"Sometimes stories start with a bang, and sometimes stories start with a whisper, and sometimes stories start with a car chase or a fist fight or someone being born or someone dying. Sometimes stories start with a kitten. I mean, the funny thing about stories is that they don't really start or stop at all...It's just the telling that starts or stops."
As I get ready to jump into the March challenge in just a few weeks, I realize another year has gone by, and I have let my practice of slicing fall away. I always make a goal to continue slicing after I turn the page on my calendar, but for several years, I have fallen short.
But do my stories really start on March 1st and end on March 31st? If Coyote is right, then my stories haven't stopped...only my telling of them has.
My life right now is full of stories, but stories that are hard to share, and honestly, are quite depressing. I need to find those stories that "start with a kitten," that start with a little happiness.
It's time to find those stories hiding in my ordinary; it's time to start slicing again.
Thank you Two Writing Teachers for creating a space to share our stories.
I love that quote! I fall out of practice with slicing too, but I think it’s all part of the journey.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great quote and one that all writers, students, teachers, bloggers, should know. Sometimes we get so bogged down with finding the perfect beginning to a story that the story never gets told.
ReplyDeleteDiane Anderson (newtreemom)
ReplyDeleteGlad to read your slices whenever they come. I love this one. I didn’t know another Coyote book is coming soon. One of my favorite read alouds. For a long time I wrote every March and also every Tuesday, and joined various other blogs, too. Now it’s pretty unpredictable. The quote is a good way of looking at our stories.
I love this, as well as your connection to slicing. I feel the same way. I get so amped up about March, try to keep the momentum, and just crash land.... Especially in August, during back to school? Forget it! Ha!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to reading your slices!!
Still astride the will I?/ won't I? slice this year fence. I love the opening paragraph! I'm off to request the book.
ReplyDelete