Writing for Number One

The last couple of days I’ve been feeling rather growly, and I attribute the reason to all the time I’ve been spending writing blogs and workshop proposals, researching book promotion strategies, and . . . the list goes on. The point is, I’ve been doing everything but write more stories. My heart is pining for “real writing.”

This afternoon I said Enough is enough. I’m not good for anything else until I take care of me!

I gathered up the huge file jacket I use to keep folders with print copies of my stories and took it out on the sun porch where I could see the massive, centuries old oak tree at the far end of the small meadow we call a lawn, and the lushly wooded hillside above us. Surrounded by this nurturing scenery, on a day with perfect temperatures, I flipped through stories, looking for something to send to The Elder Storytelling Place, something to post on my still empty collection of Gather articles, and perhaps even something to send to local papers for print publication.

As I read through these stories, some of which are seven or eight years old now, I saw a few rough spots, so my aqua gel pen got some exercise. I also had a trip down memory lane, and thought of several other stories I want to write. Those ideas went on index cards that I’ll file away in the cunning little inch-thick plastic index card caddy I found for less than a dollar at the grocery store earlier today.

I’m happy to report that I feel better now. All is once again right with my world. It’s amazing how comforting it is to spend time with my “written offspring.”

I have a handout with ten reasons to write your lifestory. These reasons include:

• For personal satisfaction.
• As an adventure in self-discovery.
• To make sense of the past.
• To document the past.
• To entertain and amuse family members.
• To help offspring understand you as a unique individual, not just Mom or Dad.
• To answer questions your children and grandchildren didn’t think, take time, or know enough to ask.
• To help them remember the answers to the questions they did ask.
• To share lessons learned with others.
• For the benefit of genealogists in generations yet to come.

This list is several years old, and when I compiled it, I had no idea how significant it would prove to be that I had personal satisfaction at the top of the list. Today, reading through my stories, I felt immensely satisfied that I have so many, that I’ve had the experiences I have had, and that I have these wonderful stories to remind me of my past. It’s icing on the cake than future generations may also enjoy and benefit from them.

I’m hoping that each of you will soon have a pile of stories, be that six or six hundred, that will lift your spirits, as my stories do for me.

Write on,

Sharon Lippincott, aka Ritergal