A month or so ago, Malia Karlinsky—a journalist for the lifestyle show Seattle Refined—reached out about an Zoom interview sharing ideas for documenting life during Covid-19. I was obviously super excited. Our interview aired on October 20th, but yesterday I received the video and want to share it with you here.

Turns out Malia LOVES all things DIY, including scrapbooking and we have even met before. When our interview aired, her scrapbooking buddy, Ann texted her a group photo us together, years ago at a scrapbook expo in Bellevue.

How FUN is that?

After Malia interviewed me, I interviewed her for episode 91 of my podcast.

Here’s our conversation on Seattle Refined …

But, here’s the deal: Did you know that the Washington State Historical Society wants to hear from you—about your personal Covid-19 experiences. It’s true, and if you’re not in Washington, just Google your local historical society or university and see if they aren’t extending a similar invitation.

This is an unprecedented time and your story truly matters—we are living through history (as always of course) but times like these will result in increased interest in the future, so I encourage you to leave your mark. You can do this is so many ways. Here are some ideas I shared during my chat with Malia …

1. Gather a few Covid images into a small book—physical or digital and pair them with your observations and thoughts.

2. Start a family round-robin email. Reach out to extended family members (or friends) and invite them to reply all with a few images and their answers to questions, like: When this pandemic is a distant memory, what do you want to remember?

3. Use upcoming holidays to document the thoughts and feelings of those you are able to gather with. Record their voices or them in a video, as they respond to a set of questions and then put together a short video for family history.

4. Even recording thoughts—good and difficult—in a personal journal is a powerful gift to the future. In this post I shared a set of questions you can think about and respond to.

If you’ve been keeping track already as 2020 has unfolded, I want to hear about your approach and what you’ve learned or realized through the experience of documenting. Leave me a comment!

NOTE: I created a mini book packed with pandemic details that is shared in this interview—it is an example of my Story Starter kit, available with Close To My Heart. Click HERE to learn more. Purchasing one for your family (or for individuals) to fill up during the holidays would be such a GREAT idea!