Your Story

What do we know about ancient civilizations? About religious beliefs? About anything really?

Writing today documents what we know about these things in our time, and how we feel about this knowing, how we react, how we see the world in this moment.

Why are classics timeless? Forget the writing style which is amazing, and think about how we can get lost in the beliefs of another time. We can see how one life shaped today's world. It makes me a stronger woman to read about how women were treated. It makes me proud of my roots to read the story of how my ancestors pioneered. What pushes us to be so us? Fiction gives us an insight to society, non-fiction gives us the truths or goals.

Of course it does so much more. If we stop for a moment to think about a genre, any one will do, as they are all important...

Why are sci-fis so fascinating? They allow us to imagine what the world would be like based on what we know at the time of the writing. It draws me in to see the future through the eyes of artists. Why? Because they are seeing something in today's world and bringing that to life in a future. It could be anything. How we idolize our bodies or how we normalize drugs... and they twist it into a future so bizarre we buy into it because... what if?

Historical fiction takes a past event and changes something about it. It might have really happened that way, how do we know? Seeing a new truth, means we see the world around us differently. Which can be exciting or scary. It can open our eyes to other things because... what if?

Writers don't just document events, they document emotions and beliefs that entire futures are shaped around. They put themselves in spots and troubles and work their way out in ways that shock us yet remind us that nothing is impossible.

There is no limit in the minds of writers. The raw honesty, the bold voices, all of it comes from where? Is it from things observed in the world around them? Why do they choose a certain set of eyes to tell the story? How do they know that's the most compelling way to share this story? And why is the same story so different told by someone else.

Each of us has a story in us that was shaped by others, by communities, by beliefs, by history, by our future goals and dreams. These stories are like little headings we walk around with for a writer to record and transmit.

Thanks to technology, we are each documenting our own journey. We are leaving behind a trace of ourselves our great grand children will look up and write about in THEIR own words. Can you imagine those school assignments?

"Based on my Internet research, my great grandfather really liked hockey. He was bold and openly told people to stop bad mouthing things, which I like about him. Everyone loved him. He got over fifty birthday wishes and had six hundred friends! He went on two trips in his life and ate a lot of red meat with beer. He read one book and watched two movies throughout his lifetime. Both of which he left no comments, but he did give one of the actresses a five star! He did however leave a comment about a music artist. I don't know what it means but he said the artist was lame. I assume it saddened him that he was hurt and wanted others to support him because he made a lot of such comments about his lameness. He shared A LOT of posts about cats, so I bet he was a cat lover. Here are several self portraits of my grandfather. His first one is an ultrasound from when he was still in his mother's womb. I found it on her page. He's in his diaper here. I found it because his aunt tagged it. He's at a party here, this was something a friend posted but tagged him in. He graduated college here and bought his first car. This is his wedding picture. He had a black eye, but I can't find why, but I assume he must have fallen from a tree saving one of his beloved cats. This was him with my grandmother the day she was born, and later at her first hockey game. His final pictures were after his stroke. He handled it great and started blogging while in the hospital. The blog posts talk about hockey teams and his opinion on them which is very bold and caused some controversy. I like that about him. Surprisingly I couldn't find any pictures of him with his cats."

This is followed by the child who says, "My great grandma was sick a lot. She only posted pictures of her dogs and her crafts. I was surprised to see this picture of this hat she made, because I own it now! Wow! I had no idea she'd made this or that it was so old. I wonder why she was always sick."

Yup. Your story is writing itself!

How has the written word affected your life? Do you worry about the digital trace we're leaving behind? What does your story tell? What genre influenced your life? What story are you sharing?