Writer Rosemary Osborne has launched a service, Write My Journey, to preserve these memories in words with photos encased in a hard cover book so they can be kept and handed down from generation to generation.

Rosemary was a nurse for 45 years and listening to people's stories was a part of daily life - a part she loved.

"I love books and I love listening to people's stories," Rosemary said.

After she retired from nursing, she did a life-writing course with prominent writer Patti Miller.

The course ignited her passion for writing and she started by writing her mother's life story.

"I realised I had been listening to my mother telling stories all her life without really hearing her. So I started to write my mother's tales down and soon threads of amazing stories started to make sense."

She combined the story with photos from her mother's life and published it into a hardcover book.

"My grandchildren love them - they can read it and ask questions and it's the little things that your descendents want to know," Rosemary said.

"When your future great grandchildren do the family genogram and come up with your life dates, will they know all about you? Or will they just know your life dates?

"Everyone has a story that's worth it - everyone's life is special."

She said it was a fantastic keepsake for generations to come.

"I want to know the stories of everyday people and record their memories.

"It is all about them. I use their words to tell their stories and old photos to reflect their story."

She writes their story into a book of up to 20,000 words and she said it did not have to be chronological.

"You can tell the story in different ways - it doesn't have to be from birth up until now," she said.

"Perhaps your parents or grandparents have an ordinary story about extraordinary people that needs to be remembered and cherished or your ancestry has been carefully researched and you want it preserved so it doesn't get lost again.

"When I published my own story, I looked at a photo of five of my best friends and wrote about what was going on around the time of the photo. There are so many different ways to tell a story."

She said the stories could be a collection of tales from Christmas holidays or group activities.

"You trace back what's happening in the photos. It's an interesting way of looking at life."

The books are professionally edited and put in a digital document platform so it can be put through two review processes before the final product is published in its hardcover form.

"They can make changes and add or delete parts in the first review process and in the second, which is in eBook form, corrections can be made but no new information can be added."

The whole process takes about two months, with a maximum six month turn around.

Visit www.writemyjourney.com for more information.