South Dakota
South Dakota is big country with plenty of sky and plenty of room to think. The way you see this place, and your life in it, is something only you can put into words.
Try it free for 7 days. Only you can see your record. Never public or searchable.
When the wind comes up across the prairie, where do you like to be, and who is with you?
ToldForward keeps this simple. Each day it asks you one friendly question about your life or your views, and you answer in your own plain words, typed or with your device's own dictation. Nothing is shared while you live. You name the people who will one day receive your South Dakota stories, and the record becomes theirs.
Only your own words
Nothing is written for you. Every word in your record is yours, as you gave it.
Text, never your voice or face
There is no recording and no likeness, so no one can make you seem to say anything.
Time before anyone reads
No one receives your record until at least 6 months have passed after you are gone.
Your terms, kept
You decide who receives it, and you can change your mind whenever you like.
A few minutes at a time, whenever it suits you.
A friendly question about your life, your views or the people in it. Skip any you like.
Come back to an answer, add to it, or change it. Each one keeps its date.
Name the family and/or friends who will one day receive your whole record.
South Dakota
The Missouri River runs through the middle of South Dakota, and people here speak of East River and West River. To the east you find open prairie and plenty of lakes. To the west the land rises toward the Badlands and the Black Hills. Which side shaped you, or did you live on both? Tell us about the land you grew up on, the road you drove to town and the kind of weather that still makes you look up at the sky.
In Badlands National Park, sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires rise out of mixed-grass prairie. Farther west, ponderosa pine covers much of the Black Hills. Maybe you camped out there as a kid, worked a summer job near the hills or drove visiting friends out to see the view. What did you feel the first time you saw that country? Write it down the way you would say it out loud, so the people you choose can stand there beside you one day.
The ring-necked pheasant is South Dakota's state bird, and for some people autumn means walking a field with a good dog and an old friend. For others the year turns on planting and harvest, calving or the first big snow. What are the seasons of your year? Who worked or walked beside you, and what did you talk about? Small routines like these say a great deal about who you are, and the generations after you will want to know them.
Archive Membership
Someone you named asks what you thought about your first job, and the guide finds what you wrote, word for word. It is built to quote, not to invent.
First person, only in quotes
Your words appear exactly as you wrote them, with their date.
Third person, always
Everything else the guide says is about you, never in your name.
Nothing made up
If you never spoke to a subject, the answer is Unknown.
ToldForward sends you one friendly question a day about your life and your views, and you answer however suits you, typed or with your device's own dictation. Start with today's question and see where your story goes.