More On Stories In Hand

A very brief summary of some of the things that have been talked about in the class.....with a few of my thoughts and notes intermingled.

"This class is really not about writing, or about scrap booking, but about the gathering process. About the remembering process. About collecting the experiences, big and small, that have shaped us and made us who we are. The stories worth telling."  -Jessica Sprague

The sections of the "story sparks" are broken down into three different sections: Roots, Family, and Self, with the Family section including a subsection for specific family members or pets.

Assignment 1 was from the Roots section.  Finished that assignment.

Assignment 2 was from the Family section.

Assignment 3 was from the Self section.

The challenge on each assignment is to read through the target section of sparks and jot down memories that pop up and then choose one of them and write the story in detail.  After you write the story, you're supposed to read over the following questions and then go back through and make any adjustments to the writing. 

• What year was this? How old was I?
• Where exactly were we, and what were we doing?
• Who else was there?
• What do I remember about how I felt? The mood in the air?
• What else (context) was going on in the world or in my family at the time?
• Why did we do this thing?
• What else can I remember about what my life was like at this time?
• What is the strongest single thing I can remember about this?

And the last thing is to refine, remove any un-necessary pieces of the story, and accessorize as needed. 

Now.  At the moment, I'm two assignments behind. 

None of the family sparks really jumped out at me because they are more about the right now and I talk about the right now all the time on this blog.  There were some on the dating and marriage that I could go back and pull some memories out, but it just isn't hittin' me right about now. 

The other thing is that there is supposed to be a surprise tomorrow and you need to have the Self assignment done.  So I should do it.  But I'm REALLY not into writing about myself at the moment because frankly I really don't want to delve into the answers to some of those questions about myself (for instance, right now, I don't really know how to answer the "why I think I was born into this world" question). 

And others I could answer, but I am not sure I have it in me to form my answer into a well written piece.  A great example of this one would be the "How long can you go without a bath or brushing your teeth? What are your ideas about cleanliness?" spark.  I could quite easily answer that, but to answer in a way that would be worth reading?  Not feeling it right now.

You know that whole "statute of limitations" thing?  I get the feeling that this may be why I feel more comfortable digging up memories from my childhood as opposed to talking about "What thought is constantly pressing for attention today?"  Because...well, it's been longer than ten years on most of my childhood memories, and anything I felt or said or did probably doesn't have the power to make my life miserable today.  How I feel today or what specifically is on my mind, on the other hand, could get me in heaps of trouble. 

But because I'm just ornery like that, I guess I'll start a new post and take a stab at one of the self questions anyways.  Back to the drawing board (or sparks pages) to try to find an easy, non-life-altering one.  LOL.