THE LIVING ARCHIVE

A practical guide by Arthur Hollis

Before They
Have to Guess

How to Preserve Your Stories, Voice, and Wisdom for the Age of AI

The photograph may survive. The explanation might not. Leave the people you love your stories, your perspective, and the reasons behind your choices.

Download the free checklist

Two pages. One first story. No email required.

Before They Have to Guess by Arthur Hollis. The cover connects a family photo album to a conversational portrait on a tablet.
Paperback & Kindle Publication forthcoming
YOUR STORIES.YOUR VOICE.YOUR WAY OF SEEING THE WORLD.
A SMALL BEGINNING01 / 07
Page one of The First 7 Days Legacy Checklist, with steps for choosing a story, planning its storage, and making a recording test.

One story worth keeping is a beginning.

Your free starting point

The First 7 Days
Legacy Checklist

You do not need to capture a whole life this week. Start with one story only you can explain.

This short guide takes you from “I should do this” to an original story, a clear description, a checked second copy, and someone who can open it.

  • Choose who it is for and what stays private.
  • Record a short story with the details that matter.
  • Save it, check the copy, and let someone try it.
Get the free checklist

2-page PDF · Fill in or print · No purchase needed

Preview the PDF (opens in a new tab) Download as ZIP

To fill it in, save a copy and open it in a PDF reader that supports forms. Test one entry, save, and reopen before continuing.

Inside the book

Give them the story
behind the story.

The ordinary details. The decision that changed things. What you believed then, and what you understand now.

Start with what you have.

A phone, a quiet moment, and a story you are willing to tell. Build a recording habit that fits your life.

Make it useful to someone.

Keep the originals, add context, choose who may use them, and make sure another person can find and open them.

Explore what it could become.

Discover how your recorded experiences can support an interactive AI representation, and how to shape and test it while you are here.

A practical path from your first recording to a collection your family can use.

12 chapters · Arthur Hollis

The companion workbook

The Living
Archive Workbook

104 Prompts and Practical Worksheets for Before They Have to Guess

Keep your story ideas, recording notes, permissions, backup checks, and next steps together. Choose the prompts that matter to you and return to them as your collection grows.

Separate fillable PDF · Release forthcoming

104ways into a story

75pages to use at your own pace

8PRESENCE checks to review your collection

The checklist gets your first story started. The workbook helps you keep going.

A note about the author

Arthur Hollis

Arthur Hollis is a father of five and a grandfather who became fascinated by a simple question: how do we pass on not just our things, but our stories, our voice, and our way of seeing the world?

Before They Have to Guess grew from that curiosity: a practical guide to saving the explanations the people we love might otherwise have to piece together.