I made several attempts to keep a diary when I was young, but none of them lasted. My most interesting effort was in junior high, when I fashioned my diary (a spiral-bound notebook) into a sort of newsletter with an audience of — who? I don’t quite remember if I … Continue reading
Category Archives: Storytelling and Journaling, Memoir, Lifewriting
My Phone-Phobia Story
One of my occasional forays into my own story… I am extremely uncomfortable — nay, phobic — when it comes to talking on the phone. I dread making phone calls and very rarely answer the phone. Many people find my problem very weird. Some even disdain me. I don’t think … Continue reading
Those Unattached to Their Interior Story Get Addicted to Feedback
One of the recent podcast interviews in Michael Margolis’s The New Storytellers series featured the wonderful Christina Baldwin, author of one of the seminal books in the current storytelling movement, Storycatcher. I was particularly fascinated by the part of the conversation about introverted vs. extroverted storytelling. Storytelling on social-media venues … Continue reading
Moni’s Story Ended Far Too Soon Yet Will Live On
This is a story I never expected to write. A dear friend, Monique, died suddenly yesterday at age 43. We were colleagues and friends at Stetson University, where we taught in the Management Department, and in fact, Monique was responsible for my getting into teaching, the job I’ve loved the … Continue reading
Get Ready for Next Weekend’s International Day for Sharing Life Stories
The third annual International Day for Sharing Life Stories is a week from Sunday — on May 16. The day’s Web site notes that last year more than 200 organizations in 20 countries around the world held activities to celebrate the day, and to call attention to countless life story … Continue reading
Stories of Replacement Children
I was instantly attracted to Judy Mandel’s memoir, Replacement Child. Mandel’s sister, Donna, whom she never knew, was killed when a plane crashed into her family’s home. Mandel was envisioned as Donna’s replacement. Here’s more description: A plane crash — the impossible choice a mother must make — the death … Continue reading
Two Very Different Approaches to Personal Stories
What kind of story could you tell about yourself based on the contents of your pocket, backpack, handbag, or wallet? That’s the question that the Pocketology Field Research Unit explores on Stories You Haven’t Heard. (Carol McLeod made me aware of pocketology). Here’s how the site describes pocketology: Pocketology, the … Continue reading
Innovative Autobiographical/Biographical Texts Designed for the Web
Elayne Zalis (pictured), whom I met on Facebook, has compiled a huge, fascinating collection of Autobiographical/Biographical Webs: Selected Links, an outgrowth, she told me, of her academic studies of experimental video autobiographies in the late 1980s and early ’90s. “I was in the humanities,” she said, “so my critiques are … Continue reading
Consider Telling Stories with Collage
Kathryn Antyr, a.k.a. “Collage Diva” is into telling stories with collage. “[I]t was during my first year of blogging when I found my voice and discovered that I’m the hero of my own story and creative journey,” she writes. Antyr offers a workshop on storytelling with collage. She also shows … Continue reading
Story of the End of an Era
One of my occasional forays into my own story. It hit me yesterday that I have less than three weeks before I move from the only house we’ve ever owned and the only timezone in which I’ve ever lived. Our Florida-born and based daughter is here saying her goodbyes before … Continue reading