories That Prove the Point
Angelique Biccai-Gerrits from the Netherlands started her MyStories book in May 2025. Her father participated enthusiastically, helping her answer questions and providing details. Then he was diagnosed with terminal leukemia.
Suddenly, those weekly questions became urgent. She recorded video interviews at his bedside, capturing his final memories and his message to the family. He passed away on September 27, 2025—and his words, his wisdom, his final thoughts are now preserved in a book his family can hold forever. When Angelique’s mother received the finished book and read her husband’s acknowledgments for the first time, it brought profound comfort during grief.
That’s not just a nice story. That’s the reality we all face. We don’t know how much time we have. We don’t know when the last conversation will happen. MyStories creates a safety net for memories that might otherwise be lost in tragedy.
James Tanner, a devoted genealogist like us, spent his life keeping journals. He had decades of material. But it took MyStories to help him curate those writings into something his grandchildren could actually hold and read. The physical book—beautifully bound, professionally produced—became something more precious than files scattered across hard drives.
The Urgency You Feel Is Correct
If you’re reading this and feeling that tug of urgency, that voice saying “I should really interview Mom” or “I need to write down my memories”—listen to it. That instinct is correct. Time is not on our side.
MyStories removes every excuse. You don’t need to be a writer. You don’t need technical skills. You don’t need hours of free time. You just need to answer one email per week. That’s it.
And right now, MyHeritage is offering longtime users 15% off with code MHLOYAL15. But even at full price, this is the most important investment you can make in your family’s future. What’s the value of memories that would otherwise be lost? What’s the worth of stories your grandchildren will treasure? What price would you pay if you could have a book like this from your own grandparents?
I created My Story: A Life Interrupted because I finally understood something: all my genealogy research, all my efforts to document other people’s lives, would be meaningless if I didn’t document my own. Your story matters. Your parents’ stories matter. Your spouse’s stories matter.
Don’t wait until it’s too late.
Start Today
Whether you create a MyStories book for yourself or give a subscription to someone you love, do it now. Not next month. Not after the holidays. Now.
The memories you preserve today are the heirlooms of tomorrow. The stories you capture this week might be the very ones your great-great-grandchildren thank you for in 2125.
I’ve spent my career helping people find their ancestors. MyStories helped me preserve myself for my descendants. It’s the most powerful tool for family history preservation I’ve encountered in 40 years of genealogy work.
Ready to start preserving your family stories? Get MyStories through my link and begin creating your family’s most precious heirloom today. Your future generations are counting on you.
Don’t let another week pass. Don’t wait for the “right time.” The right time is now, while the stories are still here to be told.
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Author’s Note: I want to be transparent that this content – MyStories by MyHeritage: Why You Need to Capture Your Family’s Stories Now – was created in part with the help of an artificial intelligence (AI) language model – Mistral. The AI assisted in generating an early draft of the content, but every paragraph was subsequently reviewed, edited, and refined by me. The final content is the result of extensive human curation and creativity. I am proud to present this work and assure readers that while AI was a tool in the process, the story, style, and substance have been carefully shaped by the author.
