2. Ask for permission to conduct an interview.

3. Set a formal date and time for interview.

4. Provide a list of questions several days or weeks before interview.

5. Focus on a single subject or event in each list of questions.

6. Use “who, what, where, when, how, and why” strategy when formulating your questions.

7. Ask open-ended questions and not “yes or no” or “one word answer” questions.

8. Use a tape recorder to record interview.

9. Chat about something else for a while if person you are interviewing seems nervous at prospect of being tape-recorded.

10. Transcribe tape and write up your notes after you have finished interview.

11. Edit manuscript.

12. Spread out your interviews.

13. Print stories from your computer or publish them in another way.

*Preserve Your Family History* includes step-by-step instructions for conducting interviews as well as 30 sets of questions (more than 400 questions in all) on 30 different topics that you can print out to use "as is" or that you can use to generate your own questions. To see table of contents and several sets of sample questions visit — http://www.ruralroute2.com/family_history.html

*Preserve Your Family History (A Step-by-Step Guide for Writing Oral Histories)* (66 pages; $7.95) is available from http://www.booklocker.com/books/1545.html

LeAnn R. Ralph is author of book, *Christmas in Dairyland (True Stories from a Wisconsin Farm)* (trade paperback; August 2003). For more information, visit http://ruralroute2.com

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While her meals aren’t digestible, they’re just as wonderful as my son’s. For you see, it’s truly a joy watching her get pleasure from trying to get it right, all on her own.

Tonight, as I write this, my son is once again in kitchen, taking orders from his dad as he prepares his very first FAMILY meal! It’s amazing how things can change on a moment’s notice. And my daughter is begging to make her grandparents a cake.

I can just see it now, a personal chef of my very own! No more eating out and gaining weight. No more expensive dinners where we wished we would have just ate at home. No more cooking my own meals only to be disappointed in taste. No more complaining that it took 2 hours to prepare, 15 minutes to eat, and 30 minutes to clean up. And best food in world, right here at my finger tips and a moment’s notice. Hey, a mother can dream, can’t she?