Family Stories: Writing About Your Life
Posted under: I don’t have a story. I’ve heard it. I’ve said it.
Most of us are lost in the mundane — we get out of bed at 6 a.m., work eight hours, play with the kids, brush their teeth, read them a bedtime story, rinse and repeat. If this is your life, you may not feel like you have a story to tell.
The most important lessons are often learned in the muck of the mundane. That’s where our mettle is tested. It’s easy to feel “warm and fuzzies” when life is exciting and different. Temptation’s talons try and seize us, make us uncomfortable, make us long for that Mustang or the Italian vacation … or that hot blonde. If you survive this (and most of us do), you’ve got a story.
William Zinsser of On Writing Well fame, wrote a book called Writing About Your Life. For an excerpt, visit Google Books or visit Zinsser’s page on Amazon.com. (There’s a whole list of books about telling your story at the bottom of the page.)
Besides reading books about writing your life’s story, read other essays. Tom Wolfe wrote the best essay ever in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test called “Clean Fun At Riverside.” While this wasn’t about someone’s life or his own, it is stylistic genius. Savor other essays, too, like the ones found in Best American Essays of 2009.
The starting point in this journey of discovery is to journal. Reflect, remember, record the day. Conjure up the day’s senses. Were you a good father? Mother? What were your struggles or victories? These are your stories. Everyone has one to tell. It’s just a matter of recognizing them as worthy of telling.
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