Post #235 – Memoir Writing Tips – Matilda Butler
Use the Holidays to Showcase Family and Friend Stories
I hope you’ve written one or more memoir vignettes that become your gift to family members and even friends. These are truly treasured gifts with low financial cost and high rewards and praise. Sharing your stories should always be your goal.
But, it’s now late December and you may not have gotten around to writing or polishing the stories you want to share. If that’s the case, then I’ve got a great idea for you.
Crowd-Pleaser Story Tip
1. Plan how you want to organize a story-sharing time. It might be during a festive meal. It might be after all the gifts are opened and everyone is settled in for a quiet afternoon or evening. Any time that works for you will be just perfect.
2. Prepare a brief story about something in your life that others don’t know. Let it be a fun story, a charming story, an emotional story, a story of an earlier time when life was quite different. Have your story points in your mind as you should start the sharing time. You get to set an example. If possible, let the story have a bit of “You’re kidding!” “Is that really true?” “You did what?”
This year (hush, don’t let my family know), I’m going to talk about housing costs when I was younger. My first post-marriage apartment cost $52 a month and that included some furniture and all utilities. Then not that many years later, during a high inflationary time, I was paying 18.97% annualized on my mortgage. I ran across some of the loan statements while sorting old papers recently and saved a couple to share because no one will believe me.
Starting storytelling times often lets family and guests open up about their lives. It moves conversation to deeper levels.
Let the story gifts begin.
Enjoy the holiday season.
See You in 2017
It’s hard to believe that a whole year has passed. I’m taking next week off but will see you again in January 2017.
