No, not a mystery. Not even fiction. This is the book with instructions for what needs to be done after I die. Morbid? Maybe. But between the current coronavirus pandemic and my age, it’s something that needs to be addressed.

It used to be fairly simple. You made a will. If you went the extra step, you had your life insurance policies with your will in a safe place. The only other critical things would be financial institutions, very often it would be a local bank or credit union.

Then along came the Internet. And email accounts. And social media And online shopping accounts. And all that stuff in the cloud – music, photos, etc. And so on and so forth. Oh, and don’t forget passwords…all those passwords. TIP: If you aren’t already, use a Password Manager. I’ve used Lastpass since around 2006 or 2007. Works on my computer, tablet and smart phone. And, it’s free.

Remember, on the Internet nothing dies.

For an author, it can be even trickier. Websites, blogs, Facebook pages and groups, as well as the places your books have been published.

Remember, life isn’t a rehearsal.
None of us will come out of it alive.

What happens to all this? Who does what? What can be done? What should be done?

These are questions we all must answer, whether we are authors or not. And yes, it takes time. Time to list all financial information in addition to the above. Time to determine who does what and what that what is. Then once compiled, it must be kept updated.

I am trying to do mine using documents on my computer that can be easily updated. Each sheet will be printed and put in a three-ring binder which will be stored in our house safe along with our will and Five Wishes document.

Where to start?

It can be intimidating, enough so that I’ve been procrastinating for months. But in my search I have found a couple of pages to help me get organized. No any one system works for all, but it’s a start. 

Here are some of the resources I’ve pulled from:

Once you start, you will realize how important this book will be when that inevitable day comes. 

One final note. Things change. At least once a year you should review not only your documents, but how the online sites involved may have changed what they will/won’t do/allow.


 

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6 thoughts on “My death book…”

  1. Back in January I did a “discussion” session at “Boomerville” in Quartzsite, AZ called “DO YOU HAVE A PLAN?”. I included many of your points because my husband and I HAD a plan prior to his death last May. I was asked to present this topic at the 2020 Escapees Escapade in Wyoming but it has been canceled. Maybe you can do this talk in Tucson at next year’s Escapade. I won’t be there.
    — CoolJudy

    PS I’m available to beta read.

    1. Good for your two having a plan in place. We probably won’t be doing the Escapade either. Good luck on selling your RV. It’s SOOO nice!

    1. It’s so easy to just go about our day to day, but when we think about our spouse dealing with the same things if we weren’t there…eeep!

  4. Pingback: Memories and Collections | DB McNicol

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