Storytelling: A Family Tradition

Okay from the time I was a kid both of my parents have been telling stories to my brother and I. My dad would come and sit on my water bed with my mom, my brother, and me and start telling us a story. There weren't any story books he would just come up with the stories in his head and tell them to us. Each one started the same way and had the same main characters, a boy and a girl (go figure!). We would sit listening, enthralled by the places, people, and adventures he created. He also helped me start writing some of my earliest stories. I would sit on his lap at the computer and he would type up what I told him on the computer we got from QVC. He also wrote quests for his D&D group that would meet Monday nights at our house when I was little.

My mom is also a creative story teller. Being an Elementary school teacher a lot of her stories are children's stories. She keeps them hidden under her bed (or she did before she moved I'm not sure where they are now). The stories are the kind of stories you hear you're parents reading to you growing up or you beg your teachers to read to you during story time. My mom also is a songwriter. Now before you go getting all excited it's nothing you've ever heard of or are likely to ever hear. She takes the tunes of familiar songs and adds her own words. One of her favorites that she will still occasionally sing is "Riding Home From Mimi's house" which she would sing on drives back from my grandmother's house usually on night's when I had dance class.

My brother is also a story teller of sorts. He seems to make up things from our childhood that most definitely never happened.

My dad's sister also likes to write. Aunt Nancy took me to a writer's group she was part of on one of my visits to Florida to see her. It was wonderful. It was the first writer's group I was ever exposed to and for that I will always be thankful. Aunt Nancy is also one of the first people to read most of my work despite living so far away. She gives me great feedback and advice. Writing is one of the many things we are both passionate about and can talk about.

The rest of my family while not big on writing are definitely readers. It's great I have a group of people that will read my writing and give me feedback. They don't hold back because they're family they tell me what they really think and for that I'm eternally grateful. My grandmother once told me that a piece I had written had a part that was unbelievable and so when I looked at it I found out she was right so I went back and fixed it making my story better (thanks Mimi).

To my friends and family who I subject to reading my pieces and offering their advice I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. To my parents thank you for instilling in my the passion for stories whether writing or reading and encouraging me to follow my dreams.