On Writing Your Own Obituary

You know you better than anyone else, after all.

Virginia Creeper enshrouds Abandoned church, Riner, Virginia.

I am thinking about a pre-humous writing of my own obituary.

The idea bubbled up to the surface from a note I made more than a year ago. In a not-rare moment of pointless surfing, I clicked the “randomizer” button in Roam Research and among other eclectic topics, this page appeared.

Such prompts arise not infrequently, bobbing on the surface, only to sink back down again, ignored, back into the digital slip box of possible ideas to explore. Someday. But I have not abandoned the notion I mention, and since it has shown itself in daylight now, I might as well give it some thought before I have to go back for more coffee.

One guiding question, I suppose, would be:

❓ What would you like the world to know about you when you're gone?

Maybe a year ago, I created a placeholder for the self-assigned topic of the self-generated obit before-the-fact. I turn it in my mind this morning, jotting a few notes here, and I send them into the light of day for the few of you who will open and read at least some of this.

Having kept these notes about this topic should lower the writing friction, making it easier for me to spend serious future time with this potentially beneficial but awkward piece of self-reflection. Or not.

So in my placeholder-folder, I am, this morning conjuring questions and gathering resources about this possible, odd and perplexing self-assignment. Please, if you think of others, suggest them in COMMENTS.

❓ If I write this thing in full, will I keep it private until and past the end? If I then ask for it to be posted publicly, when and how would that work without seeming creepy?

Is this self-eulogizing a thing that is commonly done--in earnest or as a personal and private writing-thinking project? Google "write your own obituary" and see what you find. To be perused.

• write your own obituary - Google Search

Would this be a way for the writer, now living, to see what he would say about his own life that others might miss or not say enough about, according to the un-deceased? What if your life was as bland as wall paste, without peak moments of any kind?

Does he or she have definite must-haves in mind that prompted this notion in the first place? Do specific accomplishments, honors or influences exist that the “public” would not be aware of—and your official obit writer would possibly fail to mention?

Would facts revealed by this pre-humous disclosure surprise, sadden, shock or delight the writer’s friends and family? Or simply make them scratch their heads?

Would the intended outlet for the finished obituary be local and relevant only to his nearby friends? The Floyd Press won’t reach my high school mates in Alabama.

Would press column-inches only appear on paper or would those words be destined, at the extreme, for an “immortal” existence (for a finite time) on a permanent (if there is such) digital page made publicly known and accessible? That way, the recently-deceased’s unborn great-grandchildren could read about their long-passed ancestor.

If eternal digital availability is the end goal, and if you have other digital data as well that you want to persist beyond the spreading of your ashes, what are the options?

• SEE: preserving your digital self after you're dead Google Search

Would this auto-eulogy stand alone? Or could this message from the one who lived the life now past be an addendum or supplement to an obituary written by a close friend (if any) or family member?

I’d think there would be a column-inches limit to newspaper obits. Check on this.

• SEE how many words are allowed for an obituary in the newspaper - Google Search

PREP: Before attempting to write, read obits of ordinary local and current former people; read the obits written by writers about other writers, artists, statesmen (if there are any out there) or celebrities (there are way too many out there.)

SEE Obituaries of Great People Google Search

Jacob Slusher Cemetery, Slushers Mill Road, Floyd County, VA