Words on Wednesday

Consider using a letter you’ve received as your journaling. The entire letter or just a part. (Emails count as letters, right?)
Here’s a letter my father sent me in ’94.

I didn’t use the whole letter, just an excerpt about how his day had gone. It was perfect for photos of a very young me with him on the farm.

Conversations–either exactly word for word, or something very close to what may have been said, make great stories. Or just story starters: Here’s a couple examples:
This is an actual (or nearly actual) conversation with my daughter:
He’s going to get me on my birthday. What? Mr. Ashcroft—he’s going to get me for my birthday. He draws a mustache on every kid on their birthday… with permanent marker. Emily certainly talked as if she was dreading the face doodling, but the grin on her face when she got home, was proof otherwise. Emily’s birthday stretched over the weekend. On Friday her friends came for a sleepover. On Sunday she opened her gifts. But the crowning event of the birthday? Her mustache and unibrow courtesy of Mr. Ashcroft.

This is a conversation that occurred only in my head:
On the first Tuesday in January I planned to finish entering the transactions for both businesses for the last two months of the year.
Clicking on Quickbooks, “What? Can’t find xyz.qbp? Nonsense.”
I shut down Quickbooks and opened it again. “Oh, maybe my external hard drive is off. That’s it.” I shut it off, turned it on and began again.
“Still no file found. Well I can find it then.” I quickly started looking in all the obvious places.
“That’s funny—I wonder where it should be.” “I’ll just search the J drive” Nothing. “Wrong file name?” Nothing—about this time a mild panic begins to set in.
“It’s got to be here somewhere. I got the new computer in August and I KNOW I’ve entered transactions since then. Now why won’t it find it? I couldn’t have erased it.”
“The only time I messed with anything was when I..cleaned…out…the…hard….drive…to make room for scrapping stuff!!!!” Now the major panic is setting in as I repeatedly, but fruitlessly explore EVERY file on the external drive. “I couldn’t have. Well, I could have, but I WOULDN’T have.”
“Nothing. There is nothing anywhere. I actually erased 10 months of transactions in SEVEN accounts. This is going to take forever to recreate. I should’ve kept my bank statements neater. I hope I HAVE all my bank statements. I think I have a headache. I need some chocolate and a nap.”
But what if I can’t remember exactly what was said?
Winston Churchill said “History will be kind to me because I intend to write it.” Translation: If you took the time and made the effort to write it down, then your version is what actually happened. I believe it is understood that what you write is YOUR version of the events. If it bothers you that someone may think the journaling is exact, then begin with “it went something like…”
Another example:
Dave and I stood next to the house craning our necks, gazing 34 feet in the air at the newly closed-in roof.
He broke the silence, “It’s too steep—and it’s way up there.”
“But roofing is on the list of things we agreed to do to save money.”
“I’m worth more per hour working, than I’m saving by roofing.”
“I thought you were going to do your parts early in the mornings and late at nights and still work.”
“If I fall off the roof, we can’t afford the house.”
Earl interrupted our argument, “I have a nephew who does roofing. He’s in college, but maybe he’d be interested. I can check and see what he’d charge.” The argument abated, and Earl’s nephew Joe agreed to a very reasonable price. In fact the roof came in at budget–$5000–because the shingles were less expensive through Lowe’s.
Not all stories can use a conversation, but when it fits, it’s a great way to tell the story!

When Grandpa died 9 1/2 years ago, Grandma moved in with my Mom. I’m sure it was difficult for her to leave her home, but she couldn’t see well enough to take care of herself. In the end I think she actually enjoyed it. You see, we hang out at Mom’s A LOT, so it was pretty common to find Grandma in her room with one of her great-grandchildren at her feet listening to stories of how she loved to go to the dances or how she would sing for her Dad’s friends or…Grandma loved to share her stories.
Grandma died Monday. I’m excited for her to be relieved of dealing with her aging body and to be reunited with Grandpa. And I’m thrilled that she shared her stories. Hopefully I’m continuing in her footsteps.

Don’t miss my free word art at ScrapOrchard…every Wednesday in August.
Here’s a link for last week: August 10th

And here’s today’s link: August 17th

You know those photos that you just LOVE…but there isn’t a story behind the photo…it’s just a beautiful shot of the flowers in your garden….or the silly smile on your two-year-old…or ANOTHER shot of the kids playing together (they didn’t all fit on that layout, and this one was just begging to be scrapped)
I’m going to share a secret: Your journaling doesn’t have to be about what was going on in the photo. LOL! Photos with no story…or photos with a story you’ve already told are a GREAT place to share other stories. What do I mean by other stories? Well, stories about you, your family, your hopes and dreams, your values…
When I’m scrapping photos that “don’t have a story” I turn to journaling prompts. There are a gazillion sources for journaling prompts. Here are a couple:
Nearly 500 journaling prompts @ Scrapbook.com Scroll down…they are at the end of the article.
What I love about…
Ten reasons why…
Like I said, there are a gazzillion sources…so be sure to share your story in your scrapbooks.

Guess what? I’m the WAW (Word Art Wednesday) hostess for August at ScrapOrchard. Here’s a sneak peek of my first offering:

You can download it (free) at ScrapOrchard.

Do you talk to your car? I have a LARGE van (holds Marky’s wheelchair –who am I kidding? It would hold 6 wheelchairs). It doesn’t do anything fast. I can often be heard encouraging it to speed up quickly so we don’t get rear-ended: “Come on…You can do it…a little faster…almost there. Yea! You made it.”
What about your plants? “Looking lovely today. I see you have 4 new buds coming. Can’t wait to see them.”
Your fridge? “Where are you hiding the mustard? I know it’s in here somewhere!”
Your vacuum? “Hey. Pick that up! It’s not THAT big. You are so LAZY!”
Sound familiar?
What if your “things” could talk to you?
Your purse: “Would you quit stuffing things in me? I am getting SO overweight? Besides, if you put less in here, then you could FIND your keys.”
Your paypal account: “Holy Moses! You are working me to the BONE this week. Look at all these fantastic things you’ve found.”
Your alarm clock: “Hey. Quit hitting me. It’s not my fault you went to bed at _____. Come on. Get up. You’ve got a busy day ahead of you. If you don’t hurry the kids will miss the school bus.”
So, if you nightstand could talk, what would it say? How about your cell phone?
Sometimes an interesting way to tell your story is through a message to or from an inanimate object.
For example, I wanted to tell my story of mother’s day afternoon. We spent some family time playing our favorite family PlayStation 2 video game: BUZZ. It’s a series of little arcade-style games where the four of us compete as monkeys. In most games I loose, but there are a few where I excel. (I would go on here describing the games.) See? Written that way, it’s boring.
So I tried this:
I’m sorry little monkey. You see, I’m not very good at video games, but we enjoy playing them together as a family so much, that THIS is what I wanted to do for mother’s day – to play a MARATHON game with our family. I’m sorry that the anvil keeps hitting you on the head. I’m really just trying to get enough points to win the round. I’m sorry that your brain keeps getting fried in the wrecked airplane. I’m not very fast at pushing the red button. I’m sorry that the lion keeps biting your head, and that the drumming monkey throws cocoanuts at you when I miss the beat. I’m sorry you fall out of the sky or into the water when I can’t aim, but you are the fastest at selecting the odd hippo. And no one is quicker on the draw than you. I’ll keep trying and maybe someday you’ll be at the top of the tree.

Does your snowman (or sandcastle) want to tell the story of your day at the beach? Maybe the candles want to tell about your son’s birthday? Or your favorite decoration wants to tell the story of your holiday festivities.
Try writing your journaling from a different perspective.

I have something to share with you today to help with your journaling. It’s called Oh, Life!

When you sign up for Oh, Life they will send you an email once a day (or a different schedule that you choose). Just a simple “how was your day”. You can ignore the email, or respond to it. Some days I’m too busy…or there isn’t anything interesting to say. So I delete the email and let it go. But most days i just reply a little bit about what’s going on. Like:
My lil man was so excited to see me when I picked him up from my sis’s house. He was eating at the table, looked up and saw me, quickly crawled down off the chair and came running, grinning from ear to ear. I LOVE that he loves his Mommy.
See? Nothing special. I don’t even worry about proper grammar…sometimes it’s just bullet points notes. But now I have a little memory just waiting to be scrapped. (Not the running toward me…but it would work great on a layout with a cute pic of him smiling)
Oh, Life keeps all your stories, organized by datem but you can go back and retrieve them whenever you like.
OH! You can attach ONE photo per day, so it would make the perfect partner for your 365 project.
Give it a try!

On Wednesdays we will talk about journaling…or telling the stories that are part of our memories.

• Sometimes
your
journaling
doesn’t
fit
in
a
tidy
paragraph.
• Sometimes
your
journaling
isn’t
complete
sentences.
• Sometimes
your
journaling is just a few words or phrases.
• It’s
time
for
a
list.

Remember, when using a list for your journaling, the format of the items is important.  In general you want the items in your list to be consistent. For example:

• Spinning
• Twirling
• Swaying
• Run←See?  It doesn’t belong.

Unless you are doing it on purpose for effect.  Here I wanted to emphasize the contrast:

• Making pancakes for breakfast.
• Racing to sign papers.
• Searching for backpacks.
• Watching for the bus.
• Silence…at last.

Lists can be especially useful in stories where you find yourself saying, “and then we went here…and then we did this…and then…and then…” Leave out the “and then” and turn it into a list…MUCH more interesting to read.

The next time you are ready to journal…just make a list of the things that come to your mind as you reflect on the photos…then turn your journaling into a list.