Thursday, May 22, 2008

Writing down stories

It has been a while since I've written any original stories to tell. I call these "personal fiction," because they might or might not be absolutely true. Or, as my tagline says, "All my stories start with the seed of truth."

On Sunday I'll be giving a house concert at the retirement community where my mother lives. I was thinking I'd tell a story I wrote about ten years ago called The Rumor. It's about a fellow who lives up to a good rumor about him, even though he never knows about it. I started digging around in my files, looking for a written version. Hmm, no luck. That must have been one that I told first and never got around to writing down. Sometimes I write them first and then tell.

I've just spent the last hour recreating the story as I remember it. As I write this, I recall that somewhere I have a copy of the story on videotape, from a performance I did at the Springfield (VT) Town Library. Now might be the time to find out if the VCR still works.

It might also be a good time to set the intention to write down all those stories that are just floating around in my head.

2 comments:

Faith said...

That's one of my favorite stories! I wish I could be there on Sunday. If you want to practice it again, I'll be happy to remind you of any details that you might have forgotten that I remember!

Love,

Faith

PriscillaHowe said...

Darn, I'd forgotten you wouldn't be there yet--I had you in mind when I was choosing what I might tell. Maybe I'll be able to record it or tell it to you later.