yourpassions.tk

This morning I awoke with a story coming on. I could feel that itch in my brain starting to build, but I tried to shove it away. I lay in my bed, all cozy under the comforter, thinking how nice it would be to drift back to sleep, but that thought was shoved aside by thoughts of crayons; not just any crayons, but specifically Crayola™ crayons, the kind I used to get each year when it was time to buy school supplies. Giving in to the inevitable, I lay there thinking about Crayolas™, and the first sensation that came to mind was smell. Every time I think of crayons, or colors as I generally referred to them when I was a kid, I can literally smell the petrochemical scent of paraffin and pigment. No matter how old or used the box of crayons, that scent remained as strong as the day they were made. I remembered the thrill of opening a brand new box and the delight of drawing fine, crisp outlines with the sharp tip of a new crayon with its entire  paper wrapping intact. I thought of bearing d...

Thank you to all my loyal subscribers who have not been notifed of the last few new posts. I'm still learning all this blogging stuff, and finally thought to look in the right place. Now I've found the setting on bloglet.com that had inadvertently clicked off, and everything should work again. I hope you'll come back, catch up, and bring your friends. For the rest of you, if you would like to receive an e-mail with a link to the latest blog post, just enter your e-mail address in the field in the sidebar. I'm a privacy freak myself, and Bloglet's privacy policies satisfy me. Your identity will never go further. Write on, Sharon Lippincott, aka Ritergal

Every now and then lifestory writers need a humor break. The following lines have all been published, as written, in local newspapers. The unintentionally awkward phrasing in each is guaranteed to get at least a snicker. Perhaps you can think of ways to reword them for improved clarity and precision. The best way to avoid similar sources of hilarity in your own stories is to let them age for at least two or three weeks before your final edit, or to have someone else proof read them for you. Lost: small apricot poodle. Reward. Neutered. Like one of the family. For sale: an antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers. Four-poster bed, 101 years old. Perfect for antique lover. Now is your chance to have your ears pierced and get an extra pair to take home, too. We do not tear your clothing with machinery. We do it carefully by hand. Dog for sale: eats anything and is fond of children. The hotel has bowling alleys, tennis courts, comfortable beds, and other athletic fa...

Yesterday I attended a memorial service for a distant relative. The service was of the sort where people spontaneously offer stories and tributes, and I learned a lot this woman about from the collective stories told. I had no idea she was a candidate for sainthood. Those who spoke gave glowing testimony to her strength, wisdom, loving nature, helpfulness and dedication. They spoke of the powerful impact she had on their lives. One woman referred to her as a crone (a sage older woman capable of exerting powerful influence). The tributes showed a side of her I’d occasionally glimpsed, but I never personally witnessed that public side of her. I saw the private, sit at breakfast in your bathrobe and chat over tea side of her. I saw the side of her that railed at ill health, the side of her that grieved over the fact that her sons so seldom visited, the side that despaired over the state of the world. My perception was of a melancholy person and our roles were somewhat reversed from those ...

I came across this dream fragment in an old journal, and find it more relevant now than it was when I recorded it a dozen years ago: … I was sitting in a room with people who were setting out to do stuff I used to do (working with Girl Scouts, I think). I seemed to be there to teach them something. I definitely wasn't an integral part of the group. I was surprised to notice that they were digging through a box of old books that I had bought and read ten or fifteen years ago and later donated to the library book sale. These people were avidly reading those old books with great excitement. I was embarrassed that I didn't remember a word in them, and that they were sort of battered and out-of-date. But I was pleased by the new interest, and I felt confident I could answer the questions I knew they'd ask…. My immediate understanding of the dream when I woke up and remembered it was that we each learn lessons when we are ready to learn them, not a minute sooner. A book that cont...

In looking through my recipe box earlier today, I found a recipe for Date Nut Loaf, a sinfully rich and decadent concoction my mother made every year at Christmas time. Of course that recipe sent me back several decades to the days when my major involvement with dinner was setting the table and eating it. I began thinking of family recipes in general. For many different reasons, we eat rather differently today, and memories of those foods are both nostalgic and comforting. I’ve already begun writing about recipes. I have one story, Crunchy Frosting, that I wrote about the time I used granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar to ice a cake. I thought it was fine, but nobody else in the family liked it. That story includes the cake recipe as well as describing my thoughts and actions while baking the cake. I’ve also gathered a collection of recipes for all the Christmas candy Mother used to make. Those recipes include brief paragraphs of memories of helping make the candy, and tips for ...

Did you notice the new logo at the top of the page? This logo is part of my own lifestory. The tiny image hangs on the wall above my desk and reminds me of the beauty of the human heart, in all its various moods. I may have been staring at the picture when I came up with the name for this blog. It’s a legacy from my mother, a talented painter, craftsman and art collector. This wee little piece spoke to me when it was time to disperse her collection. I’ve had it hanging one place or another for over ten years now, and it has inspired messages in many e-mails, several essays, and now this blog entry. I always feel uplifted when I look at it. I don’t know why Mother bought it. I like to think that she also found it uplifting. I like to think that it’s something she would have painted herself, had she thought of it. She uplifted and inspired others most effectively through her art. The painting triggers memories for me of Mother at her best, when she was painting in her studio, or sitting ...

A friend recently showed me a story she had written. The touching story was written straight from her heart, and I suggested it could be a valued contribution to one of the many websites that feature inspirational writings. “But before you submit it, you need to tighten it up and focus it a bit,” I suggested. She took a deep breath and blurted out, “I’ll never edit this, or anything else. It will just have to stay as it is, and I think it sounds like me; like I talk.” She went on to explain that she couldn’t edit it even if she wanted to, because she has no idea where to start, or how to do it. Touché! It does indeed sound as if she wrote it, and I was pained to realize that my words had provoked the defensiveness I heard in her tone. The story is written exactly as she speaks, and she speaks with energizing passion. For the purposes of sharing with friends and family, her story doesn’t need to be edited, and may be appreciated all the more, precisely because it does sound exactly like...

Anonymous posted a comment to the Fascinate Your Readers lifestory writing blog suggesting “You might be really creative and make it interesting and worthwhile for them.” This reader then goes on to share a delightfully colorful story about the adventures of (his?) grandparents. My first thought was that Anonymous was suggesting that having grandparents with colorful stories was enough to entice readers. Indeed! Anyone want to hear about my great-great-grandmother who presumably opened the first brothel in the Yukon? I always get takers for that story. As I read, I thought about the way colorful content can stand on its own. The need for creativity arises when the content of life is less shocking and colorful; when the sun shines on dirt-brown days through a filtered haze over the flattest of prairies. Therein lies a challenge — to find the wonder in those days and transform them into a gripping testimony of endurance or some such thing. Then I was caught up short when I reread the e...

I just looked at Sheila Finklestein's latest Picture To Ponder, a more-than-weekly e-mail newsletter I subscribe to that features her thought-provoking nature photography. This issue, which you can view here , features a feral green parrot that looks for all the world like a parakeet. Memories kick in and I'm transported back to childhood and my heart squeezes with longing for Pete, our family's wunderbird. We bought Pete before he had left the nest, and he was never sure he wasn't a person. He had an amazing vocabulary of over twenty words. Some of his phrases included: A bird can't talk. I'm a little varmint. Pass the birdseed. Hello. Here, Elmer This last one was accompanied by a whistle that was so much like my father's that Elmer, the not quite as bright beagle, would come running, and then look foolishly around when he didn't see any people. Pete also mastered the art of summoning my sister, though she knew it was him. He often mixed the sen...

“How do I know my descendants are even going to care about this stuff I’m writing?” This question arises every now and then, and it’s a good one. You can’t know, and you can’t make them care, but there are a couple of things you can do to make your lifestory writing rewarding and increase the odds that they will care. The first thing to keep in mind is that unless someone else has specifically requested that you write your lifestory, you are primarily writing it for yourself. You can derive immense benefit and satisfaction from writing it even if no other living soul ever reads it, and there is no guarantee they will. The second thing you can do is to master writing techniques that will fascinate your readers and compel them to keep reading. “Oh, dear,” you think, “I just don’t have a way with words, and besides, I really don’t have time to spend a week polishing each sentence I write, even if I knew how, and besides, that wouldn’t sound like me anyway. I need to be true to myself...

When I read these days, I’m especially alert to the nuances of word use, and how writers use words to paint vivid pictures. One of the major differences that sets the work of best-selling authors apart is their use of all sensory modalities in descriptive passages. Three of my role models in this respect are Sue Grafton, Rosamund Pilchner, and Anais Nin. Reading some of their descriptions simply gives me goosebumps. I know I’ll never write exactly as they do, because each has her own personal voice. Rather than imitating others, we must each strive to develop our own unique voice as powerfully as they have done. With that in mind, and also perhaps the inspiration of having recently worked through the lessons on 42 Days of Writing Passionately with Julie Jordan Scott, I pondered memories of my own youth and experimented with writing with all my senses: My heart still returns to the northern New Mexican mountains where I grew up, and as it does, my mind drifts to sensations more than spe...

One of the most powerful ways to get started and stay inspired to keep writing is to participate in a writing group. Most people don’t have ready access to a writing group of any sort, much less one that specializes in lifestory writing, but take heart — a group is as near as the screen before you. Online writing groups offer several advantages. You don’t have scheduling conflicts or deadlines, you can read and write at your own convenience, you can participate in your jammies, and you can even join under a user name (Yahoo ID) other than the one you sign checks with, so nobody needs to know who you “really” are. You may connect with writers in far flung parts places. Several years ago I participated in a lifestory writing YahooGroup that was wonderfully active and helpful. Every time I posted a message that was more than a few sentences of appreciation or encouragement about another member, I copied my story into a growing WordPerfect document to create my own archive. It is fortunat...