In all the books I've looked at, read and purchased related to life story writing, or even writing in general, the idea of continuing to keep going when the mind says it has other pressing things to do keeps coming up.

Writing takes patience. Writing allows the mind to wander and when the mind wanders, the blank page sits idle... waiting.

Writing is not task-based. It is not something that you sit down to do and when you are done, then you see an accomplishment. With writing, you might sit down and spend 30 minutes or an hour and you've only scratched the surface of a thought that is developing into something.

And it's OK.

Jot that thought down, start somewhere. Your accomplishment is that you sat down to do this in the first place.

But then, there is enormous satisfaction when the thoughts on the page make some sense to you. It is satisfying to find the right word when not just any word will do. It is satisfying when that certain phrase does the trick.

Writing is something that comes from the mind and the heart. The pictures are in the heart and the mind struggles to wrap itself around the feelings, to bring the picture to the page. Writing is challenging and fulfilling. It takes devotion and practice. It takes thought and patience.

We enjoy writers who can help us to see into new places and realize new truths. And the truth is that we all have that capacity to reach into those places that draw out the experiences and feelings that touch others.

Writing is worthwhile, it's worth the time, and it's worth the effort.

When you think about writing your life story, you might wonder where on earth you ought to begin. You think about this especially if, like me, you have quite a few years behind you already.

The idea of writing about your life may have been rattling around in your mind for some time, but the thought of it also has been overwhelming, just because you are wondering where to start.

But, every project begins with a single step. And your first step could be to make the time.

True your day is filled to the brim, or if it's not, there is always that very great reason to delay and procrastinate. Matter of fact, even if your day is filled to the brim and overflowing, procrastination is still there whispering in your ear, "oh, but I need to run that errand, I need to do the dishes, I don't have time to sit down now, I must fold the laundry."

Well, suppose you just did take a few moments to sit down and suppose you had an idea to help you to begin. What about an idea that takes shape around what you used to do during the winter, or what you do now, when the weather is cold and blustery and it's raining or snowing. You could write a story about that. 

I was listening to the Prairie Home Comanion radio program on Saturday night and Garrison Keilor was talking about how women in Minnesota, during frigid January, become crazed with cleaning. They clean everything and then they clean it again.

When I think of a pastime, I think of reading or quilting, and I hardly ever have time to do those things anymore. But I do have a habit of cleaning in January. It's true. And there is something very satisfying about it too. Recently I organized one of my closets and when I stood back and saw how it looked, it gave me a feeling of accomplishment. I threw out or gave away the old stuff and there was some room to grow in the New Year.

You could even write this story and put it into the TellOurLifeStories Collection for the January Story Contest. It would get you started on the writing life stories path.

Cleaning may not be a hobby, or maybe it is. Certainly it's not like knitting or quilting or reading, or cooking. But it is a pastime and it often occupies the wintery months. And there is something cathartic about it too, because after it's done, then pretty soon spring is around the corner and the new year is truly launched.

Along with the quiet of January evenings, comes the opportunity to take up well-loved hobbies and crafts.

 

One of my own favorites is quilting. I had the opportunity to meet a quilter whose daughter had written a lovely book about her and the journey that quilting inspired in her life. It wasn't until the mother became ill that the daughter realized what a treasure the quilting pastime had been in her life and her father's. When her mother recovered, the daughter resolved to write a memoir about her mother's quilting journey. And so she did.

 

The daughter wrote the book "One Woman's Journey Told In Quilts."

Her mother is a retired Oklahoma school teacher. She says, "You go on. You cope. And you quilt."

 

Our TellOurLifeStories contest is to write about your favorite hobby or pastime for this silent time in January. Write about something that occupies you on these chilly and cold winter evenings. Write about how your hobby inspires you, write about how you began with it, write about how long you've been doing this and the things you've learned along the way.

 

For 2010 we will continue to have these writing contests every month. Subscribers who enter 3 stories in the next 6 months will be eligible for a drawing for a $50 Visa gift card.

 

Enter your story by either submitting your story to the TellOurLifeStories Collection through the free trial offer, or if you are a subscriber, login, and enjoy the fun! Your stories belong to you.

 

The Hobby Story Contest begins Monday, January 11 and deadline for entries is Monday, January 25 at 5 p.m. Pacific Time. The winner will be announced Monday, February 1 by newsletter and email notification.

 

Stories will be read by Dawn and Margaret from TellOurLifeStories.com and the winning story writer will be highlighted on the Home Page of TellOurLifeStories and also in the newsletter.

I was reading that book, This I Believe, which has excerpts from the thousands of stories they have collected since the 1950's. It is a wonderful collection of stories that show people's values.

One story was particularly suited to this season and I wanted to share the insight from it with you as you rush through the holidays. You might pause for a moment and reflect on where you are, who you are and what the season means to you. It is easy to get all caught up in the things that we do and it is so much fun to visit with friends and family.

As well, in the quiet moments when darkness arrives early, it might be a time to get out some paper and write down, as this person did, some words about the values that you hold during this time, if for no other reason than to remember them and in doing that, to honor them.

The story begins with the writer, Steve Banko saying that he was "moved by the magic of Christmas music since nuns in grammar school etched the words of carols into my brain."

Ten years after grammar school he found himself in a hospital at Christmas, his leg shattered in Vietnam. His body was full of shrapnel and his hands badly burned. It didn't feel like Christmas and he was in desperate need of magic as doctors struggled to save his leg.

His misery "was interrupted by a low moan coming from the next bed. All I could see was a white cast shaped like a body, cutouts for his eyes, nose, and mouth were the only breaks in the cast. The soft strains of 'Silent Night' were filling theair of the ward when the nurse made final rounds. When my nurse approached I asked her to push my bed closer to the man in the cast. I reached out and took my new friend's hand as the carol told us 'all is calm, all is bright.'"

"We spoke no words to eachother. None were needed. The carol revived the message of hope and the triumph of love for me. I felt a slight tightening on my hand and for the first time that Christmas I felt I would survive my ordeal and for the first time in a long time, I wanted to. I believe there is magic in Christmas and the music that celebrates it, because it brings us closer together and closer to our own hearts."




 

I ran across this story in my journal recently and wanted to share it. Journaling is a great vehicle for writing your life stories. You can jot down some notes or sentences and then remember them later and fill them out.

I met Sylvie on my evening walk. She is two and was on the arm of her tired-looking but gently cheerful Dad.

"Hi," she called from across the street.

"Well, hi there," I replied.

'Let me see your eyes," she said.

I removed my sunglasses. "Are you a grownup?' she asked.

"Yes," I said.

"Where is your little girl?" she asked.

"I don't have one," I said.

"Why?" she asked.

"It just never happened,' I said.

"Oh," she said, looking puzzled.

"That's a bright green shirt she has," her father remarked.

"Yes," I said, "and yours is pink!"

She squirmed in delight looking down at her t-shirt with the big pink heart on the front.

"See you," I walked away and waved. She waved back as they slowly walked on.

I laughed to myself enjoying the perfect evening, looking forward to watering my flowers. I barely remember a time when that conversation would have made me cripplingly sad because I wasn't able to have children of my own. But now that seems like the distant past.

I thought to myself, what if I had said, "I don't know," when she asked if I was a grownup?

Well, Christmas begins at my house on Thanksgiving weekend when I put up the tree. If I'm not the first one in the neighborhood, then I'm a close second. This year I was first. My brother helped me to get the tree out of the box and assemble it on Thanksgiving Day. He gave me some great pointers. You have to expand the branches to fill out the middle parts of the tree so it doesn't look like a bunch of green shelves. That worked great. Before that, I was filling the shelf parts with ornaments and lights but there were still gaps. This way it looks all full and happy.

It was nice to have someone watching a football game on Thanksgiving too, it brought back some good memories.

Then that first week of December is the women's group at my home. We've been doing this for over 15 years and the tree is always up. If I don't have it decorated, then after dinner, they help me to decorate it. We gather around and have a topic after dinner and we always end up telling our life stories. This is a group that has a nice long history with eachother and so that makes it very interesting and nice when we can connect with eachother once every month in this way. It kicks off the holiday season, especially well, beginning it with good friends and good food.

After my brother left from the weekend, I settled again into my very busy routine at work. I've been so occupied with that, when I get time to myself, it is very sweet and precious. I haven't had a great desire to go out much. Consequently, this holiday has been quiet and gentle so far. I've done a little shopping, not alot of extravagance, just some well-considered gifts that represent sincere thanks.

Well, it seems like awhile ago, life goes so fast, the life stories pile up one on the other, you might say.

My brother, Jim, came to visit for Thanksgiving. I never knew he could cook. He really enjoys it. He's 12 years younger than I am and even though we are both all grown up now, to say the least, I still think of him as my little brother. Well there we were in the kitchen and I was teaching him to make an apple pie, crust and all. He even emailed himself the recipe. We used the big deep porcelain pie  dish to bake it in and it was huge. And it was delicious, not syrupy and the crust was all flaky and wonderful. If you want the recipe, leave a comment and I'll put it in my blog next time.

Anyway, we made a wonderful feast. He taught me to toast the croutons to make stuffing from scratch and it was wonderful stuffing too, with a little sausage and celery, cooked in chicken broth, but not stuffed into the bird.

We went for a long walk in San Francisco and saw all the holiday sights, the tree at Neiman Marcus which is always elegant and grand and also the kittens and puppies in the Macy's windows, not to mention the great big tree and ice skating rink in Union Square. Overall, it was a wonderful visit and lots of catching up over dinner and some great conversation. 

It was great to be around his easygoing attitude and his sense of humor.

We received several wonderful stories in the most recent story contest!

Anyone who thought about entering and decided against it can keep the next opportunity in January in mind. It will be around wintertime hobbies that you do when the weather outside is frightful!

The winning story is Recipe for Memories by Ardyth!
Here is the first part and you can read the rest in the story Collection.

"Ingredients
1. 8MM movie camera and Polaroid
2. 1958 Oldsmobile packed with 2 adults and 4 kids dressed in their Christmas best
3. "Play list" of carols to sing during drive
4. Welcoming hugs and kisses
5. Christmas dinner
6. Dirty dishes
7. Story-telling and camaraderie
8. Love and good-byes"

Subscribers can Login and read the stories in the Collection, or you can start with a free trial offer and read them that way too.