Write it Down!
In our Austin Reading Circle, we're reading Reeve Lindbergh's memoir about life with her famous father (Charles Lindbergh) and mother (Anne Morrow Lindbergh, author of many published journals and memoirs). Reeve Lindbergh says:
"'Write it down!' our mother had told us whenever we said something that particularly interested or touched here: write down that sharp insight, that funny story, that especially appealing turn of phrase. She taught us that any experience worth living through was worth writing about, but beyond this, she made us feel that the act of writing about it significantly affected the experience itself."
So this year, resolve to start writing it down. Find a notebook that invites you, a pen that feels light and easy in your fingers, a comfortable place, a quiet time--and write it down. One way to begin: write down the words "I remember" and then keep on going. Don't worry about staying with the first memory that comes--instead, follow the thoughts as they come into your mind, as if you were an explorer following a trail into the wilderness. And don't worry about whether these are "authentic" memories--they're traces of memory, and have their own authenticity.
Want more ideas for writing your life? Go to the Story Circle website
and click on LifeStory
Briefs.
--Susan Wittig Albert