The Importance of Preserving Family Stories

The quote above is from Alex Haley, the author of the extremely popular tv series Roots which aired in 1977. The story was based on the author's novel of the same name which had been published only a year or so earlier. Besides being well done, the tv series made people aware of the importance of their own roots, their families.

Many who watched the series began to seek information about their families, both present and generations earlier. Family stories became trendy for a while. I still think they are of utmost importance. Knowing what came before is a help to knowing who we are today

Look at these quotes about the importance of family stories--not just the telling of them but writing them so they are preserved: 

If you don’t recount your family history, it will be lost. Honor your own stories and tell them too. The tales may not seem very important, but they are what binds families and makes each of us who we are. Madeleine L’Engle

“It turns out that sharing family stories with adult children and grandchildren is more than a pleasant pastime. Research has found that a strong narrative helps build strong family bonds. .Passing down lessons and values through stories enhances a sense of well-being.” (Mary W. Quigley)

“The best-loved stories are not from books or films, but those from our own families” Jane McGarvey

“Family stories casually chatted about at the dinner table, or regaled again and again at family gatherings can parallel great epics or notable short stories. The memorable stories of our lives and of others in our family take on special importance because they are true, even if everyone tells different versions of the same event. These tales are family heirlooms held in the heart not the hand. They are a gift to each generation that preserves them by remembering them and passing them on.” (Heather Forest)

I was blessed in having parents who both told us myriad family stories, most often at the dinner table. It was a time when we came together as a family. My parents came from totally different backgrounds. Dad's French heritage family came to Chicago from Quebec and, farther back, from France. Dad grew up in a city atmosphere. My mother was born in a small coal-mining town in Iowa with grandparents who had emigrated from England and Ireland. Two families with different lifestyles but many oft-told stories from both. I learned so much listening to those stories my parents shared with us. Sadly, neither one of them ever wrote one of the stories, so the only way they were preserved is the retelling by me and my brothers. I am the one person in the family who has written some of the stories making sure they will not die.

Writing family stories is not just a pleasant pastime. Preserving the history of your family for your present and future family is important. Those quotes I shared above are only a few of the dozens and dozens I found when I did a search on google. The numbers alone should tell you the importance given to the telling and writing of family stories.

I'm going to be featuring different aspects of writing family stories the next several posts. I hope you'll join me.

Writing About Your Travels

There are professional writers who spend all their working time writing travel articles or books. Anyone who travels, near or far, benefits from reading them. I doubt any of them are readers of my blog.

What about hobbyist writers like me? Can I write a travel article and submit it somewhere? Of course I can. And I have! You could do it, too, but there are a few things to keep in mind if you want to try this kind of writing. 

Decide if you want to write a travel piece with nothing but facts and figures or do you prefer the personal essay style, putting in your feelings, your experience as well as recommendations. This is the kind of travel writing that I have done. I like to share my experience but also include a reason that I would go to this place, to give the reader the desire to visit the same place at some time. 

I like to tell my reader why I am in this particular place, how it affected me, good or bad, and some little anecdote to make the piece personal. 

Keep a travel journal wherever you go. You'll be glad you did when you get home a week later and need to refer to it for some information you will include in what you write. If you had a strong emotion when visiting someplace, jot that in your journal, too. That is somethng you'll want to include in your article.

Don't wait too long after you return to write the article. That old 'strike while the iron is hot' comes into play here. Write while you are still excited about the place and the memories are fresh. 

Dave's Travel Corner is a website that publishes travel articles. It's been in existence since 1996. If you like to read about travels of other people, it's a super place to spend some time. If you want to submit a travel piece, check the submission page.  Many of the articles there are about exotic places but I don't think it is necessary to write about some foreign port. Places near your own home could offer enough for you to write about and submit. If you went to some really neat spot in Indiana, people from other areas might find it of interest. 

I've had two travel articles published at Dave's Travel Corner. You can read them here and here. The first one is about a hotel in a small town in Germany and the second highlights our visit to the town in Germany where my husband's grandfather grew up. I noticed that the guidelines ask for photos. When I sent my stories, photos were not requested so the photos with the stories are not my own.

I wrote about a special little village in Nova Scotia called Peggy's Cove. That article was published here. After visiting the UK and Ireland, I wrote a travel story about the food in the pubs in both places. It was published twice and also posted at Our Echo, a place where writers can post whatever they write. You can read Pub Fare in the UK and Ireland at Our Echo. I wrote it because the food ion the UK and Ireland has long been given a thumbs down, but we were pleasantly surprised during the time we spent there.

Maybe these samples of a few of my travel articles might give you some thoughts on doing the same and a bit of inspiration. 

This And That In My Writing World--And Yours

Yesterday's post, Why Bother? received a lot of attention and some comments. It confirmed my premise that we have all asked that to ourself at some time or another in our writing life. 

Michelle Monet has started a new site for Memoir writers called Women Writing Memoir. She features articles that pertain to memoir writing. I received an invitation to submit an article, so, since I write short memoir, I wrote an essay on the same and sent it to her. It was published today. You can read How About Only A Wee Bit Of Memoir here. Note there is a place on the left side to share or to clap if you like the essay. If you read it, can you clap for me? It would be appreciated. It appears you can clap as many times as you like. Easy enough to stuff the ballot box!

I received notice of a need for new stories for a new Chicken Soup for the Soul book titled Think Positive, Live Happy. An earlier book with the same theme was so popular that they are planning another. Go to the Possible Books page to read more about the kind of stories they are seeking. There are six books listed with this latest one being at the very end of the page. I like that they give a list of possible topics to give you some inspiration or to trigger a memory. I study that list pretty carefully and hope a memory pops up or an inspiration appears like lightning on a stormy day. The deadline date is not until April 30, 2019, so you have plenty of time to write and submit a story. (And also edit and revise a few times!)

My local newspaper did a story about me this week. The publicists from Chicken Soup for the Soul notify the local media of the writers in the latest book. A reporter called and asked if he could interview me. We spent a half hour together and he wrote a very nice article which appeared on the front page of our local newspaper.

As writers, we should be able to write good book reviews on Amazon or GoodReads or for your local newspaper. When we read a book we enjoyed, do we always take the time to write a review? I think there will be lots of answers like Sometimes, Never, Occasionally. We tend to write a review for a fellow writer who hopes we'll give a 'gushingly good' review. They're hoping to sell books, so why wouldn't they want that kind of review? When I review a book for a writer I know, I always tell them that I will be completely honest. I absolutely cannot give 5 stars to a book that I don't feel merits that number. You can help the writers you know and other readers by writing a review. If I hate a book, there is no way I will bother with it. It's not in my nature to hurt others in any way. If interested in writing reviews, take a look at this article.

Have you done anything about joining a writers' group of some kind? I have gained a lot of knowledge and made some contacts with other writers, some of whom I now call 'good friend.' Don't tell me that you are doing just fine without belonging to any writing organization or writing critique group. I might accept that you are doing alright without them, but I think you'll do even better with them in your writing life.

There are a lot of links for you to check out in today's post. I put them there to give you some tips and encourage you to think about your own writing life, too.

Why Bother? A Question For Writers

Yesterday's post was about getting discouraged as a writer. Late last evening, I remembered a short piece I'd written to submit to a writing newsletter. It seemed to fit quite well with the earlier post.

Why Bother?

Does it sometimes appear that writing is meant to defeat a writer rather than buoy her to great heights? Do you ever wonder why in the world you're beating your head against the writing wall? Have you asked yourself “If it is this hard to become a widely published writer, why bother?”

We bother because we enjoy stringing words to make sentences, sentences to make paragraphs and paragraphs to create a story. We bother because there is something satisfying to our soul when we write. We bother because we are inspired by thoughts spinning through our minds, thoughts wanting to be sifted and sorted and put together coherently.

We bother, and I include myself here, because we love to write. We bother because we have something to say. We bother because we may want to prove something to ourselves. We bother because we know that the more we write, the more we grow as a writer.

We bother because we've had positive feedback from readers. We bother because we've had some encouraging rejections from editors. We bother because we've had enough acceptances to know that we are not a washout as a writer. We bother because we have something to offer to others. We bother because we’d miss writing too much if we stopped.

Now, aren't those enough reasons to stay on the writing journey? They are for me, and I hope you feel the same. Just keep in mind that there is no express elevator. You move up one step at a time.

Writers--Look For The Right Key

We in the writing world have plenty of fuel for discouragement. Rejections might be high on the list, but so is writing draft after draft trying to come up with the best writing. Have you ever written a chapter in your memoir or novel and, instead of feeling satisfied, you know something is not quite right but you're not really sure what it is?

It makes you angry at yourself. You might storm away and brood for a while. You'll try again another day. You might end up rewriting that chapter half a dozen times before it clicks. Eventually, you are satisfied with your result.

All too often, we find ourself discouraged with the way our writing turns out. It sounded perfect in our head. Why doesn't it come out the same way in print? We feel down when we submit the same piece over and over and it doesn't get published. Time for a rewrite. Maybe the fourth rewrite will be the key.

Readers have no idea how many times what they are reading has been revised and edited. I think readers have a Hollywood vision of a writer who sits down one day and dashes off a great story or a tremendous memoir or a stunning poem. Maybe writers have a much greater appreciation when they read the work of other writers. I will revise that statement. There is no doubt in my mind that writers do have a deeper appreciation than regular readers.

What about those writers who have written many things, submitted multiple times but have never been published? They know what discouragement is. In their mind, it is spelled in bold and caps! They aren't sure what they are doing wrong, what is missing in their work. One day, they might write a piece that is perfectly publishable. The last key that opens the locked world of publishing.

The message today is to keep trying. Put discouragement behind you and forge ahead. Don't be afraid to ask for help from a writer's group or from a writer friend. They can often see problems that you don't. We writers are often blind to our own errors. 

Becoming A Better Writer

I've been thinking about the beginning days of my writing journey. I was interviewed yesterday morning by a young reporter from our local newspaper. He asked some good questions and I came up with the answers. The article about me and my writing world was in last night's newspaper. Read it here, if you like. Many of the interview questions took me back to my beginning days of writing.

I've been writing for well over 20 years now and I know that my writing is much better today than back in the mid-nineties. That's not bragging. It's a fact. Spiral back to the first years you were writing and then think about what you are writing today. It's almost surely better than those early efforts.

There is no elevator to zip you from beginning writing status to experienced, and possibly published, writer. It might be nice but I think you'd miss a lot. Taking it step by step, learning and growing in your ability is worth the time and effort involved.

How did you accomplish that learning and growing? Most of us did it by reading about our craft, and I mean reading a lot. One book isn't going to do it. Even rereading the ones you like best will help you cement what you learned in the first reading.

We did it by doing writing exercises. Athletes practice regularly and so should we. The more we write, the better we write. That will happen if you practice what you've read in books about writing. Writing exercises aren't just to limber our writing muscles before we begin the 'real' writing of the day. They are meant to teach us something, just like those books.

Some will improve their writing by attending conferences with workshops and speakers who can open myriad doors into the writing world. We sit and listen but must then go home and apply what we've heard.

We improve our writing by writing frequently. Write something once a month and you'll never catch your fellow writer who writes daily.

We become better writers if we join a critique group of some kind. Getting the eyes of others who write on your own work can be akin to taking a college course. Let me qualify that by saying that we will improve our writing if we are open to the constructive criticism the critiquers give us if we're willing to admit our mistakes and work on making our writing better.

No elevator for us, so we must move step by step to becoming a better writer. It won't happen in a flash. Instead, you'll grow slowly until the day comes and you can look at a piece of your early writing and compare it to what you've written recently. That's when you'll see how the steps you've taken have benefited. 

Writers--Venture Into New Territory

If you're a writer, you were once a beginner  If you kept with it and worked at learning the craft, you moved on to being an intermediate writer. Hopefully, you kept going and are a super writer today! 

I was interviewed by a newspaper reporter this morning and one of the things that emerged from our question and answer session was that I originally wanted to write for children. I did that for a few years and then I decided to venture into other areas of writing. I tried writing about writing, which I'm still doing today. I made a stab at adult short fiction and I wasn't very good at it. Then, I tried my hand at memoir and personal essays followed by poetry. It turned out that creative nonfiction--memoir and personal essay--was my strong suit. 

What if I hadn't moved out of the comfort of the first kind of writing I'd tried? I still enjoy writing short stories for middle-grade kids, but now I write more creative nonfiction than anything else. I've had more published in that category than any other along with articles on the craft of writing. 

I would have lost so much had I never tried a different category of writing. I probably wouldn't be writing this blog. Nor would I be teaching workshops on writing at my state authors convention. Nor would I be having as many acceptances after submitting. Probably not as many rejections either!

Many writers write only one kind of story or article. Or only poetry. I think they may be missing something big. We need to step forward and attempt other types of writing. Never written a memoir piece? Why not give it a try? After all, every one of us has memories that can give us the basis for a short memoir story. 

If you've always written nonfiction, what's to stop you from writing fiction? Lack of experience? Lack of self-confidence? Fear? You can overcome all of those. If you decide to try writing personal essays, read all you can about the form. Read examples of personal essays. Educate yourself to give you a springboard.

If you've never written poetry, who says you can't? Anyone can pen free verse. You don't have to be knowledgeable about meter and rhyme and other things.  A free verse poem comes from the heart. It's writing your feelings or describing something meaningful to you. There's no reason you can't give it a whirl. If you find you like writing poetry, start learning more about other forms and keep practicing.

Note that I said 'keep practicing.' When you try a new type of writing, it takes some practice to reach a point where you are satisfied with what you've written, where you feel it is of a quality that you can submit it for publication or for a contest, and that you feel satisfied. That goes for poetry, fiction, nonfiction, creative nonfiction--whatever category you want to try. Don't give up too soon unless you know that you really don't like that particular kind of writing. If you don't like it, quit. There's no rule that says you have to keep on, but you'll at least know you tried it.

Even if you're completely happy with the kind of writing that you do now, move into new territory. There is no guarantee you'll like it, but it's worth trying. It could be that you find a whole new part of your writing world like I did. We don't need to be pigeonholed into only one kind of writing. Someone once said Variety is the spice of life and it became a well-known adage still alive today, so there must be something to it. 

You were once a beginning writer; you can be a beginner in a different kind of writing, too.