What Stories Will You Become? Celebrating the Power of Your Stories

In the End, We All Become Stories - Margaret Atwood, Samuel in Mill Samuel explores the abandoned mill in Knight's Ferry, California.

I had nearly forgotten that day, that memory of a horrendous experience in one of my favorite places to visit.

Those words, though, "horrendous experience" paint a layer of my beliefs of the time on top of the facts which unfolded, those facts actually layers of grit and grime from the time. Those facts and layers were the millet, the sorghum, the wheat that might have been ground into different forms in the ruins of this very mill we visited on a Sunday in February, 2011.

Our destination was Angel's Camp, California - to visit several spaces from the infamous place where Samuel Clemens officially became Mark Twain and forged his way into American Literary History. This was the place he and his buddies passed their time telling stories such as the ones that became "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."

Our intention was to give our Samuel a bit of an edge in school. It was fourth grade and things had suddenly gotten worse for him in the classroom. He was angry and isolating and his teacher hit a classroom management roadblock.

That was the year he stopped being Sam and became Samuel full time because some classmates would taunt him, calling him Samantha.

I only knew bits and pieces of this as he marched angrily through the ruins chanting, "I don't want to rock climb. I don't want to rock climb. I don't want to rock climb. I don't want to rock climb."

Emma trudged to the metaphorical edge, always concerned for her Mommy. "Samuel, stop it. Mommy loves this place. You're ruining it."

He wasn't ruining it then, at least for me. He was probably ruining it for her.

I was tired and frustrated, though, and learned if we found the safety and comfort of the car, Samuel's nerves would calm.

Within this memory there are countless stories I could choose to write, blog, paint, photograph more deeply, contemplate or simply be with and tell as my children and I age.

To brainstorm, I could write:

1. What to do when a family trip goes awry

2. Literary Adventures for Elementary Aged Children

3. Literary Adventures in California History

4. Coping with Autism when traveling

5. Calaveras County

6. Panning for Parenting Gold

7. The Creative Power of Unposed Photography

and on and on and on to so many more topics.

This week I plan to create daily with this quote from Margaret Atwood in mind. I would love it if you would join me. Here's how I plan to play, though I always give myself plentiful space to splash around in - and break the rules in as well.

Using the quote as an inspiration, write, tell, edit photos, take photos, have conversations around the theme of the stories and chapters in your life. Search through photos from the past and use them as your guide.

I will edit photos (one a day) and then write some sort of story (which could be a poem, a rant, an essay, a word - or another photo) to become another of my stories.

These stories will then go on to fill many purposes, from being blog posts to parts of my creativity coaching practice or in the talks and speeches I give or in the classes I teach or the groups I facilitate.

Nothing would make me happier than to see your stories come to life alongside me as well. I don't know about you, but I always have more fun with others on the journey.

"In the end, we all become stories." What stories will you become?

Julie Jordan Scott is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy and mixed-media artist. Her word-love themed art will be for sale at a First Friday soon, when it is warmer than it was in December!, in Downtown Bakersfield. Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.