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.