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February 25 – Effie Lee Morris Lecture Series: Jason Reynolds Speaks on “Transformation”

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Jason Reynolds, author of National Book Award finalist Ghost, the Newbery Honor Award-winning Long Way Down, and numerous other titles for middle grade and young adult readers, will appear in a special livestreamed SFPL lecture on Thursday, February 25, 2021, at 5 pm PST.

This 25th Effie Lee Morris Lecture is free for all ages.

Registration required. More information and registration here.

Reynolds also collaborated with historian Ibram X. Kendi on Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism and You, a 2020 youth version of Kendi’s definitive history of racist ideas, Stamped from the Beginning.

The winner of a Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent, an 2017 NAACP Image Award and multiple other honors, Reynolds spent 2020 serving as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, sharing his transformative journey as a writer – and a reader – with youth during a year of previously unimaginable transformation. Prepare for his creative exploration of the theme of “Transformation” – and prepare to be transformed.

This lecture series – produced in partnership among the SFPL Main Children’s Center, the SFPL African American Center, the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library and the SF Human Rights Commission – is committed to highlighting the lived experiences of writers, readers and communities of color through the words and images produced by some of today’s most talented and engaging authors and illustrators of books for youth.

What: Effie Lee Morris Lecture series at SFPL presents Jason Reynolds

When: Thursday, February 25, 2021, at 5 pm PST.

Visit the SF Public Library page for more information: https://sfpl.org/locations/main-library/childrens-center/effie-lee-morris-collection/effie-lee-morris-lecture-series

Effie Lee Morris – A Woman Ahead of Her Time

The Effie Lee Morris Lecture series at SFPL honors the values embodied by Effie Lee Morris (1921 – 2009), the first SFPL coordinator of children’s services, the first Black president of the Public Library Association, and a co-founder of the San Francisco chapter of the Women’s National Book Association.

Ms. Morris was a tireless champion of diversity, inclusivity, and the rights of all young people to read, learn and create. She initiated the first annual celebration of Black history for youth at the Cleveland Public Library, and at the New York Public Library was the first librarian whose work focused on the needs of children who were blind or visually impaired. At SFPL, she was especially noted for her commitment to personally visit underserved communities to get books into the hands of all our youth.

Writing Memoir Is Not for the Faint of Heart by Marlena Fiol

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Therapy is supposed to help, right?

Meditation is supposed to help, right?

Being on a spiritual path is supposed to help, right?

Then why am I still so afraid of being judged?

It’s scary to write a memoir that includes my many embarrassing failures as well as my hard-won successes. It’s even scarier to put it out there into the world.

In just the weeks since my book, Nothing Bad Between Us: A Mennonite Missionary’s Daughter Finds Healing in Her Brokenness,  was released by Mango Publishing, I have received many Amazon and Goodreads reviews, as well as personal notes from readers. 

Some of them are humbling:

“I just finished reading your book. It is a very compelling story that I did not want to put down- A very honest and courageous book. You have “dredged up for public consumption” your internal demons and allowed yourself to be vulnerable. That is a huge gift to all of us.”

Some are funny:

“My dog hated Marlena Fiol’s Nothing Bad Between Us.  She is usually quite tolerant of my reading choices because she knows she can easily distract me, and I will put down my reading to tend to her every whim. Once I began Nothing Bad Between Us, however, I was a goner. I simply had to finish the story of Marlena’s childhood.”

As I write this, I have twenty-eight 5-star reviews on Amazon, some of them from people I know and many of them from strangers. I know the negative reviews will come. 

They always do. 

I’m already experiencing silence from some of my relatives. I’m afraid that they’re shaking their heads, judging me, just like both my parents and my childhood Mennonite church community judged me fifty years ago.

It’s frightening to put myself out there vulnerably with all of the shame that I used to associate with my past. And even after lots of self-help training, this kind of naked vulnerability still triggers within me powerful feelings of embarrassment and humiliation.

And then I remind myself of an important truth: People’s reactions to my book reflect more about who they are than about who I am, as I have shared openly in this published story of my life. Their responses to the book give me glimpses into who they are – just as surely as I’ve given them a glimpse into who I am. 

When my readers send notes of gratitude and empathy, they reveal their own open and grateful hearts. When they respond with silence or judgment, these reactions may indeed express their very real concerns about me. At the same time, they also expose their own fears and anxieties.

In a large-scale study that appeared in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers found significant evidence of this type of projection: A person’s tendency to describe others in positive terms was consistently an important indicator of the positivity of the person’s own personality. There were strong associations between how positively people judged their peers and how enthusiastic, happy, and emotionally stable they described themselves to be, and were described by others as being. Similarly, the level of negativity the raters used to describe others overwhelmingly reflected their own unhappy, disagreeable, or other negative personality traits.

What I found especially remarkable is that this correlation was highly stable over time. The researchers followed up to find out how the raters in their study evaluated their peers again one year later and found compelling evidence for the same patterns. 

These findings point to two important lessons for me:

  1. I must follow Don Miguel Ruiz’s second Agreement: Don’t Take Anything Personally. The many shortcomings and failures I describe in my book serve as a testimony to my imperfections and my brokenness. But my story also shows the possibility for redemption and healing. It is my gift to the world, and I cannot take too personally how specific individuals receive that gift.

  2. Maybe more importantly, I must follow Don Miguel Ruiz’s fourth Agreement: Always Do Your Best. Far too often I, too, unconsciously use others as projected mirror images. When I critically judge someone, more than anything else, I am reflecting a state of dissatisfaction within myself, stemming from my own feelings of fear or inadequacy. I must do my best to see my own failings with compassion and forgiveness so as not to splatter them all over others. 

We do not see the world as it is, we see the world as we are. —The Talmud

As a consultant and professor of strategic management, Marlena Fiol, PhD, guided her students and clients in coming to know themselves deeply, visualizing their dreams and identifying and removing the barriers to achieve them. Over half of her 85 published articles and books relate to identity and identity change. Her work has been cited over 20,000 times.

Today, as a blogger, essayist, novelist and memoirist, Fiol is still engaged in a similar mission. Every blog, essay, book or workshop provides an opportunity to explore who we are and what’s possible in our lives. Her new book Nothing Bad Between Us: A Mennonite Missionary’s Daughter Finds Healing in Her Brokenness (Mango Publishing, 2020) is a vulnerable and inspirational tale of personal transformation. She was raised in Paraguay on a leprosy station, and today lives with her husband in Eugene, Oregon.

February 13 – Will You Be Our Galentine?

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The new year is well on its way and there is lots of change in the air. We want to make sure to stay connected and in community so we are cordially inviting you to a Galentine’s Day Mixer to celebrate the bonds of friendship. It is a mixer so please do bring a friend in the spirit of the day.

Our chapter President, Elise Marie Collins, has discovered fun new games and assorted other Zoom entertainment so get ready for a lot of fun. We also have a wonderful way to make it interactive so everyone will get to participate in a meaningful and memorable way. As always we will want to hear your news and plans for 2021, literary and otherwise. 

WNBA-SF is very excited to present a special mini workshop from our wonderfully creative member author Sherry Richert Belul who has mastery of celebrating so much so that she founded a whole company around it: Simply Celebrate.

As part of our Galentine’s Celebration, Sherry Richert Belul, author of Say it Now, will be leading our group in an interactive, joyful, and fun activity of making Love Lists. What’s a Love List? It is a brainstorm of all the reasons you love someone and what makes them unique. A Love List is sweet, funny, sexy, or serious. It can include any number — from five to fifteen to fifty — of loving attributes, characteristics, or memories about someone. It is one of the most simple —yet profound— ways to show someone what makes them unique and why they matter. 

Sherry will be leading us through some prompts as we create our Love Lists. So come to the meeting with some paper and a pen. Or, you can download Sherry’s free printable and bring that to fill in as we go: https://simplycelebrate.net/love/

We promise that this will be a joyful process for YOU — and will make a wonderful surprise Galentine’s gift for someone you love! 

We can’t wait to see you, dear Galentine and don’t forget to bring paper and pen, a friend, a good drink and your lovely self.

S. W. A. K.!

Title: Will You Be Our Galentine?

When: Saturday, February 13, at 4:30 – 6pm PT

Where: Zoom  (link provided via email when you register)

You Made the News! Now What? by Nita Sweeney

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by Nita Sweeney, award-winning author of Depression Hates a Moving Target and coauthor of You Should Be Writing

A media outlet interviewed you. Congratulations!!

Contributing to articles is a fabulous way to become a well-respected expert in your field!

But once the article goes live, your work isn’t over.

First, share it all around.

I’m so grateful to have landed with Mango Publishing Group. My editor and their social media coordinator share pretty much anything I send their way. So my first step is to send a link to any new piece to them.

Tweet the link and tag anyone else in the piece, including the publication and especially the journalist who wrote it.

Post on Facebook. If you have a business page, start there, but there’s rarely harm in sharing to your personal page at a different time for more visibility. If your friends won’t celebrate your success, why are they your friends? Don’t overdo the promo, of course. But people want to know what’s going on and might be interested enough to share the article.

Also post in any Facebook groups that allow promotional links. Find ones that are the right fit for you and your topic. I belong to many groups but also started my own wellness group where I share relevant information.

Are you on LinkedIn? That’s where the biz folks are. If there’s any business angle post it there.

Pin to a board on Pinterest. Create a board for a specific topic or a “Where I’m Quoted” or “Featured Ins” or some other catchy title related to your topic. Things pinned on Pinterest have a very long shelf-life.

Instagram allows you to use Link Tree to create a link in your bio where you can add articles, social media platforms, and your website since Instagram only allows one link. Post a photo from the article,  preferably the one closest to your quote, then say the link to the article is in your bio.

Don’t forget other relevant organizations. Would the piece interest your high school, college, or professional association? Send it all around.

Hashtags

Be sure to find relevant hashtags because that’s how strangers find articles on social media. Check out Frances Caballo’s excellent post on hashtags for authors. Sometimes that’s what you’ll want, but if your feature covers more than writing, use a hashtag appropriate for your topic. Tons of articles cover hashtags. Here’s one I like. Choose hashtags for the correct social media channel. Popular Twitter hashtags may not trend on Instagram.

Blog It

If you’re new to this process, you could blog about the experience of pitching to a journalist and doing the interview. Write about moving forward with a more involved marketing strategy. Or blog about your topic and link to the piece. Be sure to use the WordPress plugin Yoast or another search engine optimization (SE)) tool. I love Yoast because it removes the guesswork.

Email It

Do you have an email newsletter? It’s lovely to include a link to this new “featured in” with your next newsletter. If you were quoted at length, send the whole quote as the newsletter content with a quick “Not sure you saw this” note. People subscribed to your newsletter because they want to stay in touch.

In the News Page

If it’s your first interview, now’s the time to start an “In the News” page on your website where you collect these things. Leave it as a draft at first, until you collect a few, but have them all in one place on your site.

Save It

And do save a pdf of it. In Chrome you can “print” to “save as pdf.” I do that with every article. Sometimes articles disappear and you want to save it for posterity.

Go you!

An earlier version of this post appeared on Nita’s blog.

Nita Sweeney is co-author with Brenda Knight of the writing journal, You Should Be Writing: A Journal of Inspiration and Instruction to Keep Your Pen Moving. Nita’s running and mental health memoir, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running with My Dog Brought Me Back from the Brink, won the Dog Writers Association of America Award in the Human/Animal Bond and was short-listed for the William Faulkner—William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition Award. Nita’s articles, essays, and poetry have appeared in many magazines, journals, books, and blogs. She writes her own blog, Bum Glue, publishes the monthly e-newsletter, Write Now Columbus, and coaches creatives on writing and meditation in Natalie Goldberg style “writing practice.” Nita has been featured widely across media outlets about writing, running, meditation, mental health, and pet care. When she’s not writing or coaching, Nita runs and races. She has completed three full marathons, twenty-seven half marathons (in eighteen states), and more than one hundred shorter races. She lives in central Ohio with her husband and biggest fan, Ed, and their yellow Labrador running partner, Scarlet, the #ninetyninepercentgooddog. You can contact Nita via her website or follow her on your favorite social media channel.

Why Enter Writing Contests? by B. Lynn Goodwin

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You polish your writing, imagining your audience. You read it over. Out loud. Does it say exactly what you want it to say? You have a friend read it to you. Impressed, she says, “You should submit this to contests. Put yourself out there. Get some recognition for your work.”

Maybe you leap at the idea. Maybe you hesitate. After all, it’s more work. Besides, it makes you feel vulnerable. There’s almost always a fee and you’re guaranteed nothing. Why bother with contests when the judge isn’t an agent or editor who could take you on as a client? 

I’ve run contests for Writer Advice, www.writeradvice.com since 2006 and for the Women’s National Book Association since 2019. I’ve been a judge for Story Circle Network and a NorCal organization seeking local books. I’ve seen a huge range, and this organization gets polished submissions. Their award will carry prestige. 

Placing in a writing contest is a huge boost to your work. You all know that acceptances mater. No need to elaborate on that. Here are some other perks you might get: 

  • It gives you a chance to see how your work fares in the world. 
  • It gives you exposure.  Contest judges know people. Maybe they’ll make a referral to an agent.
  • Contest winners usually get published. Published online? Share the link with agents, editors, and anyone who might be interested. 
  • Winners get paid. That’s usually the reason that contests charge fees. Those who run the contests need to cover expenses.  
  • The biggest payment, though, is the boost to your self-esteem. Who couldn’t use a little of that?
  • There’s also the matter of name recognition. Wouldn’t you like to be Caitlin Contestant, winner of WNBA-SF’s Effie Lee Morris Contest? 

Wouldn’t you like to share your story with the world? Contests can help you do that. This year’s judges are eager to read your work. Learn more at https://wnba-sfchapter.org/2021-effie-lee-morris-contest-get-ready/. We’ll be accepting submissions until April 1, 2021.

B. Lynn Goodwin

Lynn Goodwin owns Writer Advice,www.writeradvice.com. Her YA novel, Talent, republished on November 1, 2020 by Koehler Books, won some awards. She’s editing the sequel, Ground Rules. Her memoir, Never Too Late: From Wannabe to Wife at 62 also won awards. Visit https://writeradvice.com/books-by-lynn/.

Her flash fiction has been published in Flashquake, Nebo, Cabinet of Heed, Murmur of Words,100-Word Stories, and Ariel’s Dream. Other works have appeared in Hip Mama, The Sun, GoodHousekeeping.com, PurpleClover.com, and elsewhere. She is an editor as well as a writer. She lives her energizer-bunny husband and their exceptional terrier.

Friday January 29 – How to Book Your Book with Jill Lublin

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Getting Media Attention to Drive Book Sales and Your Career!

Friday, January 29, 2021 at 12:00 Pacific 

Have fun, sell more books, and grow a garden of great publicity for your book and your career!

Publicity is the most powerful and cost-effective tool around to attract and retain readers for your book. It can help you make your mark in the marketplace and multiply your profits.

If you want to be the #1 Influencer in your industry, you’ve got to get bigger media visibility. Based on her international bestseller, Guerrilla Publicity, Jill Lublin shares simple strategies to help you go from unknown to newsworthy.

Sharing her proven secrets to understanding what the media wants, Jill provides you with short-term, doable tactics that boost visibility for you and your brand. These tips will drive buyers to your book and profits to your pockets!

Bios:

Jill Lublin is an international speaker on the topics of Radical Influence, Publicity, Networking, Kindness and Referrals. She is the author of 4 Best Selling books including Get Noticed…Get Referrals (McGraw Hill) and co-author of Guerrilla Publicity and Networking Magic.  Her latest book, Profit of Kindness went #1 in four categories. 

Jill is a master strategist on how to position your business for more profitability and more visibility in the marketplace.  She is CEO of a strategic consulting firm and has over 25 years’ experience working with over 100,000 people plus national and international media.  Jill teaches a virtual Publicity Crash Course and consults and speaks all over the world.  She also helps authors to create book deals with major publishers and agents, as well as obtain foreign rights deals. Visit publicitycrashcourse.com/freegift and jilllublin.com

Where: Zoom –Zoom (link provided via email when you register)

January 15 – 5 Tips to Win as a Writer in 2021

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Goal-Setting Simplified

We have a brand new year to make things happen! Whoo hoo!

To get what you want, you need to know what you want. And then make a plan to achieve it. 

Is this the year you get to finish your book? Find an agent? Get published? Or maybe you have other writing aspirations.

Whatever your goals, Debra Eckerling is here to help!

To set yourself – and your goals – up for success in 2021, join Debra Eckerling, founder of the D*E*B METHOD® and author of Your Goal Guide: A Roadmap for Setting, Planning, and Achieving Your Goals, for a Lunch N Learn for the Women’s National Book Association – San Francisco Chapter, on January 15 at 12pm PT.

During this workshop, Deb will discuss how to:

  • Hone in on Your #GoalTopia
  • Create Your Mission & Motto
  • Map Out Long- and Short-Term Goals
  • Create Rules and Rewards
  • Set Yourself up for Success
  • And more

Title: Goal-Setting Simplified: 5 Tips to Win as a Writer in 2021
When: January 15, at 12pm PT

Where: Zoom  (link provided via email when you register)

About the Book: One of the biggest reasons goals fail is that people often don’t put enough thought into what they really want before diving in. Your Goal Guide by Debra Eckerling starts with that first, crucial step: figuring out your goals and putting a plan in place. Eckerling presents readers with her own tested and proven method: the D*E*B METHOD®, a brainstorming and task-based system, which stands for: Determine Your Mission, Explore Your Options, Brainstorm Your Path. Through a combination of writing exercises and systems, Eckerling provides readers with a process for making and setting goals that is stress-free, easy-to-manage, and even fun.

Debra Eckerling is the author of Your Goal Guide: A Roadmap for Setting, Planning, and Achieving Your Goals (Mango Publishing, January 2020), as well as the self-published Write On Blogging: 51 Tips to Create, Write & Promote Your Blog and Purple Pencil Adventures: Writing Prompts for Kids of All Ages.
A goal coach, project catalyst, and founder of the D*E*B METHOD®, Debra works with individuals and businesses to set goals and manage their projects through one-on one coaching, workshops, and online support. Note: DEB stands for Determine Your Mission, Explore Your Options, Brainstorm Your Path. She is the founder of Write On Online, a live and online community for writers, creatives, and entrepreneurs, as well as host of the #GoalChat Twitter Chat (Sundays at 7pm PT) and the Guided Goals Podcast.

Holiday Storytelling for Children by Kate Farrell

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This holiday season many families will celebrate with relatives miles apart. Though we may gather online in group video conferencing calls, we won’t see one another face to face. Even if some live close by, many families will prefer to visit outdoors with safe and limited social distancing for a brief interaction or to exchange gifts.

This year, children might find the holidays strange and unsettling, but we can make this a holiday to remember with simple, creative, storytelling activities. Use the quality time we do have during the holidays to share stories, playful make-believe stories with puppets, or tell stories about the good old days when you were young.

PUPPET STORIES

Young children have their own stories to tell. When creating original stories, their unique imaginations will often communicate what they cannot say—if we listen. Providing a safe space and time for the children’s story making, not only develops oral language, it offers an insight into their own points of view: What characters and situations do they create in their make believe world?

You might guide them with a story starter, like “Once upon a time,” or “One day.” But once they begin their open-ended story, listen with acceptance and enjoyment. You might encourage them to continue by asking, “What happened next?” And they may need help ending the story with a stock phrase, such as “And that’s the way my story ends.”

Wooden spoon puppets can create holiday magic. You may think that wooden spoons are only for stirring gingerbread dough, but they can just as easily stir up a good folktale or creative drama. With a handful of inexpensive, wooden spoons and a selection of non-permanent color markers, decide on the characters needed to enact a favorite folktale, like “The Gingerbread Man,”  “Three Little Pigs,” or “The Three Billy Goats Gruff.” Then draw the facial features and color the skin of the creature or character. Read the folktale over a few times for its basic action, but once the wooden spoons take off, the story might stir up a different kind of trouble in your children’s hands.

Create a series of stories using action figures, telling in tandem with your child. A special holiday gift this year might be action figures from a movie or TV series. Enter into the fun by pretending to be one of them and act out a story with your child.

For example, when my son was in pre-school, he became captivated by the wildly popular ad campaign of the California Raisins, based on a make-believe rhythm and blues band with the popular song, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.” The Raisins promoted a healthy snack in a series of Claymation TV commercials with fantastic, but hip adventures. We did have a few of their action figures and enjoyed eating raisins.

One night at bedtime, we started to tell original stories about the California Raisins getting into scrapes of one kind or another. The Raisins were definitely on the wild side: car chases, catching ghosts, and mountain climbing. My son and I would take turns trading Raisin episodes, some of them outrageous.

The same can be true for a favorite puppet. Ask the young child to describe the puppet’s personality, maybe its unique voice, or special powers. Give the puppet a name and ask it to tell its story. If there is another puppet, they could develop an action story together.

Tips for Telling: It’s important is to honor story characters your child finds interesting, whether they originate from a folktale, cartoon, or other media. Accepting the child’s imagination is one way to bridge the cultural gap between generations. Telling a fantasy story, back and forth, is a way for you to enter into your child or grandchild’s world as a co-creator.

YOUR CHILDHOOD HOLIDAY STORIES

Telling your own childhood memories can be among the most important stories you tell. Children love to hear about your adventures and how they turned out. It deepens the bond of shared experience, since the child identifies with you and is vicariously involved. He may ask you to tell certain stories again and again—a clue to how he/she most clearly connects with your life.

The personal story is excellent device for bridging generations and reaching out to other family members. Ask grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, caregivers, and siblings to participate.

Tips for Telling: Set aside a quiet time to reflect on a real life incident from your childhood. Close your eyes and pinpoint an age, perhaps the current age of your child or grandchild. Focus on a time during the holidays. As random images and fragments rise to the surface, choose one that is a real story with a beginning, middle, and end.

These questions might help trigger a memory:

  • What was your favorite holiday gift as a child?
  • What are some of your favorite holiday traditions and why?
  • What are some of the different places you have spent the holidays?
  • What do you like to eat the best during the holidays and why?
  • Did you have a holiday adventure?
  • What was the most memorable holiday in your childhood? What happened?

When you have found the story incident, live through it again and open your eyes. You may want to replay the event more than once. As you do, recollect all sense impressions vividly. Hear, see, smell, taste, feel all the sights, sounds, objects of your experience. Feel the emotions once more. Rehearse the dialogue. Find a quiet time to tell the story with a special setting or time of the day.

Make this a holiday to remember!

Kate Farrell, storyteller, author, librarian, founded the Word Weaving Storytelling Project and published numerous educational materials on storytelling. She has contributed to and edited award-winning anthologies of personal narrative. Farrell’s new book, a timely how-to guide on the art of storytelling for adults, Story Power: Secrets to Creating, Crafting, and Telling Memorable Stories, was released in June 2020. Recently, Farrell presented workshops for adults on the art of storytelling at the San Francisco Public Library, Mechanics Institute, and the San Francisco Writers Conference. Kate is now offering virtual workshops for libraries and writing groups, as well as performing virtually as a storyteller.

Website: https://katefarrell.net/

Blog: https://storytellingforeveryone.net/

Pitch-O-Rama PLUS 2021!

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Pitch-O-Rama

**** SOLD OUT ****

You’ve polished your manuscript, now polish your pitch!  Pitch-o-rama, hosted annually by the San Francisco chapter of the Women’s National Book Association is a great opportunity to not only practice your pitch with coaches and fellow writers, but also try that pitch on publishing professionals who can provide advice, direction, and next steps for your writing project.

On April 10, we will hold our second-ever virtual Pitch-O-Rama. We have learned a lot from last year to make it even better for you and are greatly expanding our great group of fiction editors, agents, and publishers. You gave excellent feedback last year, we listened and are excited to have fab new folks to hear your marvelous book ideas. Although this is the second year we have had a virtual Pitch-o-rama, we have been holding the Pitch-o-rama successfully for almost 20 years. The feedback we received for last year’s Pitch-o-rama was fantastic, most said they preferred pitching virtually for many reasons.

Join us for Virtual Pitch-O-Rama 2021! Click here to see a full list of agents and publishers.

 

Saturday, April 10, 2021Register for Pitch-O-Rama!
8:00 am – 1:00 pm Pacific Time (San Francisco)

It’s Pitch-O-Rama PLUS – now Virtual!

Includes pre-pitch coaching.

Registration:
$65 WNBA members,  $75 Non-members, Men Welcome!
Limited to the first 60 ticketed attendees.

Come join the fun – register here!

Pitch-O-Rama delivers the 4 Ps that lead to publication.

POLISH. You’ve polished your manuscript. Now polish your pitch with our pre-pitch coaches

PITCH. We’ve assembled top agents and publishers for all genres

PROMOTE. Power up with social media 

PARTICIPATE in a Q&A Panel. Secrets to Successful Book Marketing

= PUBLICATION

 

 

 

Family Storytelling for the Holidays by Kate Farrell

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This year, more than ever, as we gather around a tree, table, or screen, we can comfort one another with fond memories—a gift of continuity and hope.

Often, however, the memories we share with family members are fragmented and fluid, without a clear purpose in their telling. We might ignore significant family stories from the past or neglect to add more recent experiences. Over time, family tales can become random, superficial—their meaning lost. 

Yet our family stories, once shaped into memorable forms, can still be saved and passed down through the generations. Just as pre-literate tribes shared a common sense of identity, history, and values in their stories, so we can discover exciting, new ways to both preserve and create a family tradition of storytelling.

Family stories matter. Family stories directly impact how we see ourselves because they give us an idea of where we come from and where we’re going. Each family story is a pattern in a patchwork quilt of many colors and fabrics. Like the all the pieces in a multi-colored, homemade quilt, our family stories are a combination of the cultures, histories, and traditions we’ve inherited. 

And just like an embracing quilt, our stories bring us comfort: They give us a sense of belonging and create a core identity that can be a great source of empowerment. Sharing family stories can give our children an emerging sense of self, both as individuals and as members of a family. Family members overall can enjoy higher self-esteem and greater resilience—because they are able to draw from a deep, ancestral identity and contribute to it.

If we don’t preserve our family legacy through its central narratives, we will lose it by default. Each generation will be defined by the mainstream media—and given a superficial group identity: boomers, millennials, Gen X or Z.

Family Folklore

Family folklore is a ragbag collection of true stories and traditions gathered from the remembered experiences of generations—past and present. It is transmitted through the art of storytelling, either in person or recorded. Storytelling is the main difference between family folklore and the study of genealogy or family history—those record data and information of the past. Family folklore is the age-old custom of passing down stories by word of mouth from one generation to the next. Since family folklore exists as part of the day-to-day life of a family, it is always changing and growing.

Family folklore is both traditional and evolving. It belongs to the entire family, to all the branches in the family tree, and everyone participates in it. Each generation forgets or changes the stories told by the previous generation and, at the same time, adds new stories and lore. In our modern times, with its rapid social and technological change, we might believe the previous generation lived in an entirely different historical era. Yet the lessons of their stories can have as much or greater value to the newer generations. 

Collecting family folklore can be a daunting project that could require direct and wide-ranging family engagement. To be practical, you might want to collect, frame, and tell stories from limited sources to share with your closest family members. Even so, preserving past stories is only half the picture. You’ll need to keep your eyes, ears, and mind open to record the stories and lore as they are unfolding. 

New traditions are as valid as those that existed for generations. So, even if your focus is just your branch of the family tree, and limited to those family members who live nearby, you’ll need to develop a manageable approach: how to organize lore from the past as well as new traditions and stories from an ever-changing present.

As you reflect on your own family memories and how to retrieve them as stories, you’ll increase your ability to recall them in greater detail. You’ll develop a sense of remembered place and people, enhanced sensory images, and clarity of dialogue. Once you connect to the story making process, you’ll be more able to guide other family members in interviews and recordings.

Unavoidably, you’ll develop your unique point of view, your historical perspective of family events. But be aware that your impressions are only the starting point. Family members can often have an entirely different take on the same event and widely divergent opinions of a family member. Invite members to tell their versions.

Nevertheless, continue to begin with your own memories and refine them in an ongoing process:

  • Stretch your family memories into past decades
  • Open your mind to new perspectives 
  • Test your information or interview relatives to verify
  • Identify your gaps in information
  • Collect new generational stories
  • Become aware of new traditions today

Make this a holiday season to remember!

Kate Farrell, storyteller, author, librarian, founded the Word Weaving Storytelling Project and published numerous educational materials on storytelling. She has contributed to and edited award-winning anthologies of personal narrative. Farrell’s new book, a timely how-to guide on the art of storytelling for adults, Story Power: Secrets to Creating, Crafting, and Telling Memorable Stories, was released in June 2020. Recently, Farrell presented workshops for adults on the art of storytelling at the San Francisco Public Library, Mechanics Institute, and the San Francisco Writers Conference. Kate is now offering virtual workshops for libraries and writing groups, as well as performing virtually as a storyteller.

Website: https://katefarrell.net/

Blog: https://storytellingforeveryone.net/